Journal assignment #3

Journal assignment #3

Anna Rankin

Use of Twitter by Today’s Educators

Objective

This Blog reviewed the article “Twitter in Higher Education 2010: Usage Habits and Trends of Today’s College Faculty” published by Magna Publications. The article revealed that in 2010 35% of Faculty surveyed use Twitter.   Twitter has over 100 million users with 300,000 new users joining daily so it’s not surprising that it is finding its way into education as a learning tool.  Faculty report that they use it to share information with their peers, distribute real time news, and as a way to communicate with students on assignments. 

Reflective

There are differing opinions about the usefulness and effectiveness of Twitter.  Some Faculty report that it is a convenient way to keep abreast of peers’ work and to mass communicate with students while others state that Twitter limits the ability of students to converse effectively, encourages poor writing skills, and leaves little time for reflection.  Some Faculty have argued that it weakens students’ ability to develop critical thinking skills, and take and support positions.  They argue that face to face communication is much more effective for developing those skills. 

Interpretive

It is important to evaluate new social media as a potential learning tool.  Instructors should keep an open mind regarding new ways to communicate and read about tools like Twitter, experiment with them and learn about the strengths and weaknesses, then decide if it has value in the classroom. This information exchange will continue to evolve and develop and as educators we need to evaluate and experiment with these media in order to develop relevant and effective instruction. Listen to student feedback and critically evaluate the outcomes.  In certain situations Twitter would be a useful tool, but it should not be overused or used without careful consideration of the instructional objective. 

Decisional

I believe that we need to embrace the rapid explosion of social media like Twitter.  It is obviously a great way to get information out to a large group and it’s also useful to pass information from the original source to students.  In my work as sustainability advisor on campus I would consider using Twitter as a way to raise awareness of issues and events.

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/10/more-than-a-third-of-higher-education-faculty-are-on-twitter/