As far as social media is concerned, Twitter is one of, if not the most popular sites out there today. People often post little elements of their day, whats on their mind at the time or just something they thought was funny and wanted to share to the world. The fact that Twitter is available almost everywhere on many devices, there are so many opportunities for people to see and say what is happening in the world and stay in touch with their community. However, there are many teachers that are seeing how it can help students in and out of the classroom in terms of education and they are taking advantage of the social phenomenon.
Some teachers are beginning to use Twitter for their classes in a number of ways that benefit the students. Some of the benefits are just small assets; teachers tweeting out homework assignments and due dates, reminding students about upcoming events and other small helpful tweets. Some teachers also make use of Twitter's direct messaging system (DM) to inform students of their grades for a test that they may have just completed and are worried about. These little (near insignificant) tweets do aid students in managing and keeping track of their classes, but Twitter has so much untapped potential that can be used to help students.
If teachers can realize the potential that Twitter has, it can truly benefit the students. Not only can teachers tweet out what homework assignments are, but they can also tweet out links, or even screenshots, of the homework so students have access to it if they were absent from class or just need to replace a lost assignment. If there is a difficult unit or book coming up in the curriculum; the teacher can post links to help guides, audio books, analyses, notes, answer keys or anything they have that can be helpful to students. Even if the teacher does not have any specific tools to assist students at home, (or they do not want students just using the answer keys and avoiding doing the real work) they can tweet 'tips and tricks' that they may have gone over in class that can act as reminders for the current lesson.
Twitter's DM also has much undiscovered potential for the class room. Besides just letting students know grades early, the DM system allows students to ask teachers question when away from school. Teachers and students can have private one on one conversations over Twitter(something that is not always a possibility during school). Talking none face to face is easier for some students and teachers because it removes the intimidation factor and nervousness that some students might have that prevent them from speaking out and asking questions during class. Students can also check in with teachers when doing projects and other major assignments to see if what they are doing is correct and they are on the right path.
The other main advantages to Twitter are that it is free and simple. No one needs to pay for anything to use it and it is assessable anywhere. Students do not even need an account to see your tweets; so everyone can check to see updates about the class. Also, some teachers that do not want to deal with the hassle of creating a class website, can just use Twitter which is much more simple than managing your own website.
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