Microblogging enables all students, who have a smart phone (and most students have them), to get involved with mobile learning.
Microblogging such as Twitter, for example, can be used to post responses/answers to an instructor's question in the classroom. This would help students who are somewhat shy to participate in class discussion without feeling the potential embarrassment of getting the incorrect answer.
Linda,
I agree with you. Linda, I hope your institution is aware of the creative ideas you have with learning and technology. You need to share!!!!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dr. Kelly-
What I find most interesting is that we are seeking a short, more focused response. Throughout the entire class, they are told that their essays should be x amount of pages with substantial content to prove their understanding of the topic. Then we incorporate Twitter, for example, and ask for responses less than a 140 characters. I do believe it prevents them from being "too wordy" and losing sight of the actual assignment and what we are looking for within the essay. I am sure it makes it easier for the instructors to determine their understanding of the information, as well.
Leti Ramirez
Leti ,
You and I are kindred spirits! I agree with you. I teach a technical writing class and the wordiness is so frustrating. I actually use a book called fat free writing! Twitter does help. Also, look at todaysmeet.com. It is backchanneling and it can be used similarly.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Kelly, I think the real benefit of microblogging is for me to allow another communications channel to open up between the student and I. I can tweet changes or updates to assignments or provide refs for assignments, if I would like the student to provide an an opinion via poll on if they are liking "Determine Knowledge" in Intellipath I do that as well. The benefits are numerous!
I'm concerned that adding one more communication vehicle in addition to the ones my university already offer students (announcements, learning materials, discussion board posts, instant messages, and email)will just further overwhelm students to the point that they shut down almost everything.
Andrew,
It sounds like you are a believer! I agree with you. It teaches students to communicate succinctly. It can be a powerful tool. Students are tied to their phones. . . .
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Lois,
You make a VERY important point. You need to develop your communication channels and promote them. Adding more and more without evaluating their effectiveness does overwhelm you and the students and nothing is communicated.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
What are the benefits of incorporating microblogging activities in an online course?
Some benefits of incorporating microblogging can assist in providing quick notes and changes to a particular assignment that may be due and or changes made to the assignment. It can be used to provide various track hash tags for links associated with the assignment, as well as reminders for quizzes, tests, etc. that may be due.
As a finance instructor I could have the students tweet on a specific stock on a daily basis and share with their colleagues via twitter. I can also share various and current notes that I may want my students to immediately be aware of or respond to. Students can engage with other professionals in the field as well as chat with different investors.
I must confess that I can't fully grasp the different ways microblogging can be effective in online instruction. I can see that microblogging can be useful for reminding students of deadlines and updates, but, I also think that the brevity of microblogging might limit the usefulness of these online tools.
Revonna,
I love your idea to tweet stock on a daily basis that is such a great way. Also, the sharing of notes is another fabulous way to use microblogging.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Michael,
I use microblogging tools to teach how to get a point across succinctly. It is a great tool to work with cleaning up writing. This is just one example.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I had never considered these kinds of activities in my online classroom. This is a great way to incorporate the real world into what you are doing. You could find a great article and then have the class respond to your post about that article. I love that it is also real-time. There is no lag in their response. You can see it as it is happening. It is a great way to communicate with your students in a way in which they are familiar.
Francis ,
Nice strategies! I actually find the microblogging a great tool to teach concise writing. Students need to be able to communicate with fewer words, microblogging is perfect for that.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Darcel,
I was interested to read about microblogging and how it can be used in class. I have never thought about using Twitter this way before and how it could help. I would use it for students to find information and tweet their comments about it. It would be like a discussion - type format.
Kara
Kara,
Twitter is were students are today! It actually will force students to use fewer words to get their points across. This is not how many of them were taught to write.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Microblogging provides users an opportunity to exchange brief content about specific topics that relate to the course materials. Often times, the instructor might have to initiate the blog, but it is beneficial because allows for quick distribution of brief information, collaboration, threaded discussions, and more. In addition, it can be used as a way to assess students by using microblogging to complete certain assignments.
Simone,
Great post. I use it to teach students how to write concisely. This is a tool that will serve them well.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Good question. Microblogging tools motivates learners because of the sense of connections in real time. Twitter enables to post short messages that are distributed within a learning community. It also provides students the opportunity to interact with others through certain topics and interests, developing communicative and cultural competences.
Twitter is accessibly from almost everywhere. So students can practice by posting and receiving messages from different ways: their mobile devices, a web page, from instant messengers and their desktops. Students can also decide how
much time they spend reading and writing messages.
Twitter is suitable for integration. The use of Twitter as an online learning community can help to integrate students in the community who could not attend classroom.
Willie ,
That is a perfect description of types of microblogging. They both are used in the workplace and both have real practicality.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
