Mary Hricko of Kent State University presented an overview of how educators and administrators can use microblogging tools for teaching, learning, and supporting students. What follows is a summary of her presentation, which was quite excellent. At the end I’ll offer my thoughts on it.

Microblogging? What!?

Microblogging is the use of tools such as Twitter to send out short (140 character or less) messages. They are ubiquitous because of integration with mobile phones, web browsers, and robust standalone apps.

Mary describes herself as “always looking for things to use that are out of the box.” While her school had Blackboard, she preferred to find alternative web tools to use for her classes. She required that these tools be easy to use, have low learning curves, and require little effort to set up.

There are over 139 microblogging sites (a conservative estimate). How to pick one?

Overview of (some) tools

Edmodo

http://www.edmodo.com

• Many “classroom” type features.
• Enables users to create groups and share files, links, embedded videos and images along with alerts, assignments and events.
• SMS text; mobile phone app
• several resources for teaching tips.

Mary said edmodo was great because it included lots of features useful for teachers. In fact, it was created by active teachers! Since it is specifically geared towards teaching, it could be ideal for educational applications of microblogging. However, Mary noted that it is a fairly new service and is very private in nature. As such it might not fit your classroom depending on your intended use of microblogging.

Jaiku

“A twitter wannabe” as Mary put it.

http://www.jaiku.com

• Posts limited to 100 characters
• “channels” allow you to separate conversation streams and thread comments
• lets you add RSS feeds from your blog or photo site; nice features for uploading images
• each post has its own page for comments

Plurk

http://www.plurk.com

“If you are visual, this tool is for you.”

• Social journaling with a visual timeline (140 characters)
• Can create “cliques” to send information to specific groups and manage audiences
• Allows messaging; sharing of images and videos
• Allows for keyword searching to locate
• Nice built-in features for posting

Plurk doesn’t support SMS text messaging for posts. Also, as the userbase is small there may not be as many support materials.

Tumblr

http://www.tumblr.com

• “Like an online scrapbook. Good for podcasting/videos.”
• More of a mini-blog than a micro-blog
• Photos, video support

Tumblr blogs are all public and have a moderate learning curve. Might require more setup than other tools.

Other microblogs to check out:

Hictu – http://www.hictu.com

Like Skype+microblogging+YouTube

Squeelr - http://www.squeelr.com

“Anonymous” microblogging. “I don’t like it but I want you to know about it because it’s like an evil Rate Your Professor! Watch out!”

iPhone only app that uses geolocation for postings.

Blip.fm – http://www.blipfm

Music microblogging.

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Features to consider when choosing a microblogging tool:

• Tool integration and mashup capabilities (Does it work with other things?)
• Ease of use
• Support systems (forums? guides?)
• Privacy and security funcitons
• Messaging accessibility (SMS text)
• Levels of control (Owner vs. contributor vs. reader…)
• Read up on a tool on http://microblogs.gemzies.com/ to compare features and get the lowdown.

Uses of microblogging:

Announcements

• Class events
• Assignments
• Updates

Academic Support

• Study groups, tutoring library support
• Information: FAQs on school policies, procedures, safety information

Instructional activities

• Enhance class discussions with postings
• digital storytelling; “twittories”
• Platform for meta-cognition (clear-concise-thinking) activities
• Enhance cross-cultural experiences
• fieldwork notebooks
• medium for brainstorming

The 3 C’s

Communication, Collaboration, Creating

• Microblogs provide both synchronous and asynchronous communication exchange of content
• accessible medium for collaborative global classroom projects
• 140 word digital formative assessments
• instant feedback for lectures

Social Literacy

• Teach information literacy skills
• Provide access to instant news coverage of events as they unfold – election night
• Teach students appropriate ways to converse online
• Prompt students to engage in user content creation and to evaluate user generated content in an immediate manner

Solve problems

• Course centric streams for specific class topics
• Case study analysis; trend analysis
• Collaborative research projects through project-based channels
• Enables opportunities for students to answer queries within brief timeline
• Post to the politician, community leader

Build citizenship

• Learn a language
• Follow global trending topics
• New version of pen pals
• Connect students to social service agencies to address community concerns
• Cultivate cultural exchanges on a wide range of current event topics; issues; debates

Foster teaching

• Share links and resources
• Mentoring tools for other teachers
• Help student teachers
• Facilitate ongoing “teacher chats” (On tuesdays follow hashtag #edchat)
• Personal learning networks
• Connect conferences (Like #oetc10)

Questions to ask yourself before using microblogs for education

Mary discussed some big questions to ask when considering use of microblogging tools.

• How do I convince administration that I can teach with these tools?
• What type of controls will I have in place to ensure privacy and security?
• How do you assess the use of MBs for learning?
• What happens to the content?
• How should I integrate micro-blogging into my teaching?

Final recommendations

• Select the tool that best fits your purpose
• Determine parameters for classroom use of the tool to control “noise” levels
• Ensure that use of the tool is linked to meaningful activities that reflect learning objectives
• Know when not to use the tool
• Integrate microblogging with other proven tools.

Mike’s take on the presentation

Mary’s overview of microblogging was excellent. Not only did she explain a variety of tools but she described a huge amount of uses for the tools.