A free resource from
the Social Learning Academy How to use Twitter for
Social Learning Contents List
Using Twitter in lectures, classes
and workshops
Last updated:
21/07/2010 14:39
On the
previous page we looked at
incorporating the backchannel into a
presentation for event. Most of that is relevant here, but
additionally we want to look at its wider use in the
lecture hall, classroom or workshop, in particular for supporting more
class participation inside and outside the classroom.
"Inside the classroom" does
mean letting students use laptops and other mobile devices in
the lecture hall or classroom, which may be something that many
professors, teachers or academics are not used to. If
however, it is the institution's policy not to allow this (and
can't be changed), then Twitter can still be used "outside the
classroom" for pre-,post- and in between class activities to add value
to the class itself.
Pre-class
Activities might include
The professor/lecturer/teacher/trainer introducing the
lesson, i.e. explaining what's going to be discussed/covered in the
class
The students/learners submitting questions
for discussion in advance before class
During the class
In addition to using the backchannel for the presentation
(see previous page )
Display the pre-class tweets/discussion that has been
taken place and that should take place
Displaying the in-class tweets to keep the discussion
going
Post-class and between classes
Activities might include
Posting notes after the class, for those who missed the
class
Continuing the discussion, especially
if out of
time during class, as well as keeping the students/learners
communicating with one
another.
Dealing with students' individual questions
Sharing links to relevant
resources and
websites that pertain to the lesson.
Students share their experiences of what they have done
and are doing
Sending out reminders about upcoming tests,
project due dates, or any course/class-related news
Twitter is a great
tool as a backchannel for a course, class or
conversation.
It is a good idea to
set up a separate Twitter account for a class or
training event - this helps to keep all tweets
organised). Ask the students to
follow this class account. You will then be able
to see all the followers of this account listed on the
class profile.
It is also useful to
use a dedicated hashtag for the whole programme as well
as individual hashtags as for different classes or weeks, e.g. #class and #class1 #class2 #class3 etc
to keep. Ask the students to
use the relevant hashtag(s) in all their tweets.
Sharing course
resources
You can also use some
of the 3rd party apps to share resources with your
students on Twitter, as described in
Sharing links and resources.
Twitter groups
If you prefer to set
up something more private, so that everyone can tweet privately, consider using
GroupTweet - This turns a standard Twitter
account into a group communication hub where members
can post updates to everyone in the group using
direct messages. When the group account receives a
direct message from a group member, GroupTweet
converts it into a tweet that all followers can see.
SavorChat
This is a very simple FREE group chat
application for Facebook and Twitter use. Just
sign in with your Twitter account.
Examples of use of Twitter in the
class/lecture room
Monika Rankin's well-publicised
"Twitter experiment" at UT Dallas is documented in this
article and in the video beneath.
Martin looks at
how a record of an event could support vicarious
learning and/or just be used as a simple way to enhance
the navigation within the ever popular lecture capture.
On the
