Chris Storms

I’m still pushing Twitter for my colleagues. I get a lot of “I don’t get Twitter” comments from a lot of folks which to me is more encouraging than discouraging.  It means we are on the cutting edge of something.

Twitter has so many great uses when it comes to communication, and I believe it is here to stay in our culture.  Have your TV on for more than a half-hour and you’re sure to see someone’s twitter address.  News anchors, sports shows, talk radio hosts, celebrities, and athletes are all using Twitter to communicate.

So here is a free tool, on the internet, in a realm where kids are, and it’s so simple to use.  If not “getting it” is the only reason we aren’t putting it to use in the classroom, I think we need to get past that – because there are millions of people who do seem to “get it” – many of them our parents & students.

Here’s one professor who embracing Twitter.

Rankin uses a weekly hashtag to organize comments, questions and feedback posted by students to Twitter during class. Some of the students have downloaded Tweetdeck to their computers, others post by SMS or by writing questions on a piece of paper. Rankin then projects a giant image of live Tweets in the front of the class for discussion and suggests that students refer back to the messages later when studying. The Professor’s results so far have been mixed but it is clear that more students are participating in classroom discussions than they used to.

If you’re interested in getting more information (lots more information) about using Twitter to help facilitate learning, you need to check out How to use Twitter for Social Learning.