Sending the middle and high school
students back to school this year, I noticed a distinct rise in the use of
microblogging in the K-12 schools.
Microblogging seems to be occurring in various forms in the F2F school
environment, but in my undergraduate online classroom, I barely use this format.
Microblogging is a type of blogging where authors add content to their
preferred platform in smaller, shorter text forms, videos or images. It allows users to exchange ideas is small
units, so it seems well suited for students who are trying to learn and
understand new concepts because the micro delivery keeps topics focused and
concise. Additionally, some schools use microblogging to deliver quick messages
to parents.
The principals in the middle and
high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland use Twitter regularly to communicate
with parents and the wider community. In fact, this set off quit controversy
last winter when the superintendent of school’s decided to open school during a
bout of below freezing temperatures and received some inappropriate Tweets from parents who felt he made the wrong decision. To his credit, the superintendent
used the opportunity to begin a dialogue on cyber civility and modeling proper
digital behavior. Here are some other examples of how principals using Tweeting
to communicate with parents.
Inside the K-12 F2F classroom, microblogging is used in productive ways. One AP Government teacher has
a class Facebook page where she post all sorts of class announcements and holds
study groups and review sessions. Students also use this page to communicate to
each other expressly about the class to clarify homework assignments or discuss course content. The students are extremely responsive and the teacher notes that it
is a unifying tool for the group. I have also seen a Freshman English class use
Edmoto to run out-of-class discussion forums. The students are limited in their
posting, so they are essentially create a microblog situation within their own
Edmoto social network site.
In my online undergraduate history
classes, I have not yet uncovered a way to use microblogging productively. Our discussion forums can take on the form of a microblog at
times, creating a post and response or read/write feel of a microblog. Perhaps
negotiating multiple social networking sites can be too much to ask adult students
who are just returning to school and learning how to navigate an LMS for the
first time. But, I may think of a way yet.
In Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts, Richardson discusses safety and social learning. He notes that the teacher is responsible for keeping students safe in obvious ways, by not publishing names and faces, but most importantly by modeling appropriate use (13). Microblogging really affords teachers the opportunity to model civil and safe behavior simply because it is so repetitive and requires so much direct adult involvement. Microblogging demonstrates to students appropriate ways to use invaluable technology while teaching content.
notes:
Richardson, W. Blogs, wikis and podcasts, and other powerful tools for classooms. Corwin publishers. Thousand Oaks, CA, 2010.
