Tuesday, June 29, 2010
A smart education blogger, Lisa Nielsen, who blogs at The Innovative Educator, raises an interesting issue about using Twitter in Education. The blog post identifies 5 ways to use Twitter in education, two of which focus on using Twitter in the classroom.
Let me assert that I believe Twitter is one of the best social media tools ever created, as it has limitless uses for teaching and learning. Most edtech experts have a clear understanding of how to use Twitter in the K-12 classroom, but do non-techie administrators have a clue? My experience is that they do not.
In fact, most are scared to death of social media tools like Twitter, assuming that these Internet devils are nothing more than playgrounds for deviants, who will destroy the minds of our students.
It's easy for technology leaders in education -- the bloggers and tweeters -- to share their expertise about using Twitter in education with those of us already using Twitter (though we do appreciate these lessons). What's not so easy is getting school prinicpals, firmly entrenched in 20th century teaching and learning and scared to death of social media, to understand the value of Twitter.
So how do we stop the fear?
Perhaps the technology leaders in schools need to approach their principals and explain the power of social media. Maybe, instead of posting to our blogs and tweeting to the proverbial choir, we should be presenting to our own school districts on how to use Twitter and other social media responsibly in the classroom; plus, we should share a few lessons teachers can actually use that employ the power of Twitter in the classroom.
This may be the only way to stop the fear and bring the 20th century schools into the present and moving toward the future.
