Week 10: Using Twitter for teaching and learning

Section I: Learning from hashtags

Hashtag: #Learnerexperience

Sources:

 https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/self-directed-learning-benefit-student

https://medium.com/bright/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713#.ab52rqrcb

I am interested in learning more about how teachers can find ways to expand students’ learning and skill in the classroom. I like the #learnerexperience because it provides me with articles, ideas and meaningful information to connect with other educators about this topic. As I follow the timeline and tweets that appear in the search results, I find some sources to better understand all about this educational hashtag. The first article is titled, “How Self-Directed Learning Can Benefit Every Student” written by the Global Digital Citizen Foundation and it provides teachers tips on the understand the importance for students to take ownership of their learning. Some ways for teachers to create opportunities for self-directed learning is knowing that students can have negative mindsets (they think that they are not self-motivated, they are not smart or the type of students to do this, etc.) that prevents students’ independence learning. Teachers need to recognize these negative mindsets and learn how they can change these negative mindsets to growth mindsets. For example, the article suggests that motivation is not increased by rewards instead it is more about three real internal motivations known as the intrinsic motivations. These motivations can be divided into three categories: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. The article also mentions if students perceive themselves as not talented or smart enough then teachers can help students change this perception by teaching students that failures are only transition points and intelligence is not fixed. Therefore, teachers need to let students be in control of their paths and let out expectations in order to allow students determine their own successes and evaluate their learning. Another article titled, The Web We Need to Giving Students” written by Audrey Watters for Bright: Innovation in Education, explains how society wants to regulate students’ privacy online and restrict data. However, there are other alternatives for protecting students’ online identities and have access to their personal data. One alternative is for schools to provide students and teachers their web domains. Domains provide users control over their work, data and have access to their digital portfolios. If students have their own domain, then they take their learning portfolio until they graduate high school and move on their careers. Overall it is a great idea because students need to acquire their digital skills and be responsible for their own digital identity. 

Section II: Three Ideas for using Twitter for teaching and learning

Grade level: Middle school

Subject area: English/Reading 

What students will do:

Using Twitter for teaching and learning can encourage students’ participation and engagement in lessons. Twitter can be a great online tool for students to join class discussions, projects and finding information. There are three main objectives to use twitter in the classroom. First, students can use create Twitter accounts in order to fully participate in class discussion. Many times students are reluctant to participate because they are shy or they do not want to be noticed by others. This is especially when working with middle school students in a large class. Therefore, students can be encouraged to tweet comments, questions about the lesson using their laptops or iPods in class. Teachers can respond in real-time to students’ questions and concerns students have during class time. Another idea to integrate Twitter into a lesson plan about fact and opinion. Teachers can tweet statements and students must reply to identify between facts and opinion. Another alternative can be using the books from literature circles, students must tweet to the class statements where opinions can be found. The last activity can be tweeting newspapers articles to students to distinguish factual and opinions parts of the article. A good activity can be a Twitter scavenger hunt where students can analyze tweets from politicians and students decide which are opinions and facts. The main objective for the lesson and use of Twitter is for students to recognize that what is printed, found on social media, or aired on TV is not all facts. They must understand the difference between facts and opinions should be a skill not only use for testing but a skill useful throughout their lives. Overall Twitter is a valuable tool useful for education where students and teachers have a public forum to connect their learning to what is happening in the world.