I have to admit, when Twitter first came out, I thought it was one of the most insignificant, shallow things that could ever be invented. Up until a few weeks ago, when I was assigned to create a Twitter account and use it, I still held this belief. As time goes on, my heart softens toward Twitter, especially when I get on and see what all of my education and politics "followees" have to say. I still think that using Twitter for the purpose of informing all your followers that you just went to the bathroom or got a new pair of shoes is plain stupid, but I definitely see how it can be used for intelligent endeavors.
For one, it is useful for spreading news quickly. This is always good because we live in a fast-paced world; there is no time to wait on information to arrive. Also, you can include links to articles or resources so that there is no searching for a topic someone may have mentioned; the path is already there for you. If I were a teacher using Twitter, I would use this capability to link students to specific help website, websites with supplemental information, or just cool websites that have something to do with what we're doing in class. Also, if the students find websites or resources that could be helpful to others, they could tweet them and help other people. I think a cool way to maybe do extra credit or just have fun would be to tweet a question and have your students tweet back ideas or answers. This could be used in virtual classrooms, on snow days, or over the summer to keep in touch with students and to keep them from losing a lot of information they learned during school.
I've only listed a few ideas and thoughts about Twitter here, but there are tons of possible ways to use it in an educational setting, among educators, among teachers and students, or among students. Plus, kids will appreciate their teachers making them do something other than type a paper or fill out a work sheet. Supplemental activities don't have to be boring and old-fashioned.
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