Benefits of Microblogging Activities
What are the benefits of incorporating microblogging activities in an online course?
To be truthful, I am not sure what are the benefits of incorporating micro-blogging activities in an online course. The reason is because is because I do not micro blog. I have never found the need to text message other people.
I have been in IT for 27 years, and I am well aware of the fact micro blogs stay out on the internet forever. Thus, I am very careful what I say in emails, and I would even be more careful about what I would micro blog.
In any case, this lesson is food for thought. I will think about it now.
Donald L. Buresh
Before this module, I really did not think of twitter or any microblogging apps, in general, as beneficial to my online courses. But as I read through the contents of the module, I realized that there many benefits to it.
First, if all students have cellphones and the microblogging app is installed or if they have set up alerts in their phones/e-mails, then tweets are received in "real time" and they can read the information right away. They can also respond right away.
It also a good tool to inform students about assignment due dates or other information that are time sensitive.
But what I like most about this is that they can follow people who are prominent in their field of study. They may learn things from this people or be inspired by these people's tweet which will motivate them to learn the topics in our class.
-Christine
Microblogging can be used to engage students throughout the week. It can also be used to highlight news stories and current events related to the course material. Online discussions to the course related material can also be conducted through microblogging.
The main benefit of incorporating microblogging activities in an online course is student engagement! Students love to use their phones throughout the day, why not give them a productive reason to use their phones and social media? Through using microblogging, you could make the course more relevant and live tweet in current news and pop culture that relates to the lecture. Students are also more likely to be more engaged in an online environment when they do not feel the pressures of the classroom.
Milka,
You make a great point. They do see the value. BTW, these tools are used in the workplace now!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The students are already blogging and using Twitter, it is helpful to use in class for this reason- they are ALREADY enegaged in this and you do no thave to convince them of value or show them how to utilize it.
Michael,
You don't want to add on; you want to use an appropriate tool for the course and content. I use microblogging to teach students how to write succinctly. it is a great tool for that and they understand the perimeters.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Kelly and colleagues,
I am not honest there is much benefit to microblogging for a couple of reasons and though it is not an excuse but I am not a social media guru and frankly, I do not enjoy spending all my time reading tweets, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, emails, LMS discussions and so many other sources that I think too many things get lost (an overload if you will). It sounds great as it could provide immediate feedback and responses but keeping track with such an interactive tool, well frankly being in the classroom would be better (just my opinion), not to say that trying it would probably be a blast but to use this and all the other means of delivery for a course can become a bit overwhelming. If anyone knows of a friendlier version of immediate communication, then I am interested.
Mike
Willie ,
That is a perfect description of types of microblogging. They both are used in the workplace and both have real practicality.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Good question. Microblogging tools motivates learners because of the sense of connections in real time. Twitter enables to post short messages that are distributed within a learning community. It also provides students the opportunity to interact with others through certain topics and interests, developing communicative and cultural competences.
Twitter is accessibly from almost everywhere. So students can practice by posting and receiving messages from different ways: their mobile devices, a web page, from instant messengers and their desktops. Students can also decide how
much time they spend reading and writing messages.
Twitter is suitable for integration. The use of Twitter as an online learning community can help to integrate students in the community who could not attend classroom.
Simone,
Great post. I use it to teach students how to write concisely. This is a tool that will serve them well.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Microblogging provides users an opportunity to exchange brief content about specific topics that relate to the course materials. Often times, the instructor might have to initiate the blog, but it is beneficial because allows for quick distribution of brief information, collaboration, threaded discussions, and more. In addition, it can be used as a way to assess students by using microblogging to complete certain assignments.
Kara,
Twitter is were students are today! It actually will force students to use fewer words to get their points across. This is not how many of them were taught to write.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Darcel,
I was interested to read about microblogging and how it can be used in class. I have never thought about using Twitter this way before and how it could help. I would use it for students to find information and tweet their comments about it. It would be like a discussion - type format.
Kara
Francis ,
Nice strategies! I actually find the microblogging a great tool to teach concise writing. Students need to be able to communicate with fewer words, microblogging is perfect for that.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I had never considered these kinds of activities in my online classroom. This is a great way to incorporate the real world into what you are doing. You could find a great article and then have the class respond to your post about that article. I love that it is also real-time. There is no lag in their response. You can see it as it is happening. It is a great way to communicate with your students in a way in which they are familiar.
Michael,
I use microblogging tools to teach how to get a point across succinctly. It is a great tool to work with cleaning up writing. This is just one example.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Revonna,
I love your idea to tweet stock on a daily basis that is such a great way. Also, the sharing of notes is another fabulous way to use microblogging.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I must confess that I can't fully grasp the different ways microblogging can be effective in online instruction. I can see that microblogging can be useful for reminding students of deadlines and updates, but, I also think that the brevity of microblogging might limit the usefulness of these online tools.
