An Article Review of How and Why Educators Use Twitter

How and Why Educators Use Twitter: A Survey of the Field

This article summarizes an attempt to quantify and analyze the use of Twitter by K-16 teachers, because current research on the use of Twitter is based primarily in higher education.

Researchers gave an online survey to 755 respondents who were educators representing several grades, content areas, ages, and experience. The survey included 10 items regarding Twitter usage by the respondents. The results reflected that Twitter was primarily used for professional development. The main reason educators sought professional development through Twitter was to combat isolation and to find community around common themes. Even though educators used Twitter overwhelmingly for professional development, they used it far less in the classroom and for communication. Last, the researchers found that the sample of respondents did not represent the typical age group of Twitter users in the general population (18-30), but rather an older age group (31-50).

I immediately could identify with this article, because it reflects my use of Twitter. My initial experiences with Twitter were timid and unsure, but as I expanded my professional learning network and more actively participated in chats and following hashtags I quickly realized the amazing opportunities for learning and to share resources to use in my classroom. I also agreed with the general positive attitudes and climate that Twitter has to offer. While some educators stated that they were limited by the restricted access to Twitter in their districts, I am fortunate that I don’t face that barrier. I have been very happy with some of the ways I’ve been able to implement Twitter with my first graders. I strongly feel that social media is the future of professional development. It gives teachers choice, connection, and convenience in growing as professionals.

Carpenter, J. P., & Krutka, D. G. (2014). How and Why Educators Use Twitter: A Survey of the Field. Journal Of Research On Technology In Education, 46(4), 414-434. doi:10.1080/15391523.2014.925701

An Article Review on Twitter in the Classroom

Tweeting in the Classroom

This article summarizes the use of Twitter in a high school civics classroom during the 2012 presidential election. Students were given a specific hashtag that tied their tweets to the class, in addition to, two additional hashtags that were public and used by a much wider audience. The purpose of the more public hashtags was to make the students part of a more global conversation. The article went on to discuss the advantages and limitations of using Twitter in the classroom. The advantages were that students were participating in real time events, such as, debates. It also encourages students who are more reluctant to participate face-to-face to participate more freely using a medium that they are more comfortable with. It also exposed them to a more diverse group of learners when they were able to connect to two other classes in other states. Some of the limitations were the lack of teacher control of inappropriate comments. While there were no direct attacks on other students, there were comments made that were inflammatory and served no purpose in an academic conversation. Access can also be a limitation that teachers may encounter. Many school districts block or limit access to social media making it difficult to integrate Twitter into the curriculum. The article concluded with the argument that the benefits outweigh the limitations when using Twitter in the classroom. Making global connections and allowing students to participate in real time enrich the learning experience.

While this article focuses on the high school and middle school use of Twitter, I have seen first hand the positive implications of using Twitter in the primary grades. My students have participated in global events including solving grade level appropriate math tasks and sharing their answers on Twitter, as well as, writing math tasks to share. They are participating in live streaming events benefitting from experiences that they would not otherwise be able to attend. They are learning about places and classrooms well outside the physical walls of their own classroom. There is also ample opportunity for digital citizenship lessons on the appropriate and safe use of social media. As the article stated, social media is here to stay, so rather than fight to keep it out of the classroom we should be using it to our advantage as a tool for learning.

Journell, W., Ayers, C. A., & Walker Beeson, M. (2014). Tweeting in the classroom. Phi Delta Kappan, 95(5), 63.

Overcoming My Fear of Screencasting

I'm am certainly no tech expert, but I do know my way around the basics which means I often get tech related questions from my teaching colleagues. Since going back to grad school for my Ed Tech endorsement, I've been learning so much that I wanted to share all of the great ways to integrate and use tech with the teachers in my building. I decided to start Tuesday Tech Tips. I emailed the staff and told them my plans, and I asked them to sign up to receive the emails every Tuesday. I was surprised to see that 20+ teachers signed up, including some teachers from other buildings/districts that were referred by my colleagues.

I have always liked video tutorials related to tech. I am a visual learner, so seeing someone perform steps helps me tremendously. Also, I like the ability to pause and rewind video especially when learning something complicated. I wanted to utilize screencasting in my Tuesday Tech Tips, but I was a little intimidated by what I thought was going to be a complicated process. I also tend to be a perfectionist, and I thought I'd never get the recording "just right." But, hey, tech is all about diving in and stepping out of your comfort zone, so I decided to just go for it!

I researched the various screencasting tools and decided on Screencast-O-Matic. I found it to be very straightforward and user-friendly. I chose to create a YouTube channel to upload the videos to. I've had very positive feedback from staff about the emails and videos! Each time I make one, I get more comfortable with the process. So, if you have something you've wanted to do using screencasting, I encourage you to give it shot! If you want to see what I've been able to do, check out my YouTube channel using this link https://goo.gl/th9Zmx

Thinking About Open Education Resources (OERs)

My experience with Open Education Resources (OERs) is limited, but my take on it is that they are the future of education. If you're not familiar, OERs are openly licensed educational materials that educators can use to provide quality instruction. The idea is that educators and non-profit organizations can create resources that are organized in a database for other educators to search and use. This signals a shift away from traditional textbook and curriculum purchases.

I see several advantages to this movement. The first being a tremendous financial savings. I would like to see the cost savings applied to educational technology infrastructure and devices. Another advantage is that the materials will not be limited by publishing costs and timelines driven by for profit companies. The information can be kept current and up-to-date. Lastly, it allows educators to design instruction that fits their teaching style and their students' needs. This is the biggest and most significant change we could see from OERs. It can sometimes be difficult to differentiate when using canned curriculum. If teachers have OERs available to them, they would have several options for extension and enrichment, as well as, modified resources for at risk and special ed students.

I do fear that there could be a few pitfalls to the OER movement. The first being the accuracy of the resources. Like anything else found online, you have to make sure that the information is accurate and appropriate. Another concern I have, like so many other educators, is time. The time it will take to search for and implement the resources could be extensive. It's easy to get lost in the database and lose focus. The few OERs I've looked at seem to have powerful search features and filters which will hopefully prevent a significant loss of time.

I am going to devote some time to exploring OERs to see how they might fit into my instruction. If you're interested in learning more, check out http://ioer.ilsharedlearning.org/ and https://www.oercommons.org/

epic! Updates

I am excited to share with you that I was selected to be an epic! Master Teacher, and that means I will be bringing updates on the epic! app and website! If you haven't heard of epic! you need to check it out. It is an e-book library with over 25,000 titles for children 12 and under. It is free for educators and available for home use for $7.99 per month. It covers several genres and includes audio books and books that can be read aloud. They recently added educational videos which were a hit with my first graders! The students can earn badges as incentives, and teachers can access individual reading logs for students. Now, on to a new feature...

Teachers can now create collections of books and assign them to students! You can access this feature in the search tab. Once you find a book that you want to add to a collection click "Add to" and select collection. You can create a collection, add notes/directions to students and name it, or select an existing collection to add the book to. You can view your collections under the "My Library" tab. Click the name of the collection to assign to students. This has so many possibilities! You could name collections to correspond to guided reading groups, certain comprehension skills, or research projects!

Let me know how you might use this new feature! Follow epic! on Twitter @EpicKidsBooks or on the web at www.getepic.com. To read an article review about using picture e-books in K-6 I did for grad class, click here.

Bloomz: All in One Stop for Teachers and Parents

Here's another app that I just found this summer that is at the top of my list for next year! I need to play with it more, but it looks like it will eliminate the need for a lot of other apps. Some of the features include parent-to-teacher and parent-to-parent messaging, calendar, scheduling of parent-teacher conferences and volunteer opportunities, sign up for classroom donations, uploading pictures with parent ability to comment or "like", and uploading of PDF files (newsletters, permission slips, etc). Some new and exciting features that are coming soon include behavior tracking, video capabilities, and student portfolio features. I'm excited about using Bloomz to collaborate with students and families! Check them out on Twitter @BloomzApp or on the web www.bloomz.net. You can find an article review on the use of K-12 classroom websites I did for my grad class here.

How did I miss Seesaw last year!

This summer I stumbled upon the Seesaw app via Twitter, and I'm so bummed I didn't find it sooner! I would have loved to use it last year! If you're not familiar with Seesaw, it is a student electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) that students use to share their work with parents and their teacher. There are several format options and apps that Seesaw is compatible with, and there is a built-in teacher dashboard where all work goes for approval by the teacher before being available for parents to see. Over the last several years, I have used data binders with my students where they tracked their progress across several subjects, and then shared the binder with their parents periodically. I am going to try to eliminate those and incorporate them into the Seesaw app. What a great way for students to archive their work, and it provides their parents and myself the ability to see their growth (or lack of-yikes!) over an entire year. Once the school year gets started, I will post on our progress with Seesaw. If you're interested in learning more, check Seesaw out on Twitter @Seesaw or on the web at web.seesaw.me You can also check out a peer-reviewed article I reviewed on e-portfolios for my grad class here.