I have always been somewhat cautious when it comes to social media and until taking this course, I had not really considered using it as a teacher. For one of our modules we needed to establish a Twitter account and send out at least one tweet during the week to our classmates. I also read a couple of journal articles regarding the use of twitter as both an assessment tool for higher education and a way to improve student engagement with the Gen Y and Net Gen groups.
This was my first tweeet:
At the end of the week I posted the following statement to my classmates:
I ended up really enjoying this exercise and found that there were a number of news organizations, political leaders and really interesting people doing really interesting things in the world that I could follow and receive regular updates from. I gave my twitter name out to my students and told them to follow me as I'd send out articles and interesting links that I came across that were related to the courses I teach. Out of approximately 160 students I had 1 (yes, that's right...just 1) student who decided to follow me on Twitter. Perhaps it isn't the answer to student engagement that some researchers believe it to be! I'm still hopeful though...
This is definitely a tool that I am going to use in the future, both personally and professionally. I like being able to receive relevant, current tweets from people that I am interested in following and being able to check these from my blackberry. I appreciate the convenience and the diversion while I am waiting to pick up my children after school. I also see the potential for incorporating it into my classes and hope for additional participation from my students next semester. Let's face it...when you only have 1 student following you there is alot of room for improvement! If you would like to follow me, my twitter name is @lisaschw.
This was my first tweeet:
"Tech tools ION course is forcing me to to get
with the program - first tweet today!"
At the end of the week I posted the following statement to my classmates:
"I've spent the last couple of days actually following my twitter account far more than I thought I would and I'm actually quite excited to see what the possibilities are with using it in the classroom."
I ended up really enjoying this exercise and found that there were a number of news organizations, political leaders and really interesting people doing really interesting things in the world that I could follow and receive regular updates from. I gave my twitter name out to my students and told them to follow me as I'd send out articles and interesting links that I came across that were related to the courses I teach. Out of approximately 160 students I had 1 (yes, that's right...just 1) student who decided to follow me on Twitter. Perhaps it isn't the answer to student engagement that some researchers believe it to be! I'm still hopeful though...
This is definitely a tool that I am going to use in the future, both personally and professionally. I like being able to receive relevant, current tweets from people that I am interested in following and being able to check these from my blackberry. I appreciate the convenience and the diversion while I am waiting to pick up my children after school. I also see the potential for incorporating it into my classes and hope for additional participation from my students next semester. Let's face it...when you only have 1 student following you there is alot of room for improvement! If you would like to follow me, my twitter name is @lisaschw.
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