Since returning to work i have started to use Twitter again with my students. I have been using Twitter for nearly 3 years now with my 6th formers with the main aim to improve their independent learning skills outside of the classroom. Having using Moodle Glossaries previously, Twitter was an ideal solution to tap into social media and use a tool my students were beginning to use. It  has proved a real success with students tweeting on a weekly basis about any news article they read associated with Information / Communications and/or Technology. I have presented this to internal staff and at teachmeets in the past. I have previously blogged on this and if you want further information please check out my prezi on the subject.

Following a conversation with my pal @gideonwilliams this morning about the use of twitter with students i thought i would write a blog post about i have continued to implement the use of twitter with my students and how this has progressed.

My BTEC students have been using Twitter to report the news article for 18 months now. Most have got into the habit of tweeting once a week while others have needed a gentle reminder This year i have used ClassDojo to keep a record of the tweets and then has been a good, easy way of recording and tracking their homework tasks. (blog post to follow! )

 

At the start of the “project’ we discuss digital literacy in great detail. Students then draw up the rules for each tweet and agree that these should be kept.

• Include a short description of the article
• Add a link to the article using a URL shortnener (bit.ly or goo.gl)
• End with the hashtag #btecnews
• Never repeat a tweet on the same news article.

At the start of the first lesson the following week we set aside 5-10 minutes at the start of the lesson to discuss at least 3 of the tweets. Students are chosen using one of Triptico’s tools to keep students on their toes. The student chosen then leads the discussion on the tweet.

With the success of the Sixth Formers all my Key Stage 4 and classes have now adopted twitter accounts. For the BTEC classes this ties nicely into one of the Assessment Objectives for Unit 1 and the students have enjoyed tweeting. To organise this i have started to use Lists to filter each class down.

In the past we have used twitter inside the classroom for research and AFL tasks and i plan to move this on even further. The use of a different hashtag works well but is limited with students having protected accounts. Watch this space to see how my students use of twitter moves forward.