Why can't I get into Twitter?

I do not tweet very much. I think individuals develop their own style of communication and for me, it is blogging. Blogging allows me time to think, evaluate and organise my thoughts. However, I took a closer look at Twitter to try to encourage myself to step outside my comfort zone.

I was really interested in a Wiki on how to improve teaching and learning using Twitter as it is really a tool that I have not used regularly at all, except to post my blogs to the Twerps (which I understand is people who tweet).  Note that this link refers to those people as Tweeps

The first thing I read was how to use Twitter as an instant feedback from students.  What a good idea! Instead of the expensive clickers, make a list of your students and gather their thoughts that way.

Then I thought about people I could follow.   I read an interesting article by Dr Elizabeth Rata in the NZ Herald today and thought I could follow her. Unfortunately I cannot find her on Twitter.  Which did get me thinking.  I wonder how many academics are on twitter? I asked educators on Twitter what they thought of the article.

Liz B Davis blogged that there is a Twitter life cycle and I wonder if my Tweeting has done its life cycle, but I have not been able to get going into the "I can't stop" stage.

I looked at this infographic on Twitter and realise how much paper it saves and how many tweets there are and how hard it would be to read them all

This slide share on Twitter was pretty useful.  I learnt about BigbigTweet which I will show you here - you can write longer tweets if you want and they follow on in the right order.

So, I have added that to my Chrome toolbar.  I have used the Twitterific app and Tweetdeck on my PC, too.

This slide was perhaps the best for me. It suggests that your contribution leads to reciprocity and as you accumulate Tweets that is where the real value will be apparent.  There is hope for me yet.

In my opinion, Twitter has a huge place in society.  In terms of instant news and keeping informed, it is second to none.  Just look at the #TeamNZ news as it happened!  I am making a promise to myself to look at more ways to use it in the classroom.

This video helped me think of some of those ways

• You can use it as a backchannel in class.


• You can use it to promote discussion on why it is useful.


• You can use it to be heard - to have a voice in the class.


• You can use it on a variety of devices


• 140 character limit helps students be precise


• It cuts down noise in the classroom


• It helps you stay in contact even when you are away


• It uses less paper than writing stuff up


• You can find curriculum resources on it.

In summary, I do not use Twitter enough and have a renewed admiration for its potential. I will try harder!