Twitter for Teachers

To Tweet Or Not To Tweet A lot of people use Twitter, obviously, but how is micro-blogging interesting for a teacher or education personnel in general? I think it's an amazing tool for professional development and so do quite a few very interesting pedagogues from all over the world. In this 5 minutes-or-so video (the end credits take a couple of minutes ;o), I explain some of the advantages of using Twitter in such a context. Let me know what you think @malalande on Twitter or "like" or comment the video right here on YouTube.
Twitter Search in Plain English http://www.commoncraft.com How Twitter Search creates new opportunities for business feedback, tracking news in real time and discovering trends.
4 Great Twitter Applications for Teachers Using Twitter In The Classroom This video blog is a companion to the article of the same title on EmergingEdTech.com [URL: http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/10/4-great-twitter-applications-for-teachers-using-twitter-in-the-classroom/].

These tools offer free functionality that extend and enhance the possibilities for instructional uses of Twitter.

Twitter is playing a role in more classrooms every day. Articles like "6 Examples of Using Twitter in the Classroom" and "100 Ways To Teach With Twitter" have drawn tens of thousands of readers, a clear testament to the high level of academic interest in this wildly popular microblogging platform.

Teachers are finding new ways to use Twitter to engage their students, build stronger academic and professional relationships, and to share information in a richer learning environment, and they are using tools like these to bring more fun and functionality to the process.

Please click on the URL link to access the article and learn more!
Twitter for Teachers in 15 Minutes - What do I post? An excerpt from EDBuzz's Twitter for Teachers in 15 Minutes. Answers the question of what to post and gives specific ideas. For more visit http://edbuzz.org/products/twitter-for-teachers/
Using Twitter to Build a PLN - How Twitter Inspired One SDW Teacher Twitter is just one tool that can be used to build a PLN. Listen to Waukesha West Social Studies Teacher Dale Van Keuren talk about his experience with Twitter, specifically how it has refreshed, informed, and invigorated his teaching practice.
Teacher Tips: Using Twitter in the Classroom Your students, parents, and colleagues can follow what's happening in your class on their cell phones by connecting to you via twitter
Academic Excellence in 140 Characters This is a video created by one of my students to summarize the research we conducted on the effects of Twitter on student engagement and grades. The journal article summarizing the study and our findings is available online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00387.x/abstract

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of social media by students and its increased use by instructors, very little empirical evidence is available concerning the impact of social media use on student learning and engagement. This paper describes our semester-long experimental study to deter-mine if using Twitter -- the microblogging and social networking platform most amenable to ongoing, public dialogue -- for educationally relevant purposes can impact college student engagement and grades. A total of 125 students taking a ﬁrst year seminar course for pre-health professional majors participated in this study (70 in the experimental group and 55 in the control group). With the experimental group, Twitter was used for various types of academic and co-curricular discussions. Engagement was quantiﬁed by using a 19-item scale based on the National Survey of Student Engagement. To assess differences in engagement and grades, we used mixed effects analysis of variance (ANOVA) models, with class sections nested within treatment groups. We also conducted content analyses of samples of Twitter exchanges. The ANOVA results showed that the experimental group had a signiﬁcantly greater increase in engagement than the control group, as well as higher semester grade point averages. Analyses of Twitter communications showed that students and faculty were both highly engaged in the learning process in ways that transcended traditional classroom activities. This study provides experimental evidence that Twitter can be used as an educational tool to help engage students and to mobilize faculty into a more active and participatory role.

Note: Study participant identifying information has been anonymized in this video.
Twitter in the Classroom on CNN I started using Twitter in the classroom and instantly saw the kids take to it.
New technology, a new model.
Twitter in the classroom? High schoolers at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, Minn. are being engaged in the classroom in a whole new way. By using social media tools and giving them access to the Internet, students are able to learn in different ways. Having discussions about their English class online has increased their level of attention and engagement in their studies.
Connecting with educators online using Twitter Here's how Twitter works, and why this is more efficent than finding and sharing resources with only a local community.

Recorded for EDMOOC.
Twitter for Teachers twitter 101 for teachers
Flutter: The New Twitter As Twitter-mania reaches new levels, Slate V presents a mockumentary about a company that wants to take microblogging to the next level.

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