Fifty Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

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Fifty ways in which Twitter can be used to enhance and enrich learning in the classroom.

Some examples from the article…

5. Brainstorm. The ability to share ideas as the occur any time and any where creates an excellent opportunity for brainstorming on class topics.

16. Follow mentors. If professors or other key figures in your field of study are on Twitter, follow them to keep up with their research and activities.

So is Twitter just hype?

Research from people (who don’t use Twitter) seem to think so.

Micro-blogging service Twitter remains the preserve of a few, despite the hype surrounding it, according to research.

Just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content, a Harvard study of 300,000 users found.

Anyone who reads my e-Learning Stuff blog will know that I believe that Twitter is all about the coffee and the conversation. Yes there is hype, but for my e-learning community of practice it is working really well as a collaboration and conversational tool.

Steve Wheeler over on Learning with E’s has similar thoughts about the Harvard study.

No, I’m not convinced that this study (which is a survey of 300,000 users) is actually saying anything useful or positive. Some people don’t get Twitter and others only get it partially and use it in a limited manner. Potentially, Twitter is one of the most powerful social networking tools ever to have emerged from the so-called Web 2.0 – and I think it will stand the test of time. There is a large and growing body of tools that support Twitter, and already a vast amount of evidence to show that Twitter can be used inventively as a teaching and learning tool. It seems to me that from their tone, the Harvard researchers can be numbered amongst those people who simply ‘don’t get’ Twitter.

Though having suffered recently from some Twitter problems, I hope that Twitter will sort them out so that Twitter can survive the hype and continue to be a useful tool.