I'm really trying to pick a new web 2.0 tool to focus on and learn often. For this latest adventure, I decided it was time to pursue twitter. At first, I must admit, twitter seems very narcissistic and self-centered. I mean, come on, posting blurbs about what I am eating, thinking, doing? That seems awfully presumptuous that anyone would be interested in reading such uneventful posts about my life. Then, I started to think about this a different way:
What if I posted information about new technologies and/or articles that I found while on-line that are for the "good of the cause": Technology Integration?
Hmm... Now, that sounds interesting. Even if no one reads it, I'll at least have it saved out there for me to use in the future (sort of like delicious and/or diigo bookmarks). If someone does see it, then all the better. Perhaps I'll get them interested enough to check it out too.
What if I think about this from an educator's perspective? How could an educator use this instructionally?
Let's see... I post a question for students to ponder such as, "Why is the sky blue?" Then it might just get students intrigued enough to research this and post a response back to my "tweet" (twitter term for posting a blurb). It might also get students to post other questions such as, "What types of clouds are there in the sky?" It could very well act as a discussion starter and/or gets students to start thinking about things on their own.
How can it get students actively involved?
Students can start to form deeper discussions, relationships, and commonalities with others in the process. By following each other's tweets, they might learn that another student also has an interest in fishing or classic literature. Twitter might just help span the gap among classmates and help them to see each other as distinct human beings with interests outside of the classrooms. Also, by following others' "tweets", it might be possible to learn from each other's experiences and seek help from others.
Okay, here's a non-work related use of how twitter members helped me. I was working on my motorcycle and was truly frustrated that I broke off a bolt and could not remove it from the engine. I posted a tweet about my frustration. Low and behold, someone out in the wild blue read my tweet, sensed my plight, and replied back directly to my account by using the @ryanshumaker text in the beginning of their message. This sent a message similar to an email to my twitter account. They offered a possible solution to help me with my frustration and question. Here is their response:
@ryanshumaker get a set of lh extractors. Have done the same thing and these work well. http://www.toolprice.com/product/8304D
Wow! Someone actually gave me a knowledgeable piece of advice to help me out and even gave me a link to the site to help me purchase the tool.
Now I am starting to see possible uses of twitter that are worthwhile and educational.
If you want to post directly back to a person (whether they follow you or not), just type the "@" symbol followed by their username and they will receive the message. That's important to note as well.
The real value of Twitter comes when you start to follow a group of people who have similar objectives, interests, or are part of a larger common interest group.
I found that as I started to add people "to follow" that the value of twitter compounded. Now, I did still see some silly tweets like "I don't like stale cheetos." that made me roll my eyes that someone thought that was interesting enough to share. But, beyond that I started to see very valuable tweets such as, "Fliggo - Create Your Own Video Site http://tinyurl.com/bmmemy". Now that could prove interesting. Learning from others who happen to be studying the same topics I am: web 2.0 technologies. Now I don't have to locate all of these cool tools on my own. I can learn from others who are searching for the same types of educational topics that I am.
Twitter has a lot of potential for meaningless chatter among people, but it also has the capability to extend a student's knowledge as well as making them feel part of a community of people on-line with the same interests. I'll leave you with this quote from an Educause article titled, "7 Things You Should Know about Twitter." from July 2007:
"In the same way that clickers facilitate active learning, Twitter, too, could be used in an academic setting to foster interaction about a given topic. Metacognition—the practice of thinking about and reflecting on your learning—has been shown to benefit comprehension and retention. As a tool for students or professional colleagues to compare thoughts about a topic, Twitter can be a viable platform for metacognition, forcing users to be brief and to the point—an important skill in thinking clearly and communicating effectively."
For the complete Educause article, click here.
created by: Ryan Shumaker, Director of Technology, West Perry School District.
Twitter (twitter.com)
I'm really trying to pick a new web 2.0 tool to focus on and learn often. For this latest adventure, I decided it was time to pursue twitter. At first, I must admit, twitter seems very narcissistic and self-centered. I mean, come on, posting blurbs about what I am eating, thinking, doing? That seems awfully presumptuous that anyone would be interested in reading such uneventful posts about my life. Then, I started to think about this a different way:What if I posted information about new technologies and/or articles that I found while on-line that are for the "good of the cause": Technology Integration?
Hmm... Now, that sounds interesting. Even if no one reads it, I'll at least have it saved out there for me to use in the future (sort of like delicious and/or diigo bookmarks). If someone does see it, then all the better. Perhaps I'll get them interested enough to check it out too.What if I think about this from an educator's perspective? How could an educator use this instructionally?
Let's see... I post a question for students to ponder such as, "Why is the sky blue?" Then it might just get students intrigued enough to research this and post a response back to my "tweet" (twitter term for posting a blurb). It might also get students to post other questions such as, "What types of clouds are there in the sky?" It could very well act as a discussion starter and/or gets students to start thinking about things on their own.How can it get students actively involved?
Students can start to form deeper discussions, relationships, and commonalities with others in the process. By following each other's tweets, they might learn that another student also has an interest in fishing or classic literature. Twitter might just help span the gap among classmates and help them to see each other as distinct human beings with interests outside of the classrooms. Also, by following others' "tweets", it might be possible to learn from each other's experiences and seek help from others.Okay, here's a non-work related use of how twitter members helped me. I was working on my motorcycle and was truly frustrated that I broke off a bolt and could not remove it from the engine. I posted a tweet about my frustration. Low and behold, someone out in the wild blue read my tweet, sensed my plight, and replied back directly to my account by using the @ryanshumaker text in the beginning of their message. This sent a message similar to an email to my twitter account. They offered a possible solution to help me with my frustration and question. Here is their response:
@ryanshumaker get a set of lh extractors. Have done the same thing and these work well. http://www.toolprice.com/product/8304D
Wow! Someone actually gave me a knowledgeable piece of advice to help me out and even gave me a link to the site to help me purchase the tool.
Now I am starting to see possible uses of twitter that are worthwhile and educational.
If you want to post directly back to a person (whether they follow you or not), just type the "@" symbol followed by their username and they will receive the message. That's important to note as well.
The real value of Twitter comes when you start to follow a group of people who have similar objectives, interests, or are part of a larger common interest group.
I found that as I started to add people "to follow" that the value of twitter compounded. Now, I did still see some silly tweets like "I don't like stale cheetos." that made me roll my eyes that someone thought that was interesting enough to share. But, beyond that I started to see very valuable tweets such as, "Fliggo - Create Your Own Video Site http://tinyurl.com/bmmemy". Now that could prove interesting. Learning from others who happen to be studying the same topics I am: web 2.0 technologies. Now I don't have to locate all of these cool tools on my own. I can learn from others who are searching for the same types of educational topics that I am.Twitter has a lot of potential for meaningless chatter among people, but it also has the capability to extend a student's knowledge as well as making them feel part of a community of people on-line with the same interests. I'll leave you with this quote from an Educause article titled, "7 Things You Should Know about Twitter." from July 2007:
"In the same way that clickers facilitate active learning, Twitter, too, could be used in an academic setting to foster interaction about a given topic. Metacognition—the practice of thinking about and reflecting on your learning—has been shown to benefit comprehension and retention. As a tool for students or professional colleagues to compare thoughts about a topic, Twitter can be a viable platform for metacognition, forcing users to be brief and to the point—an important skill in thinking clearly and communicating effectively."
For the complete Educause article, click here.
created by: Ryan Shumaker, Director of Technology, West Perry School District.