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Twitter and Teachers: A
Mini Workshop
Enza Antenos-Conforti
Dept. Spanish/Italian
Montclair State University, NJ
Follow me: @iVenus
Image credit: http://www.distance-education.org/Articles/Top-75-College-Education-Tweets-133.html
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604,00.html
Many have criticised tweets to be “banalities” and “mindless”
What We Tweet• Tweets are a source of
information; people in certain places, at certain events, sharing at a global level
*GFW-great fire wall
Tweets in Education
• Tweets are – self-perpetuating– generative– authentic
• Tweeps / Twitterers (users)– interpret input– produce output – engage in conversations
An Educational Networking ToolClass chatter Classroom communityGet a sense of the WorldTrack a WordTrack a ConferenceInstant Feedback
Follow a ProfessionalFollow a Famous PersonGrammarRule Based WritingMaximizing the Teaching MomentPublic Note PadWriting Assignment Source: AcademHack
www.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/twitter-for-academia/
Italian Students & TwitterTwitterers can:• be engaged in either synchronous or
asynchronous modes of communication implementing the same Web 2.0 tool
• use and interact with individuals or community members in the L2; and
• participate in the virtual classroom and in the L2 culture
The full study is available in the 2009 Calico Monograph SeriesThe Next Generation: Social Networking and Online Collaboration in Foreign Language LearningEditors, Lara Lomicka and Gillian Lord. ISSN:1085-2999
Twitter as Individual & Community
Twitterers can:• micro-blog about what they are
doing (learner written output)• read what others are doing (learner’s
comprehensible input)• communicate directly with someone
they are following (negotiation of meaning)
The findings: Social media
Before this course• 89% reported visiting at
least one social media website regularly
• 76% visited three or more different social media platforms
• Only 1 student was already micro-blogging
Did not like it
Neutral
Liked it
Loved it
2
9
8
0
3
3
11
2
Opinion after 14 weeks Initial impression
The findings: Distribution of tweetsOf tweets posted, one was expected to be a reply (i.e., to engage others in dialogue)• 60% of tweeted replies
were to students• 25% were to the
professor• 14% were to native
Italians
Students’ Reflections
• Twitter can transform social networking to educational networking.
• Twitter helped reduce affective filters.
• Learners stated that twittering had them asking for more information and allowed them to clarify using the L2.
Teaching with Twitter• Create a Twitter handle for
academic use only• Use class time to have
students create their handle, follow classmates and tweet for the first time
• Prompt them initially to have them feel comfortable with Tweeting
• Develop your best practices for course objectives
Managing Multiple Identities
Community-building: Crowd Status
In & Outside of the Classroom
BEYOND• Have them talk about
themselves (recycle grammar and vocabulary)
• Have them investigate topics related to syllabi content
• Have them investigate language use (vocabulary building)
IN• Have them brainstorm
ideas and post them
• Get instant feedback on topics using it as poll device using hashtags
• Allow them to ask questions and get feedback instantaneously from a larger language community
Learn10.com
Some Great Ideas!
http://www.slideshare.net/travelinlibrarian/twenty-five-interesting-ways-to-use-tw
The Teacher’s PLN
• A Personal Learning Network is essential to implementing Web 2.0 technologies to teaching
Real-time Searches on Twitter
http://search.twitter.com/