Tag: twitter

Kesmit-ing: The Twitter Experiment – Bringing Twitter to the Classroom at UT Dallas

Kesmit-ing: The Twitter Experiment – Bringing Twitter to the Classroom at UT Dallas.

Take a look at this very creative way to get students in a fairly large class (90 students) actively involved in the course. The instructor makes use of Twitter as a primary instructional strategy in the course.

In her own words, “I set up a course schedule that followed a standard formula most weeks. On Mondays and Wednesdays I delivered traditional lectures covering important terms and concepts. Fridays were reserved for the “twitter experiment.” 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. Students were required to complete a reading assignment prior to class every Friday. The readings included historical essays and primary documents that related to the lectures I had given on Monday and Wednesday. I provided a list of reading suggestions and questions on my website to help students read effectively and take helpful notes on the readings. At the beginning of class on Fridays, I gave an open-note quiz based on the assigned readings and the web questions. After the quiz, our twitter discussions began.”

This is definitely worth checking out.


Degree in Social Networking

Another social networking applicaiton
Another social networking applicaiton

If you doubted that social networking is more than just a passing fancy, consider that Birmingham City University (UK) will be offering a one-year Master’s program beginning next year.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/5073683/University-offers-social-media-degree-about-Facebook-Twitter-and-Bebo.html

There is apparently disagreement as to whether or not the program content is really going to have an audience. While the program’s creator has created the program “nor for freaks or IT geeks”, it has been criticized as being too simple and “…a complete waste of university resources,” according to one student.

Personally, I think the focus on the tools is the wrong approach to education. It seems shortsighted to me to teach people how to use Facebook and Twitter and other social networking tools as an end unto itself. The technology is always changing, and it seems to make most send to use technology as tool to help achieve instructional goals and objectives. the technology should be “subservient” to the higher good of learning.