Twitter – more than a platform?

I’ve never been much of a Twitter user. Amid the countless hours spent (and admittedly, wasted) on Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit, I never felt like I was missing anything in my social media experience. So, the first and only times I’ve used Twitter were for my EDTC 300 course!

We were invited to participate in the #SaskEdChat, a virtual discussion held over Twitter with a moderator and participants from all over the web. The topic was “Student Choice and Voice”, and Dr. K. Christopherson, as moderator, posed several questions online for us to think about and respond to.

Despite my limited experiences on Twitter, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience! The questions discussed made me think about students’ roles and voices in the classroom in a new way, and I even got a response from the moderator to one of my answers!

I think opportunities like the #SaskEdChat are great professional development tools for educators. It not only gets you to consider issues in the education field in a new way, but helps introduce you to a wide spectrum of answers from fellow educators (or, educators in training). Seeing my classmates’ answers to the questions was deeply thought provoking for me. I know that my brain likes to work and think in a specific way, but being able to visually see the answers to the discussions helped me realize the different perspectives that others may have, and start to wonder what kinds of experiences have shaped those perspectives.

In the classroom, I am uncertain about whether or not Twitter has a place as a common forum for students to actively engage in. As is a common theme in almost any discussion about tools for the classroom, time is in such a limited supply, and educating, incorporating, and moderating an entire class’ use of Twitter appears at first glance to be exhausting. I think that the way I’ve seen educators use Twitter so far is a good (“happy”, if you will) medium; they typically share highlights of the school’s or classroom’s achievements in an informative and fun way.

In all, I enjoyed the #SaskEdChat, and look forward to the next one! And who knows, maybe my opinion on Twitter in the classroom will change as I use it more and more. I’m definitely willing to be proven wrong!