Journal #5

Reporter, D. (2012, June 6).
Twitter's blue bird 'Larry' gets a haircut in logo makeover.
Retrieved November 1, 2015.

 Oh the Twittersvere. The only place where people can express themselves in 140 characters or less to people who may or may not care.

Okay, that may be a tad bit dramatic. Especially seeing as I use Twitter on a daily basis, for 100% non-educational purposes. I mean, how else am I supposed to know what Niall Horan is doing now that One Direction is taking a year off touring? (He posted on his Instagram that he was currently hungover and watching Marley and Me, in case you were wondering.) Or what messages two stuffed rainbow gay bears are sending to the "Larrie" Fandom? (You don't want to know; it'll consume your soul.)

But I digress. 

I have been on Twitter going on seven years. Yes, that's a crazy long time and I've basically only ever used it to keep up-to-date with the fandoms I'm involved in. The thought of using Twitter for educational purposes really puzzled me at first. I mean, back in my day we had to use dial-up internet…

But then I read through the PowerPoint and I could actually see how it could be useful. When students are having fun, they have a tendency to learn better. If having them pretend to be Huckleberry Finn and tweet out various things to better understand the book, then why not?

I remember back in high school my government teacher had us watch 60 Minutes every Sunday and write a short report about it for extra credit. I can definitely see a teacher using the same tactic, but with Twitter. Watch the news over the weekend and tweet out about anything interesting, something that may pique your interest, which could then fuel discussions for the following Monday. It's a great way to create discussion topics and find real-time posts.

Another aspect the PowerPoint brought up was keeping parents informed on what's going on in class. How many times do you recall (or have your kids) come home and you've had to answer the "so what'd you do at school today" question? When you're in elementary school, this was probably easier to answer or you just showed your parents your homework for that evening, but once you entered that awkward middle school era and the "too cool for you" high school time, you may have been one of those kids that just grunted and shrugged. With teacher's tweeting out to parent's what's going on, they're able to stay engaged.

I've been laughing for the last 10 minutes,
dominos and pizza hut fighting over Louis tomlinson
pic.twitter.com/dzrme1s4mP. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 1, 2015.

Twitter is such a versatile platform. It is incredibly effective for marketing, especially in subtle ways, and I think it definitely can be used in schools to engage students in ways that'll help them learn.

Q. 1 | What are some things to be cautious of whilst integrating Twitter into the classroom?

I think one big thing that any teacher should be aware of before integrating any Internet activity into their classroom and that is Internet safety. Students should have private accounts that do not geolocate them. Maybe I'm paranoid, but sometimes kids do not realise how easy it is to find someone in real life by something they post on the Internet. 

Another thing would be that students should not get too comfortable with Internet lingo. Of course while using Twitter you're limited in your character count, so you may have to use an 'r' instead of an "are," but students still need to be able to write proper essays. The degradation of grammar and writing would be detrimental to society. 

The other issue with Twitter is that sometimes users do not realise how much impact their words have in real life. There have been numerous cases of people being fired from their jobs because of what they post online. Cyberbullying is an issue in today's society that has caused too many suicides in teens and young adults. Words have power, especially when it's online.

Q. 2 | If a teacher says, feel free to Tweet me your questions outside of class, are they opening Pandora's box?

Students are always welcome to visit teacher's after class if they have questions. Assuming the teacher enjoys their job, normally they would be more than happy to help. But now adding in social media aspects, does this cause a bigger issue? Students can be procrastinators and wait until 10pm the night before to do homework. If they have a question then and tweet their teacher, but don't get an answer right away, are the students going to blame the teacher? Obviously there should be time limits clearly set, just like if someone were to email a teacher and not expect a reply back immediately. But with Twitter, there tends to be a more instantaneous response expectancy. If teachers plan to use Twitter outside the classroom, boundaries should be made clear up front.