Since creating a twitter account a few weeks ago I have come to find it useful and also time consuming, very much like Facebook. I also question why twitter even exists and how it has become so popular. I am still getting used to twitter and learning all the ins-and-outs of it, but it seems so similar to Facebook. How many social networking sites does one world need? One seems like enough for me. In the "Join the Flock" article, the author states that twitter helps to bring strangers together. I'm not sure whether that is a good or bad thing. Our world is becoming so globalized and twitter gives us yet another way to communicate with others through a computer screen. That factor alone turns me off networking sites like twitter and Facebook. Our society continually separates itself from one another, what is wrong with having a conversation while being in the same room as someone and talking with them directly? I, for one, am scared where this technology craze is going to end up.
Although I found many interesting points in the "Tweacher" article, I have to say I do not know how much of it I would want to incorporate into my classroom. Especially with the 140 character limit, I think a lot of the things suggested in the article may be much harder to do than the article leads up to believe. I am especially worried about using twitter with younger children, middle school age. There are so many liabilities when using the internet and especially with sites like twitter that I just do not believe that the benefits outweigh the costs. There is also the problem of cheating; there are so many more options for students to cheat and plagiarize with the internet and I am not sure as a teacher, I would be able to detect it. Also, when using sites I think that twitter is a nice thing for students and professional to have, but I just don't see myself encouraging the students in my classroom to use it as a tool for my lessons.
There are definitely a lot of people out there who believe in twitter and the benefits that it can bring to the classroom, but I am not fully convinced. Like I mentioned before, I think it is a fun idea for my personal life but incorporating it into the classroom? I'm not sure. When I think of twitter in the classroom, I imagine students learning and seeing lots of things, but learning those things alone. That idea doesn't settle well with me. I want classroom discussions with emotion and sharing instantaneously and I just don't see that happening with twitter. Maybe by the end of this course, I will be convinced to use twitter in the classroom but not as of right now.
Face to face interaction, or at least voice interaction seems to fade away with the use of social media. You can "stay in contact" with someone so easily nowadays, but it really is more like spying. With these sites and selective response, you are not required to engage with people, and I do believe that socialization suffers because of it. TV always jokes about the kid in the basement playing games online and having a whole cyberworld to live in, but then can't hack it in public. Isn't this doing the same for the general public now? Would I even say the same things if we were talking about this face to face?
ReplyDeleteMiller, one of the Twitter authors from TECH & LEARNING, lives and works in a very small, rather isolated, rural community. Twitter literally connects her to people she could not get to otherwise. Perhaps location makes a difference?
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some strong arguments! The one I like the most is your point about social networking sites like Twitter being the primary way children are learning to communicate. What ever happen to picking up the phone, not to text, but to CALL! Allowing children to think that sites like this are the go-to way for communication will only lead to a generation of very socially-awkward adults
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