Recently, I’ve been involved in a really interesting project developing a course to Introduce Twitter to schools. Some schools may want to use Twitter as a marketing tool in a similar way to any other business, as part of their marketing mix. Schools can also use Twitter in a number of areas within the school. Some ideas are listed here:
To Develop The Teacher’s Teaching Practice
- Teachers can develop their own knowledge and reflect on their own practice, by sharing ideas, opinions and resources with other teachers and non-teachers on Twitter.
- Teachers can keep up to date with news and important changes in their specialist field by following appropriate influencers and media outlets.
- Teachers can learn to speak the same language as their pupils.
As a Learning Tool
- Teachers can ask their Twitter network to tell them and their pupils something about where they are eg. Location, Temperature, Historical fact. The information can be used to do further research, ask more questions, discuss the results or compare and contrast answers. The learning is based on up to date information with a real story and encourages higher order thinking skills.
- Use www.twitterfall.com to look at what is being said about a relevant topic e.g. global warming. Clicking on links can give the teacher or class more information about the topic or they may want to ask the tweeter more questions.
Within School development
Using a protected Twitter account,
- School administrators can use Twitter to keep parents up to date with school activities in real time. The emphasis is on the parent to follow and check their twitter updates.
- A teacher can set up a class account and ask pupils to follow. Use this to remind pupils when homework is due and respond to questions about homework.
- Set up a class account and invite parents to follow the class. Parents can be kept informed about what the class is doing and they might like to interact.
Do you know about schools that are using Twitter? How well is it working? What would you add to this list?