In this day and age, it’s a constant struggle for educators to effectively reach students. An age and interest gap between teachers and students already exist. If there is also a digital and technological gap, your job as an educator will become virtually impossible.
One of the main problems with education today is that people are constantly trying to invent, create or mold it. There will never be an universal mold that will accurately reach every child. Education is ever changing just like us. As time passes, time also dictates what adjustments education needs to make. Remember that education depend on its’ students not the other way around. Would you teach a man who lives by the sea how to lay bricks or would you teach him how to fish?
I will introduce Twitter as a Web 2.0 tool today. What is Twitter? “Twitter is an online application that is part blog, part social net¬working site, part cell phone/IM tool, designed to let users answer the question, what are you doing?” (Educause, 2007) As an educator, I have noticed that students between the ages of twelve and seventeen make clear distinctions between school and everything else, almost as if the education is not intertwined with everything else.
Simple take home task such as study and homework are usually not done because of how separated these two worlds are. Text messaging and Instant Messaging is a big part of our students’ life. So how about we bring education to their world. Twitter can assist us with just that.
Stay with me here!
What is the number piece of technology that all your students have or at least the majority of them use regularly? Wait for it! Yeah, you guessed it, the cell phone. My thirteen-year-old nephew sends about three thousand text messages a month. That is insane! Whether it’s a Blackberry, iPhone or a droid phone, most of your students have one. Most of those phones offer a twitter application for free. Setting up a twitter account is easy, just go to www.twitter.com create one then have your students and their parents set one up as well. You will be surprised as to how many of your students already have an account. Ask that their parents as well as them follow you for homework, test reminders and any school updates such as closings and or emergencies.
Reference:
EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. (2007). 7 Things you should know about Twitter. Retrieved January 15, 2010, http://web20teach.blogspot.com/
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