Microblogging: Twitter and Teaching

  

The world of social networking is constantly evolving. I feel that I am slowly realizing my ignorance for social networking's place in today's society despite the fact that I took part in its earlier use. Truthfully, I do not take part in FaceBook as much as I did when it had first debuted. With that, since Twitter's inception I had not taken part in it nor have I actually read about it. I personally feel that the hashtag phenomenon that exists everywhere in today's culture including the media and social networking, is getting out of hand. Reading about the use of Twitter through the educational environment through the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel Online's article by Erica Perez entitled, "Professors experiment with Twitter as teaching tool" and Steve Wheeler's Blog Post: "Teaching with Twitter" steered me in a neutral direction. I do, however, have certain negative feelings toward using Twitter in classroom environments.
     Certain points from the two links I viewed caught my eye. The Journal Sentinel's article featured that the Twitter's use in classroom environments would allow for students to become more familiar with the social media and it provides an informal interaction between students and teachers. Steve Wheeler listed 10 reasons to why Twitter would be useful for teaching; it included that students would learn discipline through making short summaries of articles or ideas in the restricted character number. He also included informal upsides to using Twitter, which also gives students comfort in using social media as a means of learning and expanding their knowledge in the field of communication and in broadening their horizons through tools such as the 'Micro Write' or 'Twitter Stalking'.
     Although the Twitter proves to have some factors that students would find to be satisfactory and it would bring some value into classroom environments, I still do not find that it would be useful as a primary or even secondary tool in all educational settings. In terms of second language learning, I believe that a brief use of Twitter may be useful for students to express themselves in a second language. Without the pressures of having massive text in the world of blogging, second language learners would be able to use Twitter as a stepping stone in breaking out of an awkward shell they may have towards their second language. Twitter as an essential tool in a classroom, especially that of a second language learning environment, is something I cannot visualize. The Journal Sentinel's article also featured that some students become "converts" to Twitter, while others do not. I believe that Twitter should be used interchangeably with online tools such as Diigo, Blogger, Blogspot and WordPress.
     It may take some time for me to warm up to Twitter as I have recently opened up an account. I may have a post later on taking back my words should I become a "convert" like the Journal Sentinel article mentioned. For now, I will rely on the use of blogs such as Blogger or WordPress to express my thoughts and expression as an upcoming teacher in the world of Second Language Teaching. Have a great weekend everyone!