We (Drs. Carrie Hong, Geraldine Mongillo, and myself) have been using Twitter to facilitate students' note-taking and idea generation as part of the writing process. Over the course of the semester, we had students tweet thoughts, opinions, etc. about their experiences as a first-year college student, and then turn this into an edited Survival Guide, which we printed up.
"Students Turn Their Tweets Into a William Paterson Freshman Survival Guide" http://www.wpunj.edu/news/detail.dot?id=285092
Hilary Wilderof NJ11:07AM June 05, 2011
I've used Twitter in the classroom in a somewhat different way. For me, the value of Twitter (and, potentially, other social networking sites) is its ability to extend the class discussions beyond the classroom wall. Twitter allows us to include other people in our class discussions - people with different knowledge bases, different perspectives, different agendas.
In my class at Davidson College on HIV/AIDS, students and non-students post comments and share links via Twitter. We have a richer, fuller conversation because of the comments from non-students. Experts in various fields have participated in our conversations. Their input has benefitted our in-class discussions immeasurably.
David Wessnerof NC10:05PM May 30, 2011
At St. John's Prep School (NY), we have been using Twitter in my freshman and senior English classes for the past two years. Essentially, it is a beautiful tool to teach writing thesis statements, analyzing a written product, publishing, etc.
Twitter also enables students to connect with scholars and students and elevate the literary dialogue and potentially more meaningful and deeper literary research.
Kathleen Prager
English Chair
St. John's preparatory School
Astoria, New York
kathleen pragerof NY12:10PM May 26, 2011
When I started reading, I had to admit I was a little skeptical about the "unique" in the title, but when I read #s 2, 3, and 5, you had me. What great ideas! I love #2 because I am one of those people who need to practice being concise. #3 is awesome because you could do it with any book, and you are right, it creates a multi-dimensional experience! And #5 is an excellent example of another way of bringing the expert to you. We use things like Adobe Connect to get experts in our classroom or Skype, but I never thought about Twitter...it's perfect!
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Hilary Wilder of NJ 11:07AM June 05, 2011
David Wessner of NC 10:05PM May 30, 2011
kathleen prager of NY 12:10PM May 26, 2011
Melissa H. of PA 7:40AM May 26, 2011