Twitter and Education

Hopefully by this point most people in education know what Twitter is seeing that many of their students and school systems use the micro-blogging service. I hear students each and everyday talking about Twitter and what their friends are Tweeting. Last year I opened a Twitter account and at first I almost questioned why I did it. I mean I’m a huge geek and all but Twitter never seemed like something I would use since I had Facebook. Now, two hundred and some odd Tweets later I have two accounts and love the service. I use Twitter mainly to follow journalists, fellow geeks, and lately other educators which all together provides me with a tailored feed of news updates, geek updates, and teaching strategy updates. I read far more Tweets than I write at this point, but that is just the way I use Twitter right now. When I have a full time position and my own classroom I will be Tweeting all the time to give students and parents classroom updates! While some do use the service to simply post when they are going to the bathroom or what they are about to eat I have found that many users truly provide great information dealing with their field. If you use Twitter to follow those in your field or an area you are interested in you usually end up with some great info, if you follow Jimbob down the road, well you might be disappointed.

So Twitter can be useful personally and professionally for information distribution and gathering, but how can it be used in the classroom? One of the best ways I have thought is using it for real time updates of important class information. If you create an account that would be used just as a teacher and tell your students to follow you, it would be super easy to send out deadlines, reminders and links for everything from a quick assignment to a major project. Twitter users can even set up their account to send and receive updates via text message alerts or awesome smartphone apps so that students can check anytime what you have Tweeted lately. Students who follow you would also be able to shoot you a quick message asking a question about an assignment so that you can provide them with a quick response! Another great thing is that since Twitter limits the number of characters that can be used you (and the student) are forced to be straight to the point with each update or question asked.

Another way you would be able to use your Twitter account is to give the account to the parents of students in your class that way they can follow the same updates as your students and keep their student more accountable at home. Parents of course would also be able to ask questions through Twitter the same as students. Even though a lot of teachers have websites that are up to date, with Twitter you can push out instant updates which can then be sent directly to various devices allowing parents to keep up to date without having to check an entire website all the time.

One more use for Twitter is that most school systems have a Twitter account (I’ve noticed this when I’ve visited sites looking for jobs) which would allow you and your students to keep up to date with school events and even closings.

These are just a few of the ways Twitter can be used to make education a little better and keep everyone more connected. I’m sure a lot of teachers out there have a lot more ways to use the service as well and feel free to share them. Check out Twitter, and if you feel like you could make good use of it do it and start sending out those Tweets!

(I can be found on Twitter  @joshuasepos (Personal) and @seposteacher (Professional))

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