Microblogging

Until this course, I have only used Twitter for social networking, or so I thought. As I scroll through my twitter feed on my personal account I notice that I follow friends, celebrities, news sources, and politics. I have realized that I use twitter not only for social networking and catching up with friends, but as a way to stay informed on what is going on in my area and the world. If I can use it to follow politics then why not use it to follow educational topics as well? Through my professional twitter account I have noticed the power twitter can hold in an educational setting.

The article, "Over25 Ways To Teach With Twitter" sheds light on the value of microblogging in the classroom. This article suggests 25 ways for teachers to use twitter a few include; asking for recommendations, writing a book list, sharing new studies, starting a twitter book club, and to posting requests for people to speak at your events. These ideas can go both ways, as a teacher you can write a book list and also view other educators book lists for idea. Twitter can connect you with educators from all over the world at all different steps in their educational path. This can make a diverse array of opinions available to you and enhance your educational knowledge.

The article, "Teaching With Twitter" also provides suggestions that are more geared toward students. One of the suggestions in this article is to post "twitter pals" where students find a penpal via twitter from another culture and share ideas with them. This can be very useful for ESL students to learn about American culture as well as practice utilizing the English Language. This can also help connect students with other students in their school to get to know them on a personal level and have interactions with them.

I think that microblogging can be very useful in an academic setting as long is it is utilize properly and safely. The internet is a big place, which can be a good thing or a bad thing.