Twitter provides a multi-device communication platform for us to interact with each other. For those of us living in the 21st Century, it was a logical step from using Twitter to communicate with friends and acquaintances to applying Twitter in the global learning environment. Unfortunately, someone pranked this trend, and (I think) credited one of the least likely Universities with the idea. Nick Carr reported a new development at the University of Phoenix, where:
Most of the instruction in the Twitter courses will be done through the 140-character "tweets" for which the service is famous, though instructors are also expected to occasionally refer to longer online documents by including "short URL" links in the tweets. "The Chronicle of Higher Education did some follow up and reported this: Sorry Twitter lovers, no online courses yet. “University of Phoenix is not going to deliver courses via Twitter,” wrote Wendy Paul, executive director of public relations for the university.
So does that mean Twitter for Teachers isn't going to work? Not even! I do think it's more of a tool than a platform for teaching, though I can see a use for the latter. For use of Twitter as a Tool (I suspect we would call this a Tweaching Twool), I posted earlier on David Parry's use of Twitter in the learning environment (http://tinyurl.com/tweach (I know, cool custom URL -- think it'll catch on?).
And then I learned about Twitter for Teachers, where teachers from all over the world are gathering and writing an eBook to help tweachers use Twitter. The e-book is intended for use by teachers from primary, elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools.
Is it possible the abbreviated lecture notes could be used to enhance the learning environment? Check out Twitter University: The lecture series.
If you are reading this close to the posting time, now would be a good time to check out TFT, as EDUCHAT #3 is coming up soon!
