Using Twitter in the Virtual

ClassroomBill Knapp, Dean

Learning TechnologiesLakeland Community College

CC-BY-NC-SA, by svartling

What is Twitter?

“Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations.”

http://twitter.com/about

Twitter for Teaching and Learning

Case Study:

The Twitter Experiment: UT Dallas

http://youtu.be/6WPVWDkF7U8

http://www.utdallas.edu/~mrankin/usweb/twitterconclusions.htm

Research:

Junco, R., Heiberger, G. and Loken, E. (2011), The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27: 119–132.

Table 1. Engagement Score & GPA

Learning Activities

Asking/posting questions

Identifying key points: lectures/readings

Gathering feedback

Following current topics in news/blogs

Group/class discussion

Following experts/personalities

Sharing resources

Muddiest point/meta-cognitive trails

Adoption Assessment Tool

http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/a-framework-for-teaching-with-twitter/26223

Assessing Twitter Activities

Share a news article, webpage, re-tweet posts relevant to our discussion

Frequency of messages (every day)

Total number of messages ( e.g. 10 per week)

Replying to others who “mentioned” you

Mentioning others in tweets (having to do with something they tweeted)

Asking pertinent questions for the class to respond to

Evaluate / comment on resources: articles, tweets by experts

Create #hashtags and/or lists for others to follow

Getting Started

https://twitter.com/

Getting acquainted – what’s here?

Setting up an account

email address for each account

Privacy Settings

Email Address

Phone Number

Location

Show Media

Protect Tweets (Private Account)

HTTPS - secure pages

Blocking followers who spam

Searching and Subscribing

Searching Keywords

Creating (or following) #Hashtags

Following People

Finding/Creating Lists

Receiving Notifications

Direct Messaging

Mentioning @People

Embedding Twitter feeds in Blackboard

Resources

Widgets

My Website

Lists (or search)

Settings

Test settings

Finish and grab