I've been blogging for over a year now, but, as I have mentioned in a few of my previous posts, this is my first time fully engaging in the world of Twitter. Obviously, as with the various blogging sites that are now openly avaliable for use, if used appropriately, Twitter has great potential for increasing the ability of students to actively and precisely communicate/collaborate in the classroom. For students who have difficulty sharing their ideas during school hours (and/or lack the confidence to do so), social media sites can, potentially, provide an amazing communicative alternative for these students to have their voices heard. Especially with blogging, where there is no real restriction in regards to the breadth of the authors' thoughts, some of our more passive students may really excel when provided the opportunity to share their opinions on a safe and secure online platform.
With all of this being said, one potential drawback is the vastness of the "Tweeting" community--even for a 22 year old college student, Twitter is extremely overwhelming, and it's difficult (even with apps. such as Tweetdeck) to stay organized and connected to your followers and those who you follow. On one hand, as instructors, we have the option of censoring/monitoring our students' access to the outside Twitter community (through private accounts and services such as True Twit) in an attempt to ensure that they are not becoming overwhelmed or accessing inappropriate or unethical content. But, if we are constantly restricting/monitoring our students' use of technology, what are they truly getting out of the experience? These web 2.0 technologies are meant to be explored--if students aren't granted autonomy (or are restricted in their use), they may view the use of the tech. as being either useless or ineffective. How do we solve this problem? Will we ever be able to allow our students to truly experience all that Twitter (and other social media tools) has to offer?
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