Twittering away ...

I began using Twitter in the classroom several years ago. My early uses were:

1. Projection of a class twitter feed onto the whiteboard, encouraging students to 'tweet' questions as we worked our way through course material, and
2. Encouraging student responses to class questions via Twitter.

Both approaches seemed to achieve pretty much what other teachers have found. Some students have become more engaged with the class and the material, and the traditionally quieter students have been given a 'voice' that they might otherwise lose simply because they are more retiring or less confident in class discussion. Better engagement is not universal however, some students choosing not to use the medium at all.

Inspired by some examples of the use of Twitter to support and extend student learning at the recent K12 ICT Leaders' conference, I have extended this. I now 'tweet' interesting course ideas, examples and questions, using a class 'hashtag'. Here is today's example:

You need to live in Christchurch to know why this building is significant.

Responses at this early stage are slim but promising. Students will either DM me via Twitter, or give a response using the class hashtag so that other students can see what they think.

As a teacher of economics, my focus has always been on taking the theory and helping students to see its relevance in the world around them. The use of Twitter to achieve this seems to help some (but not others). I quickly discovered that Twitter has yet to reach across to all younger people, it seems to be largely a tool for the slightly older. Early signs are promising, I'll persist.