Twitter is most likely the only type of social media that I have never familiarized myself with. I am a huge fan of social media. I use Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat daily. I have always heard of friends loving Twitter, but just never really gave it a chance. I think it may have been when my best friend created a fake Twitter so she could say nasty things about politics that I just figured it wasn’t for me. Last semester during this program we were required to create a Twitter account, attend a Twitter chat, and encouraged to also begin our own Twitter chat. Although I signed up for an account and attended a Twitter chat, that is about as far as my knowledge went in relation to this application. I certainly do not need another social media that I am attached to, however, I really enjoy reading about topics that I am interested in.
Twitter in Education
In the article that I was reading during module 3, it stated that, “K-12 teachers have taken advantage of Twitter’s format to keep their classes engaged and up-to-date on the latest technologies (Miller, 2019). Education continues to change daily, and will continue to do so in the future. I was surprised to find out that teachers are using Twitter as much in education as they are. I was also surprised to find that although many social media applications are blocked from our county computers, Twitter is not. When reading the article about using Twitter in the classroom, I was surprised that teachers were able to find 50 different ways to make this work for their students. When reading the list, I was constantly nodding my head thinking that it could be done in the classrooms, and I could imagine using it quite often. Some of the different ways that I could see our school using Twitter in the classroom are: tweeting about upcoming due dates and assignments, using Twitter for research (such as career choices), connecting with the community, engaging parents, live tweeting field trips, asking questions, and sending direct messages to parents. These are just the common ways that we could use them, but the other ways that are mentioned by Miller (2019) are all great ideas as well. Personally, I enjoy learning from other educators on Twitter as well. They normally have a lot of good ideas to pass along to others.
This assignment was really making me feel technology-illiterate. I do not normally listen to podcasts. My husband listens to Joe Rogan every night in the bathtub, but it just isn’t something that I normally think about, or have time for. I really wasn't even sure what type of podcast I would like to listen to, but I began exploring the possibilities. I began exploring podcasts about self-love, and stress relieving. I have four kids, two jobs, and I'm going to graduate school again. Therefore, it might be good for me to learn how to let go of other things, like the things that I can’t control. That tends to be a struggle for me. I am quite the “fixer-upper” when it comes to wanting to help people. I also plan to explore podcasts about money, and how to be a better financial guru in today’s society. I would really like to pay off bills this year, and not live off of Ramen Noodles in the process, so this type of podcast would be beneficial for me.
Podcasts in education can be used to focus attention on the 4 C’s: collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication. Students can collaborate about their thoughts on a topic, research that topic, and then use their own creativity to create a podcast about it. They can use each other’s questioning and thoughts to be able to think about everything that they may need to discuss about that topic. They are encouraged to be able to write down what they are going to communicate to others during the podcast, but it will help them have a clear, consistent video if they write it down and practice it before they complete the final podcast. Podcasts are also a great way to encourage self expression. I have heard our guidance counselor encourage students to write their problems down, or talk to someone about them, but this could also be a good way for those students to let out their feelings. They may be able to connect with other people as well, or listen to podcasts that may help them with any emotions that they seem to be having. Podcasts can be helpful to students with disabilities as well. Instead of having to write out or type out their thinking or research about a topic, they can use a voice recorder to create a podcast about it. If the students struggle with voice, then collaboration with other members of a group may be a good way to be able to get their thoughts out into the podcast. The group members could use their voices to let all of their thoughts be heard.
Miller, Samantha. (2019). “50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom.” TeachHUB, www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom.
“Podcasts in Education.” IClicker TELE - ETEC 510, etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Podcasts_in_Education.
Podcast, Soul Filling. “Soul Filling Podcast - Self Love Ep. 1.” YouTube, YouTube, 1 Nov. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wnsfEjLkYE.