Being a Chemistry teacher, I cannot possibly expect complete success with conceptual understanding of my students. This is where I could employ Twitter to increase the pace of my professional communication, thus fostering quality learning among my students.
Firstly, I will be linking my ‘Edmodo’ page to my twitter account, and I hope to tweet updates to this site. This would make them ‘early birds’ for their work and even reduce anxiety among some students. Secondly, I could tweet reminders to my students about due dates for tests, lab reports, and related homework assignments. Thirdly, I want to encourage my students to tweet about concepts/topics that are not clear to them. This would allow me to provide them with supplementary study material or even re-teach the concept(s). Fourthly, I could use this tool to tweet answers to last-minute test or exam questions. Fifthly, and finally, as a Co-Chair of the Health and Safety Committee, I would like to tweet about safety drills, volunteer requests, or even the regular progress to the school community at large.
9 comments:
Hi Vee,
I enjoyed reading your reasons as to how you could use twitter in your class. I have just one question, could not all of the reasons given be achieved using a webpage?
P.S. Thanks for changing your settings.
Kristian
Thank you for the comment, Kristian, and you have asked an excellent question. Of course, you can do most of these things on a web page. But the beauty of a social learning network, including Twitter, is the speed with which you can communicate, and it allows you to create and follow a real-time conversation. I think it delivers updates to the comfort of your own inbox. Also, when I tweet, I am absolutely sure that all of my student-followers will receive my updates and vice versa. On the other hand, I am not sure how many of them would proactively visit my web page to read the updates. For me, a website is like a book, whereas a tweet is more of a little bookmark inside the book.
Vee-
I'd love to hear how you use Edmodo in your classroom. I am planning on bringing us all together for an online discussion in Edmodo sometime this semester. I have also been using it as a way to extend teacher professional development.
Yes, how do you use Edmodo? I have heard good things about it, but have not tried it.
Thank you all for the comments. My Edmodo pages are still in their infancy, but I am trying hard to maximize its usage this fall. Apart from sharing ideas, links, and resources (it has an excellent ‘library’ option), Edmodo provides a dynamic interface not only between teachers and students but also among students’ themselves. I could give an online poll to all my students to know their opinion or even, test their background knowledge, and it will instantly tell me where they stand. (An example: Did the ‘data analysis’ discussion group help you to process the raw data correctly? Answer #1: Yes, and Answer #2: No) Also, you could create secure peer tutoring groups, where students in groups of 3 or 4 teach each other online from the comfort of their homes. This might be particularly helpful during exam time and could also help with my students’ summer reading assignments, and they would still be able to collaborate online irrespective of their location. Also, the students themselves could initiate discussion groups for each topic or concept from time to time and opine online. I could also give online quizzes and grade them online, too. You could almost create a paperless classroom, where all of the students’ and teacher’s work is clustered under one roof. I just like the ease of access and the user-friendliness it offers. Also, there is an excellent Calendar option, where you could create a professional organizer for an entire school year. Did I mention its robust safety features? Edmodo would be a great ‘evidence tool’ for you all to use during parent-teacher conferences. You could give your students' parents’ some visual glimpses of their children’s work online. So, welcome to ‘safebook’ (Edmodo is often referred to as the ‘safe’ Facebook).
Thank you for all your tips on how to use twitter with students. I am also intigued with Edmodo.a Would it be a tool to use for students discussing a topic and me being able to track and sort the students input's?
Maya
Thank you for the comment, Maya. The students cannot communicate privately with each other on Edmodo. However, they all can send private messages to you and vice versa. They could also post messages and contribute to a discussion group. You could edit their posts, and make those posts public if you wish to. Also, if someone has posted something inappropriate, you could delete it. You could also archive or even delete older discussion groups. So, the teacher is the 'boss' as far as Edmodo's administration is concerned, and you could certainly track and sort your students' input.
I like your ideas for how to use twitter as a communication tool with your students. If a student tweets a question that they have, all of the students will see your response, is that correct? This is much better than students e-mailing their questions because the open discussion allows for everyone to learn from each others' questions. I also agree that twitter is a faster tool for communication, rather than using your webpage, especially if students can receive tweets on their phone as well as computer.
Thank you for the comment, Sarah, and you are absolutely right about Twitter usage in class. It is all about speed and the convenience of communication it offers to both the teacher and the students.
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