On Thursday, May 14th, I participated in my first ever #SaskEdChat through Twitter! I really enjoyed the experience, and using TweetDeck to filter and organize my screen made the experience seamless and way more productive. I appreciated the diverse responses and conversations that took place during the Twitter chat. I also enjoyed the laid-backness of it all. I could respond to the questions easily and reply to or retweet others effectively without any pressure. All of it was a natural and comfortable conversation that aided networking and provided a ton of perspective on the pedagogical applications and values of pre-service and in-service teachers in my learning community.

One of the motivations for younger generations to use Twitter is primarily for news. None of my friends read the newspaper or watch the news channels, so we rely on social media to provide our information. This can be unnerving, though, because anyone can create #FakeNews. However, I think social media platforms give individuals the opportunity to be critical consumers and be sufficient digital citizens, which is a skill that students will need to hon in the digital age we live in!

In terms of education, Twitter is a gold mine! In high school, we did a Twitter chat in Business 20, and I loved it. With the volume of tweets that were being put out simultaneously, I felt little pressure to make my answers perfect but to just take in the responses. As a student, I was engaged and excited about the content and what everyone had to say. After participating in the #SaskEdChat on Thursday, my past experience was reaffirmed. In addition, the article “Use of Twitter across educational settings: a review of the literature” by Aqdas Malik, Cassandra Heyman-Schrum and Aditya Johri outlines many benefits of using Twitter in the classroom. Malik et al. highlight that “integrating Twitter within coursework motivated learners to participate actively, as most of them perceived it to be a highly effective non-traditional learning tool.” When learners actively participate, the classroom environment, in turn, fosters independent thinking and gives students agency over their learning. Additionally, the article states that,

Twitter provides affordances for strongly connecting and bonding with others and forming a community.

“Use of Twitter across educational settings: a review of the literature”
by Aqdas Malik, Cassandra Heyman-Schrum and Aditya Johri

Community building is crucial in schools because one of the hardest things about teaching (as I learned in my pre-internship) is motivating students to show up. Using Twitter to excite and connect with students through a multimedia platform will hopefully increase participation and attendance, especially at the high school level. 

So, teachers! Through Twitter chats, we see how Twitter “provides them [teachers] a channel for professional development and networking with peers, professionals, and authorities in their respective fields, with whom they can connect, communicate, share relevant resources, and follow prominent figures,” but how can we use Twitter in other forms (besides Twitter chats) to foster learning? I would love to hear your thoughts! 

P.S. If you have not checked out my tweets from the #SaskEdChat, you can here!