Twitter in the Classroom?

This week on Twitter, I've decided to comment on an interesting blog posting about using Twitter in the classroom. Up until recently, I've viewed Twitter as a social networking site that allows users to stay up-to-date on the latest news and interesting postings. I've learned that it's a powerful tool for building one's PLN, but I was interested in learning how it could be used in the classroom setting.

In a blog posting by "Apps in Education," from June 26, 2011 called "Can you really use Twitter in your classroom?", the author of the post (Greg Swanson) shared my thoughts toward Twitter: "Twitter was one of those things that I just ignored. I thought it was a little bit indulgent and frivolous, that was until I got shown how teachers are using it for Professional Development." In the post, Swanson offers eleven uses of Twitter in the classroom.

Although I won't list them all, I will call attention to the few that caught my attention most. First, develop a whole book with chapters. Using an app from iTunes called "Zite Personalized Magazine," you can create a book using the content from your Twitter feed. You can include chapters, as well. This tool would be especially useful if you set up a class Twitter account and allowed students to follow Tweets related to a class research project. At the end of the researching phase, the different collaborative groups could create a different chapter of the book using Zite. At the end of the unit, you'd be left with a whole e-book filled with chapters that your students made. Talk about creating a high level of pride in student's work (Danielson Framework).

The second application for Twitter in the classroom that caught my attention is creating a class newspaper. Using an application called Paper.li, you can upload text sites, photos or videos in your class e-newspaper. These online newspapers can be updated daily, weekly or whenever the class changes to a different unit of content. It's a great way to encourage parental involvement and collaboration with teachers/colleagues. Also, since they're stored online, they can serve as a great way to keep track of units from previous years.

Some of the other applications for Twitter in the classroom include creating 140 character biographies, which will give students practice in writing concisely; creating online Scavenger hunts using QR codes; using Crowd Source to collaborate on writing a story; and conducting a Twitter debate forcing students to make a concise argument in 140 characters or less.

For me, this reading was extremely interesting and encouraged me to fool around with some of the applications mentioned. Now, I am much more appreciative of Twitter and all the ways it can be used. Be sure to read the article and familiarize yourself with some of them!