Blogging & Twittering

While I always felt there was a way to turn blogging and twittering into and educational tool, after reading and watching the links provided, I am more confident than ever that the use of such internet tools will increase engagement as well as productivity in the classroom, and have come away with plenty of ideas and ways to incorporate them into my lesson plans (for whenever I get a class again).

There are really so many uses for blogging in the classroom. Whether you have a teacher blog, where the teacher posts and students comment; a classroom blog, where everyone has a fair shake on posting and commenting; individual student blogs; or all of the above, you're creating an online community that will bolster student engagement. While it's impossible to say that every student will now be interested in classwork because you've incorporated the computer and the internet into it, it's fair to say there will be, on average, a greater level of engagement. Today's students are intrinsically drawn to technology, and I think schools should adjust to this new wave of thinking and doing, rather than trying to pull kids back to "how it's always been." I would be very interested in having my class blog daily rather than keeping an in-class journal. I think in the long run it would be much more beneficial to them, as they increase typing and computing skills while understanding and participating in the way information is communicated today. In the absence of having daily access to computers, I believe blog projects would be beneficial, such as those presented here. My favorite parts of that video are that the students involved are relatively young, yet fully participating in this multi-tiered project, and that it incorporates so many different subjects, showing that blogging could be both used and beneficial to any subject available in the schools. And while there are risks in security, I think that's all the more reason to have blogging in school, to have someone really, logically point out the dangers and how to avoid them. Students are going to get online after school anyway, so why not help prepare them for what's out there?

Unlike blogging, which i both took to and could see an educational value for right away, I wasn't sold on the idea of twittering for a long time. It seemed so trivial and pointless, updating your every move so everyone could read, but did anyone really care? Then came Iran's stolen election, and the flood of tweets coming in real time exposing the government and providing an outlet for the rage felt, as well as keeping those not immediately involved up to date on what was going on. After that I understood that Twitter was not solely an "OMG, I just bought the cuuuuutest shoes" provider, but a new way to quickly share news and information happening around the world, and that many interesting and important people (amazingly there ARE people more interesting and important than our movie and TV celebrities) participated on Twitter. And now, thanks to this class, I'm learning and thinking of new ways Twitter could be used in the classroom. I loved the short story idea, and think involving Twitter in the classroom could really be revolutionary. It's become clear over the past few years that this generation is absolutely glued to their cell phones and iPods, so why not turn the toy into a learning tool? Of course along with the new technology will come new rules and regulations for the classroom, but honestly, it's about time we updated the schools to accommodate our students and the way they think and learn.

I've been on Twitter for awhile now, and am following a number of people, some close friends, some education networks, and a few celebrities I find interesting, insightful, or just plain funny. One of the networks I follow is Barak Obama. I don't care if you like him or hate him, the fact that our President twitters is damn cool. Not that he's "new and edgy", but that he understands how he people of his country go about things, and has made himself available to them.

Photo by Samantha Morra
Photo by Stitch