Social Media in the Classroom

Twitter in your classroom?

Twitter can be used in a variety of ways for eLearning and social learning, as it opens different avenues of audiences. There are many factors you need to consider while evaluating Twitter for use in your classroom. It is a fair to assume that many of the students in our classrooms are already active on twitter, so that makes it a little easier. Lets look at the strong points of using Twitter as an educational tool.

Hashtags (#) are used in several different ways to communicate, each having a practical use in the classroom. A hashtag draws attention to the subject you want people to pay attention to or ask questions about. It will also connect people to subject matter or other people currently interested in the same subject. Twitter is also a real time discussion, you can use it during the specified time and for further discussion later. Encouraging students to share their thoughts,concerns, and interests. It is a great way to collaborate with others and reflect on what they are learning.

Pros

• The app makes it available from almost anywhere.
• It is a great way to connect to your students.
• Builds a community of learners.

Cons

• Not the best for visual content.
• Your student could easily become distracted.
• Limits content to 140 characters or less.