In the article Teachers take to Twitter, it points out that "Google is a powerful search engine, but it’s not nuanced the way Twitter is. Since searching Twitter is searching the minds of teachers. It’s collective intelligence." I agree with it since I seldom find articles which are relevant to my academic assignments and research papers. However, Twitter networks provide targeted feedback and resources from peers or a professional network of colleagues all over the globe that other Internet tools like Google and message boards cannot match.
Therefore, for myself I will use Twitter as an important tool to learn and teach. Beyond using it for lessons, I can trade ideas and insights regarding social networking in the classroom with like-minded professionals and other topics. The most important thing is that Twitter provides links from source which I can trust. I will also use Twitter in my future teaching to both my students and parents. For example, Parents who are interested in daily classroom activities can follow teacher tweets discussing some of the lessons learned and any progress on projects with one quick and handy trip to a dedicated Twitter feed. Students can leave questions that they didn't ask in the class on the Twitter. Other students can also help me to answer them. I can retweet articles, new stories and opinions relevant to a specific class as an excellent, convenient supplement to classroom lectures. So my students can well prepared before class and further learn according to their interests after my instructions.
In the article Teaching Twitter :The History of the Present. It points out that "Twitter is described frequently as a microblogging web site, which can also be accessed through internet-ready smart phones. " Therefore, I can keep in touch with my students anywhere and anytime and they can get my messages immediately. For example, if I need them to to read a useful link which I read just now before today's reading class, they can read it as soon as possible. Students can learn what is happening and search for relevant articles and answers on Twitter anywhere and anytime through smart phones. However, Twitter still has its limitation. Twitter is blocked in China. I believe Twitter is also blocked in some other countries. Therefore, not every educator and students can benefit from Twitter. But I hope some day people from all over the world can use this helpful tool in their daily life.
I liked that you pointed out how helpful Twitter is to you and how much you would use it and then pointed out how it is blocked in China. So 20% on the world's population--and who knows how many teachers are among them--are blocked from using this valuable resource. Something to think about as we take all of this for granted.
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