Twitter in Schools
It can enhance learning
Using Twitter Positively
Some school districts have been utilizing Twitter successfully to help communicate information with both staff, students and parents. This is an interesting resource that lists out schools that utilize Twitter and Facebook as a means of communication with parents:
http://www.edudemic.com/calling-all-homeschoolers-add-your-social-media-tips-to-this-google-doc/
A Quick Twitter Overview
http://prezi.com/yusejjdha65r/twitter-in-school-districts/ This is a Prezi presentation that will fully introduce you to Twitter in only a few moments!
@District49
Falcon District in Peyton, Colorado-They use Twitter as a way to recognize student achievement and communicate information about upcoming events and school board meetings.
@DASD_schools
Downtown Area School District, Pennsylvania-Twitter is a means to get out information to the community not only about school events, but about emergency shelters. This was vital as the area was recently without power.
@GrandviewPrepFL
Boca Raton, Florida-This private school tweets about upcoming school events, asks for parent volunteers and retweets relevant educational articles.
Other thoughts about how to use Twitter in schools...
Twitter #hashtags could be used to help students stay aware of their homework. If each classroom had a separate #hashtag homework could be posted daily, questions could be asked of peers and staff alike. Teachers can have more than one Twitter handle to keep their personal tweets separate from their professional tweets. Virtual #edchats could also help connect students with others from various points around the globe. Here is a Google Doc of educational hashtags and here's a calendar of when they occur.
A Twitter Controversy
Final Thoughts
There are issue that need to be worked out before starting to have students and staff tweet from class or even PD experiences. Would student and staff tweets all be monitored like in Garrett High School? What about students who do not have access to internet devices? How could our network handle the heavy traffic? Even with these potential issues to work out the benefits of connecting students to learning in a new way that can teach them how to responsibly use social media is worth discussing in depth.
Deena Jensen-ED678
Thank you to the administration for allowing me this opportunity to advocate for the use of Twitter in our school district.
Email: djensen@rivier.edu
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/deenajensenportfolioed678/home
Location: New Hampshire, United States
Phone: (603) 957-2016
Twitter: @dlj_77