Thinking About Learning

The father of one of our 2nd grade students is currently serving in the military in Afghanistan.  Our media specialist had the wonderful idea of trying to have him Skype with his daughter’s class on Veteran’s Day.  The plan was that he would read a book to the class via Skype.  His wife was coming and bringing their older son, and it was going to be a surprise for the students.  The day before the big event, all the technical details were tested, including the Skype connection.

Our global connection was to take place at 8:00 A.M., which was 4:30 P.M. in Afghanistan.  About 7:45 that morning, visitors began arriving in Ms. Hughes’s classroom.  We had reporters and video cameras from our 3 local news channels.  The students sat quietly engaged in independent reading as the adults sat watching the clock and the computer screen, eager for our contact’s button to turn green in the Skype window.  Minutes ticked by slowly, but the students were so well behaved!  About 8:25, our guest reader texted his wife that he was not able to make the Skype connection on his end.  We were very disappointed, but as educators, we know that “monitor and adjust” is the name of the game.  Ultimately we devised a “work around.”  His wife went over by the window (to improve phone reception), we held a microphone up to the phone, and he read the book to the class as Ms. Hughes held up the book and turned the pages.  There were other technology glitches in the process of devising the work around, but in the end, it was a very meaningful experience for both the students and all the adults in the room!  Here’s the news report from WLTX:

I recently had a conversation with my district Director of Technology, a TIS friend, and my former Global Horizons teacher partner about the merits of Twitter and the possibilities for the educational use of Twitter.  Here are some of the links that have helped shape my perspective:

9 Reasons to Twitter in Schools (Tech & Learning)

Tech Crunch: Impact of Twitter on the world

Times article: Great Britain considers Twitter for the  primary curriculum

Twitter as a District Communication Tool: School district in New Zealand uses Twitter to disseminate information to parents, students, and staff (Chris Dawson)

Teaching with Twitter: 10 great instructional ideas for the classroom from Steve Wheeler

Best Practices in a Twitter-enhanced High School Classroom: Practical explanation of how to manage Twitter use in a classroom along with ideas for using Twitter as an instructional tool from Teaching Paperless.

Can We Use Twitter for Educational Activites?: Presentation by Gabriella Grosseck and Carmen Holotescu

A Twitter Code of Conduct: An article from BusinessWeek about Twitter’s impact on the business world

My own 2 blog posts about Twitter:

Changing the World, Can Twitter Change Education?

Twittering Teachers and PLN

Here’s a link to all of my DIIgo bookmarks about Twitter.  The list includes Twitter apps, news articles about Twitter, lists of Twittering teachers, and Twitter in education.  This doesn’t even scratch the surface!

It’s amazing how something so simple as a 140 character reply to the question, “What are you doing?” could have such a huge global impact on society. Tech Crunch reports,

Worldwide visitors to Twitter.com increased 95 percent in the month of March from 9.8 million to 19.1 million.

Businesses use Twitter as a source for free advertising.  Politicians use Twitter for campaigning.  Celebrities use Twitter to increase their celebrity status. (Can anyone explain why Oprah felt a need for this?)  Twitter is having such an impact on the corporate world that according to  BusinessWeek,  some companies are developing social media codes of conduct for employees:

To prevent sensitive information leaks, blemishes on a reputation, and other potential liabilities of a Twittering workforce, companies are drafting new employee codes of conduct and educating workers about what they should and shouldn’t say on the site. The basic rule: Don’t be stupid.

Why is Twitter taking the world by storm?  Clive Thompson sums it up:

Individually, most Twitter messages are stupefyingly trivial. But the true value of Twitter … is cumulative. The power is in the surprising effects that come from receiving thousands of pings from your posse. And this, as it turns out, suggests where the Web is heading.

So why has Twitter been so misunderstood? Because it’s experiential. Scrolling through random Twitter messages can’t explain the appeal. You have to do it — and, more important, do it with friends… It’s practically collectivist — you’re creating a shared understanding larger than yourself.

I love the phrase, “creating a shared understanding larger than yourself.” I have been Twittering for about a year and a half, and I only follow educators.  My primary purpose is personal professional learning.  Twitter is my best source for professional development.  I’ve been slow and selective about choosing people to follow, but I have developed a wonderful network of like-minded professionals around the world.  As I interact with these people in ongoing short phrases, we have a shared understanding of what it means to be passionate about the role of technology in education.  We share great ideas, our successes, our frustrations, and things we’ve learned in the midst of the sprinkled tidbits of our personal lives.  Teacher collaboration has been identified as a key factor in raising student achievement, and through social networking tools like Twitter, I can collaborate and learn from the best around the world.

So my question is this: since Twitter is such a powerful learning tool, how do we go about harnessing that collective learning energy for use in schools? Great Britain is considering recommendations for updating the primary curriculum,  suggesting that children should be familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter by the time they go to secondary school.  They may consider dropping traditional content in favor of emphasizing informational technology, according to the Times.  Although my district is very proactive in the area of providing technology equipment for schools, it still has a very conservative stance on blocking many useful social networking tools like Twitter that enhance learning.

Imagine a classroom where differentiated instruction results in students using MP3 players, cell phones, laptops, and gaming devices to pursue individual learning goals.  They interact with students around the world via Twitter, Ning, or other social networking vehicles to ask questions, collaborate, share resources, and share learning in real time.  Immediate response, immediate feedback, immediate dialogue about learning.  Twitter is changing the way the world communicates.  Why should our students be the last to benefit?