We find that a lot of instructors want to incorporate new technologies into their curricula as a way to engage students with tools that they’re comfortable with and would understand but aren’t always sure how to do that, particularly for tools the instructors themselves may not use on a regular basis. Take Twitter. When Twitter launched, people jumped out of their chairs, pointed at it and exlaimed, “That’s it! The next big thing!” It clearly had potential. The only problem was…no one knew for what. That’s still a problem for many people. “Sure,” they think, “I could use Twitter…but I don’t know what I’d use it for. Especially not in the classroom.”
And while there are reports here and there of faculty using Twitter as a way to send messages to their students, or to receive questions or feedback from their students, actually using Twitter itself as a model for a class lesson is much less common. However, it can be done and it can be done very well.
While surfing comments on the news aggregator community Reddit, I came across a link someone posted, a screenshot of an assignment that (supposedly, anyway) their History professor had given them. I thought it was such an interesting and fun assignment that I had to post it. Click here to read the assignment.
What will instructors think of next? No, really–I’d like to know!
Ever want to use special characters in a document, blog post, or tweet? I’ve got just the website for you. CopyPasteCharacter.com is a simple website that allows you to click on any of the available special characters (they are copied to the clipboard automatically) and then paste them into whatever you’re working on.
There are also a few extra features to this site. If you want to copy more than one character at a time, either hold “alt” on a PC or “option” on a Mac and click on as many characters as you want. They’ll all be copied to your clipboard so you can paste them in any application. The website even works on the iPhone, so all of you mobile “tweeters” can easily add smiley faces and snowmen to your posts.
For those of you who do a lot of Twittering, and those of you looking to do more Twittering, and maybe those of you completely baffled altogether by Twittering, this handy little document lists 201 free tools that can help you use Twitter more effectively. Effective Twittering, it’s not an oxymoron anymore.
