How Microblogging --- Twitter Could be Used for Teaching?

First, we should know what is microblogging? From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, it says that microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size. Microblogs "allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links". It seems like everyone is using Twitter these days. You know, sharing little messages with each other on phones and computers. When I am in China, I use a microblogging named “Weibo” to write my feelings and record my journals. The function of it is the same of Twitter. However, I have no idea of using microblogging for teaching before.

                               

After I read some articles and videos from the books and the Internet which the teachers and students shared, there is a clear outline occurs in my brain about how to use microblogging for teaching. Let’s take Twitter for example.

First of all, what about this Twitter thing?This is an on-line PPT for you to know about the functions of Twitter.  And 28Creative Ways Teachers Are Using Twitter will tell you there are 28 functions of Twitter you can use when you are teaching.

                                                      

After we know about how the Twitter can serve us, we’ll see how we use it in our language teaching. For teachers, Twitter can be a powerful tool for professional development via quick sharing with peers and colleagues whom you may or may not know face to face. Twitter can also be an effective way to communicate from your class to other classrooms around the globe. Moreover, it helped make all this connection and collaboration happen. It broke down the walls of our classroom and allowed students in classrooms across the country to interact and learn from each other.

                                                 

 As for me, I think to let teachers join in or create some educational Twitter chats is a good way of teaching language. Twitter chats are scheduled events or conversations that use a specific hashtag in an attempt to organize a conversation around a particular topic. To schedule your own educational Twitter chats calendar is a convenient and direct way to let your students understand your study schedule clearly.

 

A potential website --- EFL Classroom 2.0

I’ve never heard or known that there are a social networking service called EFL Classroom 2.0 that hosts many useful groups for teachers. When I first open the page, I’m like to enter into a knowledge resource storeroom. It’s a real on-line classroom with articles, images, music and even videos. It’s like a big blog belongs to every teachers and learners and the tools which were offered by the website are rich and full, such as clocks or timers, spinners or counters and makers. Moreover, it’s a convenient social networking group that links to Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo. So if you have applied any of these above website you can sign in the EFL Classroom 2.0. There are a lot of things of this social network service for me to explore and I believe the potential of this website for teachers and learners is imponderable.

A Teacher is Like a Impeller

Ours is a day of rapid changes. With the tremendous development of global networks and the emergence of Web Services, it is possible to efficiently exchange data and communicate between entities. And the teacher’s role today more like an impeller who brings new learning method to students than a tutor. Why I metaphor like that? Just imagine what’s the function of impellers? Impeller can be used in pumps and water jets. And its function is to transfer power and promote large objects. So as the role of teacher, they transfer their knowledge and experience to the students and promote students to explore more information.

                     

Nowadays there occurs a learning theory for the digital age --- connectivism. “It is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories. ” Learning now changes its way from traditional one. “Connectivism presents a model of learning that acknowledges the tectonic shifts in society where learning is on longer an internal,individualistic activity, but provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed for learners to flourish in a digital era.” E-Learning or Distance Learning is a new method with the advent of information technology. So the teacher’s task gradually become teaching students how to use on-line tools for better study and how to search the information from the Internet.

George Siemens who is an author and editor of the eLearnspace website says “ your ability to share images with each other, your ability to share video clips? And share any content resource is a really you can do it through the conversation. I think it is tremendous important because our learning today is one of forming networks with each other, so our tools enable that effortlessly?? and the way is very human to us.”(from the video of the impact of social software on learning). I know about the influence in learning from the Internet, and it will do more good than harm. So as a teacher I hope to apply on-line tools to communicate with my students and teach them how to search and select useful information on the Internet by using Google scholar or Wikipedia.