Sunday, November 7, 2010
| Tweet |
We've covered a variety of uses of Twitter in the K-12 classroom here at Learn it in 5. Below is a very well done video by educator, Chris Haskell, on creating a classroom Twitter and setting up mobile phone alerts for Tweets. This is very cool for both teacher and student.
If you're using Twitter like this or in any other way, please leave us a comment.
Comments
@schaefer12laura
I used to think Twitter was foreign and I hesitated! I like also how the person writing talks about having everyone sign up together and being able to have the parents follow their child and the class.
Everything is so accessable and allows communication with ease. Being able to communicate with parents so easily is so exciting. The time saved and all of the details shared helps everyone to be on the same page. I like making expectations known so easily.
What a great way to keep in touch with parents. Everyone is so busy these days....try to send home emails, and they don't always get read; sometimes papers get lost. Using twitter is a great way to keep parents informed on their cell phones with what is going on in the classroom.
I like the simplicity of being connected to parents. Getting information to my students' families has always been tricky but it seems that everyone (except me) has a smartphone. I also think they would like communication to be brief and on their schedule. The process seems very easy.
Anymore, people rely on their phones for just about anything, especially with smartphones being so prevelant. Encouraging parents to set up an account and stay connected through their phone keeps them involved in what is going on in the class. Being able to have open lines of communication even once the school day is over is a great way to keep everyone informed of tests, homework, projects, assemblies, etc. I like that there are ways to avoid receiving Tweets during certain hours, and I like that the process is simple. It's just one more way to communicate information.
I believe that educators have to be willing to change with the times and use resources that students are excited about. Using twitter in the classroom is something that is going to increase more and more and teachers need to be ready for that to happen. The funny thing about it is that students may be able to have a voice that they may have never had or even help teach others about technology while they are learning the class material at the same time!
I think this video basically sums up what this class has been all about...every one can be connected and lines of communication aren't only open from 7:00 - 3:00 every day. More importantly than just expanding the times you can communicate, this gives a way to draw more people into the loop. More parents knowing what is going on leads to more student accountability (hopefully!)..more teachers being connected leads to more exchange of ideas and the development of better classroom practices. But it only works if people actually buy in and become part of the process. Also having parents involved in the process (and making sure students know this) will keep the Tweets on point and hopefully from being abusive in anyway.
Matthew Chamberlin – My first reaction to all this is that Twitter is going to be so common in the future. It could turn into the general messaging station for everyone in society. As smart phones become more and more common, everybody is going to be plugged in all the time. They are either going to be very grateful for messages from their school or very annoyed. Our school system has this system called One Call. The principal of the high school can speak a message aloud and it is instantly delivered to every parent and teacher in the district- Great for snow days and reminders.
I love the idea of being able to send messages directly to parent's on their phones. With returning to preschool next year, establishing clear communication with parents is key. This is just another way that Twitter opens doors in the world of education-awesome!
1. As I watched this I immediately changed my twitter settings so my phone would not get message during the night. Yes, before this, I did hear a tweet or two during the night.
2. Like the below writer, I have also kept a web site with a blog of assignments and short description of the day's material. This was great for some students and some parents, as well as myself, for reviewing material for tests, midterms, and finals.
3. I coached many teams in the past few years. This would have been the perfect way to notify everyone (the parents) of changes in fields or rain-outs.
4. I especially like the idea of sending out the tweet at a later scheduled time as an extra reminder.
5. All parents would be able to see what all students are writing on the page; this should help deter abuse.
I have used a class website for years where I have uploaded announcements and weekly assignments, but the fact that students and parents would automatically receive updates to their phone as opposed to having to seek them out should certainly make it easier for everyone to be in the loop - no excuses!. One speedbump would be those who don't have texting, but they would just have to take the initiative to check their twitter account. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, before this course I didn't see the difference between Facebook & Twitter. However, now I believe that Facebook is more for socialization, and Twitter is for professional development/networking. I agree that Twitter provides parents an effective, realtime snapshot of what is going on in their child's class. The teacher will definitely have to spend time teaching the students how to set up accounts to maintain privacy and relay Twitter respect/etiquette, and model for parents how to utilize Twitter's powerful features as well.
The use of Twitter in the classroom continues to amaze me! I think this is a great tool. Wow, how informative for students and teachers!!!! I wonder too, how many parents are on Twitter? As a parent myself, just learning about Twitter, I probably would be really confused without any previous knowledge; therefore, the teacher would need to show some of these learn it in 5 videos. :) I do think this is a real cool communication piece between all parties (teacher, student, and parent).
Susan Tenon comment - This was an interesting way to keep in contact with parents and students. I know most students are on Twitter. I would be curious to how many parents are on Twitter.
Great idea to get messages out to parents. It sure beats hoping that the kids will take home a note! Wonderful way to remind students about needed supplies the next day, or due dates for projects. It sure would be difficult for students to tell mom and dad that there isn't any homework when I can send their parents a tweet! Of course the only drawback will be those few students whose parents do not have a smartphone, computer, and of course a Twitter handle.
I especially like the idea of scheduling tweets to go out at certain times, like after school when students are home, to remind them (or their parenst) about homework, tests, etc.
This video got me thinking about how ideal it would be for teachers to use twitter to put out class assignments, announcements and reminders at designated times. Most of our parents who work and always have their cell phone with them would probably think this is a great idea and be that more involved! The only problem would be as with all technology, connecting and being mindful of parents who don't have laptops or the right kind of cell phones, though I am guessing that eventually, almost everyone's cell phone will eventually have web and twitter access. Meg Cunningham
I like how twitter is being used as a real time message board. Keeping students, parents and teacher connected and upto date with the daily curriculum. In my subject there is less of a socratic approach and class discussions often require very complex answers and less room for opinon and life experiences. I would really like to see some examples of how science teachers are using some of this technolgy, because to date most of the focus is how this being used in the liberals arts.