Using Twitter with Students

As part of my tech department professional goal I am using Twitter with students. The overall goal is to get students to see the value in using Twitter as an educational tool (PLN) much like the way educators use this social network.

First, many students had to set up Twitter accounts and then we chose a class hashtag.  We have had limited Twitter use so far (students have mostly tweeted links to assignments).  I have been able to tweet information out during class that I may forgotten to post on the class website - this has been helpful.

This week we started Follow Friday #FF.  Students will follow 3 new Twitter accounts (of interest) each week and blog about why they chose to follow those Twitter handles.  When I introduced this weekly assignment to students I got some interesting responses such as "Can I delete them after I follow them?"  "If I end up following more people than follow me I might have to delete people that I'm following on Twitter."  I tried to reiterate that the purpose of this weekly assignment is for students to find some educational value in Twitter in hopes of building an educational network. 

I am encouraging students to follow people on Twitter who may be of interest to them and will hopefully provide them with valuable/educational information.  

During the first week here are just some of the Twitter accounts my students chose to follow:
@googlepolitics

@natgeo

@DalaiLama

@Pontifex

@LifeProTips

@NBA

@thewordoftheday

@Microsoft

@TheWorldImages

@IncredibleViews

@Learnsomething

@DailyDogFacts

@NEScenery

@Vineapp

@espn

@BBCWorld

@CNN

@neverknownfacts

@UberFacts