Making Twitter work in the classroom

Many educators like to experiment with new technologies, mainly to see if they can add value to the educational process. I recall experimenting with and piloting Moodle before it was launched in NCI. My own YouTube channel and Blog were very much part of an experiment when I was teaching on the now defunct Higher Diploma in e-Learning and MSc in Learning Technology programmes.

I have been using Twitter since 1st May 2009, but only this year have tried to use it a bit more in class. I know a few students follow me (and I do follow back!), and perhaps they read some of the links in the tweets that I occasionally post. This year I have two classes where I have set up hashtags especially for the class. For the most part I tweet something that I think will be of interest, or that may have popped up for discussion in class. However, my very modest efforts have not really succeeded, though some students do keep discussion going.

Today I was interested to read an article entitled "Twitter Aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy: A Must Have Poster for Your Class" by Med Kharbach in the Educational Technology and Mobile Learning eZine. In this he provides an infographic which is "a visual guide to help you better leverage the educational potential with your students". It is cleverly linked to Bloom's Taxonomy and shows how Twitter can develop literacies such as: digital literacy, global literacy, network literacy, and information literacy. It also encourages higher order thinking skills.

The infographic also shows some do's and don'ts with Twitter. I think it is a valuable educational tool and I will persevere with using it in class, with perhaps more thinking into how I can integrate it better for the students.


UPDATE 31st March 2023.

All links have been removed from original post as they violated Blogger's  "malware and viruses policy".

Image source:  Educational Technology and Mobile Learning.