Using Microblogging in Education

A recent article from Education Week's Digital Directions, called "Educators Test the Limits of Twitter Microblogging Tool," discusses the use of microblogging, specifically Twitter, in the classroom, and provides some insight into the benefits and drawbacks of using such tools. For those who aren't yet familiar with Twitter, author Katie Ash provides an introduction into the history of Twitter and its uses.

Probably the number one concern of educators and administrators who are reluctant to implement the use of microblogging tools like Twitter in the classroom is safety. This has caused many schools to block the website altogether. The article mentions a teacher in New York City, Paul Allison, who was intrigued by Twitter, but had serious concerns about letting students set up their own accounts. Uncomfortable with the lack of control teachers would have over them, he set up a site called Youth Twitter. This allows teachers to have some control over their students' postings by granting them "administrator" status. Says Allison, “What we’re trying to create here is a space that looks like Twitter and acts like Twitter, but you’ll be able to make the argument that it’s safe for kids.”

After overcoming some of the challenges in integrating Twitter in the curriculum, teachers will be able to use the site to their advantage. Some ideas mentioned in the article are to use Twitter to provide feedback to students' online projects, to post questions online for the students to answer, and to allow the students to interact with each other. The author also mentions a teacher from Maryland, George Mayo, who used Twitter to create a collaborative story written by his students. He created an account called "Many Voices" and invited his students and students around the world to add to the ongoing story through "tweets." "It was incredibly simple and really amazing," says Mayo. "My students and I would come in, and suddenly kids in China had written a chapter for the book."

Click the link to read Katie Ash's article for yourself..."Educators Test the Limits of Twitter Microblogging Tool"