The Twitter Experiment at UT Dallas - The Diigo Meta page

• 20 Oct 09
  

  Kathy Malsbenden

  diigo twitter teaching education web2.0

• 02 Sep 09
  

  Mike Betts
  • I
    used twitter in the basic U.S. History II survey course at U.T. Dallas in the
    spring 2009 semester.
  • I had one
    graduate student teaching assistant to help with grading and other
    administrative duties for the class.
  • 16 more annotations...
  • • I wanted to find a way to incorporate more student-centered learning
      techniques and involve the students more fully into the material.
    • Twitter users had the
      option of posting updates or comments either through the twitter website or by
      text messaging on a mobile phone.
    • But
      nearly every student in the class had a mobile phone and used text messaging
      features regularly.
    • The idea was to set up all of the students on twitter
      while they were in class and have them post discussion ideas/questions and
      respond to each other using twitter.
    • 
      First, I set up a twitter account for the class called ushistoryII. 
    • Many of them had never heard of twitter and
      only a few were actually using twitter at the time, so this was new technology
      to them as well.
    • Following
      Kim’s suggestion, I gave the students special hash tags to use on all of their
      comments.
    • I loaded tweetdeck on the classroom computer
      and projected it onto the large screen at the front of the room so students
      could watch the stream of comments.
    • This was an important aspect of our twitter
      experiment.  With 90 students in one
      room, I needed the TA’s participation to make this format work.  She was completely on board and energetic
      about trying new things and figuring out how to make twitter an effective
      classroom tool. 
    • With our “best practices,” we found that
      twitter was most effective when it was combined with other discussion
      strategies (small group discussions, interaction with the instructor, and processing
      as an entire class.)  Twitter did not
      replace more conventional discussion formats; instead it enhanced the
      discussions and brought more student interaction.
    • Since
      twitter is a public and open access internet technology, I made twitter participation
      optional for students. 
    • here were also some students
      who either did not have the equipment (laptop computer) to use twitter in class
      or who did not have an unlimited texting plan on the cell phone.
    • The
      TA would go through all of the comments after class and send a direct response
      to any tweets that needed to be addressed—including questions that remained
      unanswered or exceptional comments that warranted direct feedback.
    • I suspect that this bothered me more than it
      bothered the students.  I tend to think
      and process information in a much more structural manner.  Most of the students (in their world of
      intense multi-tasking) seemed completely capable of following several streams
      of thought at one time.
    • Overall,
      I think the twitter experiment was successful primarily because it encouraged
      students to engage who otherwise would not. 
    • Even in smaller classes, only a small number of students actively
      participate in class discussions.
• 18 Aug 09
  

  Rick Reo

  twitter edit772f09 teaching tlt2.0

• 07 Aug 09
  

  Estelle Siener

  twitter web2.0 classtech

• 10 Jul 09
  

  Spiro Bolos

  Great practical advice from Monica Rankin

  education technology learning networking social tips

• 09 Jul 09
  

  Anne Fox

  How to use twitter to increase discussion in a large class. Guess edmodo could be an alternative except that it would not have th option of bringing externals in.

  twitter edmodo discussion

• 

  Kathy Cannon

  This write-up is intended as an informal summary of my use of twitter in the classroom

  twitter teaching showcase

• 01 Jul 09
  

  Clay Burell

  twitter education teaching

• 24 Jun 09
  

  Jason Kern

  Array

• 02 Jun 09
  

  Mathieu Plourde

  This write-up is intended as an informal summary of my use of twitter in the classroom.

  Twitter HigherEd faculty practice University Texas twtCHEP

• 

  Lois Lindemann

  twitter Education teaching learning pedagogy

• 

  Andy Wolber

  teaching education social twitter

• 

  Mario A Núñez

  twitter_academico

• 30 May 09
  

  Kyle Stevens

  Professor reflects on use of Twitter during survey course at UT Dallas.

  twitter USHistory Social_Studies education

• 

  Lisa M Lane

  twitter

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