I have been tweeting for at least six months and I have been very guarded about using twitter in the classroom. I’m not saying that I didn’t think it should be used in the classroom. I am just saying that I wasn’t sure how I would use it. I wasn’t concerned about privacy, necessarily. I was more concerned about a blurring of boundaries. For this assignment, I decided to create a new twitter name that could be used for academic and professional purposes. I immediately decided to follow professional organizations in counseling, mental health, higher education, and diversity. I also followed some professors who use twitter to see how they were using twitter. I sent a tweet about some technology tools and about a conference in my field. I am still wrapping my mind around how I might use this, but I am starting to get excited about it.
I see twitter helping me in the classroom in several ways:
- Students can get a sense of who I am as a professional so; they get a multi-dimensional view of the profession. This can help students get a broader idea of the career opportunities and the profession, in general.
- I can re-tweet posts that are related to the field or that may spark interest in students.
- I can send announcements, links to videos, blogs, articles, etc. without clouding their email and they can decide what they want to do with that information.
- I can encourage students to tweet about things they encounter throughout the week that are related to this course. This can help students begin to apply the knowledge they are learning.
- Twitter can be used to foster communication after class.
- Using twitter in class can be a platform to talk about the professional and personal boundaries, how they may blur when using social networking tools, and ways to manage that.
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