The Growing Use Of Twitter By Today’s Educators
Objective:
The video bog by K.Walsh emphasizes the growing use of Twitter by educators. He emphasizes his point of view with a wealth of quotes about Twitter from various sources. One of his sources was “100 ways to teach with Twitter”. He also states that Twitter use is up by 35%. The main advantages of Twitter are it can be a mass communication medium to share information like class assignments, extend recruitment options, and allow people to keep informed and stay in touch in real time. But Twitter has its disadvantages too. It has a lag in adoption and it is just a communication tool, and as such does little to enhance writing and debating skills- essential skills the student needs.
Reflective:
Twitter is one of the media tools I am just getting acquainted with. I feel that it can be a base for education as it is relative cheap and the tweets are not long. It also gives you instant connection to every one on line. I have perused the Twitter site and for me it seems to have an incomprehensible language with capitals and it’s own code words. I guess if you are a fan of this tool you must learn the language if you want to stay connected.
Interpretive:
After watching the video the conclusion I have made is Twitter is a communication tool with limited scope. Even though it is growing in use it is not the first and obvious choice for classroom use. Twitter can draw traffic to its site but the wealth of opinions and research right now that it is not beneficial to the students for developing listening, writing and rebuttal skills. Skills like these are needed in the real world and the role of any educator is to prepare their students for employment and real life.
Decisional:
Now that I have been exposed to this aspect of Social Media, I would consider using it to communicate with students about classroom changes, assignment and dates of completion as I am sure most of the students have been using it in their daily lives. Twitter is a quick, easy and cheap way for them to learn what their buddies are up in real time. The new generation is the “ now generation” and Twitter gives them instant access to their immediate surrounding and the rest of the world too.
References:
Walsh, K. (2010). “The Growing Use of Twitter by Today’s Educators” Video retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GFP07a3ThAs on October 30th, 2012.
“Twitter In Higher Education 2010. Usage Habits and Trends of Today’s College Faculty” ‘100 Ways To Teach With Twitter’. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GFP07a3ThAs on October 30th, 2012. (2010, September)’Faculty Focus’, Magna Publications.
evdoyon 
I like your review on twitter. It does have it’s limitations, but it is useful for many applications for instructors. It’s a fast efficient way to communicate to a large group. Your journal was helpful to me. Thanks, Emelda! – Adele