Journal 8 - Have You Tweeted Today?

Fingal, D. (2009). Have You tweeted today?. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(2), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=September_October_No_2_3&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4381&ContentID=24192&DirectListComboInd=D

This article begins by explaining that many people do not get the whole twitter thing and how many people do not want to tweet because they do not understand the benefits which can come from the experience. The article then goes on to give examples of how other educators are trying to persuade their colleagues to tweet as well and the advantage which can come from tweeting. The advantages which they suggest include the spreading of ideas and the increased assistance from other people in the same position and the majority of the responses can be automatic and instant so they can help you with a problem when and as it arises.

I then look at the article called "A Cocktail Party with Educators."
Webblogged, "A Cocktail Party Filled with Educators": http://weblogg-ed.com/2009/a-cocktail-party-filled-with-educators

I found this article very interesting as it describes the way that people interact with people one on one at a cocktail party to the way that people can interact with people in virtual places. I feel that the comparison is very true, because you do get to learn a lot from mixing with people at parties, and you can learn valuable lessons from them as well. The difference with the virtual reality as the article points out is that you can also ask questions where you wouldn't normally and you can get valuable advice which can help you develop yourself and also through that the school and the students.

The article also talks about the issue about these technologies creating more work for teachers and meaning that they have more work to do. As the article says it does mean that the day gets longer but at the same time, you are investing into the future, which is what teaching is about, and also I feel that if you use the resources available to you wisely, in the long run it will make teaching a lot easier and also make things more smooth.

How could social networking, like twitter, help students?

I feel that if a student was to have access to twitter and they could tweet other students, then they could help each other with work. As we have been doing throughout this class, if we have a problem, someone is likely to see the problem and respond. Also the teacher can follow and make sure that the student is being helped and if not they the teacher can then respond.

How could Social Networking help parents feel connected with the school and also the students learning?

I know from my own Mum that she has a hard time finding out what my brother did at school that day, so throughout the day the class teacher can update twitter and parents can find out what the class are doing and when. This would make the parents feel more involved and if they had any questions about it then they could ask the teacher at the end of the school day and not just the parent/teacher conferences. Also I feel if there was a class blog which the parents could read and see examples of the students work then this would ease parents minds a lot. Students could upload their own work to their own blog and their parents can see what they are doing. This can be incorporated into class time as well and not take away from anything else.

Information can be spread quickly between parents and also it would just make the parents feel more involved in their child's education. It would be a valuable thing to do to build that connection, and if the parents don't want to be involved they don't have to be, but there should always be that option, especially now when we seem to be becoming a society based on choices available to us. If we don't have more than one choice then people aren't happy! :)