twitter for college professors

8/9/2019 Twitter for College Professors

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Last Updated 6.30.2010

TWITTER for COLLEGE PROFESSORSA WHITE PAPER

BY

Allissa V. Richardson, MSJAssistant Professor of Journalism

Morgan State University

WWW.PROFALLISSA.COM


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WHAT IS TWITTER?

So, what are you doing? Its one of the first questions many of us ask our friends in a

casual phone conversation. But lets face it. The digital era has conditioned most of us to

talk through, well, our digits. We thumb text messages to our friends at lightning

speed. In fact, a 24-year-old Seattle man just set the Guinness World record for fastest

text messenger, when he typed the sentence: The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera

Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious"in 35.54 seconds.1

The founding fathers ofTwitter probably do not care too much about ichthyologicaltaxonomy, but I am sure they set out to create a swifter way to communicate online, with

a better way to categorize those conversations. More than 100 million users later, I think

they did a stellar job. Creators Evan Williams and Biz Stone launched the San Francisco-

based company in 2006. They tout it is powered by people all around the world [and]...

lets you share and discover whats happening now. The catch: the Tweeter (more on

the Twitter lexicon later, I promise) has to relay his or her message in 140 characters or

less. That is just enough space to say, Hello, colleagues! I just found this really awesome

site where we can trade lesson plans. But, it is not enough space to wax loquacious like

this: Twitter is the most fantastic tool for reaching students in real-time. I can send

assigned readings, post pictures and links to... You get the idea. Twitter is not for the

verbose. It is for the declarative.

Once a Tweeter has twoted (not really sure if I just made that up), his or her messages

become published in the dynamic newsfeed that makes this social network really come

to life. Yes, while there is a lot of inane chatter about who should have won American Idol,

or which Kardashian sister is the hottest, there is some informative news, such as reports

from marginalized citizen journalists. Recall: the Iranian citizens began Tweeting their

protests live after the countrys leaders banned foreign press from filming or otherwise

reporting there. Had it not been for Twitter, the rest of the world would not have been

1 Cook, John. Seattle Man Sets Guinness World Record for Fastest Text Message. TechFlash: Seattle's Technology

News Source. Puget Sound Business Journal, 22 Mar. 2010. Web. 02 July 2010.

.


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able to view their dissent against what they believed to be a rigged election. We might

also have missed the violence the government inflicted upon these public opponents. In a

surprising twist, Twitter became an essential tool in civil disobedience 2.0.

Which leads me to the last thing you should know about Twitter: your audience.

Everyone on Twitter has a chance to "follow" people they really admire, find hilarious or

find informative. Good Twitter etiquette dictates that they follow you back, but

celebrities and other self-important members of the Twitterati might politely ignore your

advance. Many articles have been written about the one-sided nature of Twitter

friendships, in which hoards of celebs boast a follower : followee ratio of 90:10. But,

there are some very cool notables who will follow you back. (Shout out to Questlove from

my favorite band, The Roots. You are awesome for following me!)

A word about followers: people can find your profile in the oddest ways. Sure there is the

standard people search function that Twitter has improved greatly since its inception, but

there is also a system called tagging, which is like a digital Dewey Decimal system, if

you will. In the Twitterverse, it is polite to add a hash tag with a keyword at the end of

your Tweet, so others can join your conversation. Use tagging with care, though. One

day, upon finding out that all state employees would be furloughed, I blasted an angry Tweet into theTwitterverse about the State Comptrollers need to be a bit more

imaginative in his budget cuts. Wouldnt you know it, a few hours later, I got an e-mail

alert from Twitter that the Comptroller had recently signed up to follow me. Oh, Big

Brother, where art thou? Everywhere! So, the moral of the story is, everyone on Twitter

has a public timeline. Anyone can view anything you have ever Tweeted in your online

life. No, it is not a great idea to Tweet a Tourettes-like diatribe about how angry your

Dean made you in todays faculty meeting. Someone will see it, Winston. You will be

sent to Room 101. Ok, enough 1984-play. If I have not completely dissuaded you from

using this technology, read on. I will teach you how to avoid Twitter TMI to leverage,

quite possibly, the most innovative tech teaching tool of our time.


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WHY USE TWITTER?

An April 2010 study revealed that the site receives an average of 55 million tweets per

day, with new users signing on at the rate of 300,000 daily. Since the sites launch it hascapitalized on its open source platform, which allows developers around the world to

create all kinds of mobile and desktop applications for it. The seemingly ubiquitous social

network can link to Facebook accounts, reference links found on the Web, publish

pictures, and more. For the inventive educator, this can be a vibrant platform to share

real-world material with students, on the fly. And, since Twitter requires you to be to-

the-point, there is no need to write out a long e-mail that you will then send to a mailing

list of students. Everyone who is following you will get the message.

Twitter is meant to be a one-to-many conversation. If you say something that interests

students, they can respond or retweet your quote to share with their followers.

This online exchange actually increases your credibility in class. I teach journalism, for

instance. Many times, I might critique the previous nights news broadcast, or mention

that I saw a printed snafu in our towns newspaper. Since I encourage dialogue and

debate in my classes, students often challenge me to bring the offending news item to

class the next day, for them to critique too. When I Tweet the news item, then ask

students if they agree with me, a lively banter flows through cyberspace, and back to class

the next day. It is not uncommon for conversations on Twitter to shape that days

discussion, and vice versa.

Tweeting to students also helps teachers add to lectures, if need be. Sometimes, class

becomes such an impassioned debate that we run out of time. Twitter allows me to post

the last few slides of the day online. I can also add links to pictures or videos that I find

later, which support that days topic. The first step to starting the conversation is setting

up an account. View my screencast at http://www.profallissa.com, or simply read the

step-by-step guidance that follows.


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SETTING UP A TWITTER ACCOUNT

1. SIGN UP FOR A FREE ACCOUNT. Visitwww.twitter.com.

2. CREATE YOUR PROFILE. Use your name, so students can find you.


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3. CUSTOMIZE YOUR SETTINGS. You can receive text alerts and more.

4.

VIEW YOUR WALL. Follow someTweeple, and get started!


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GETTING STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE

Welcome, tweeple! You are ready to join the world of hashtags and @ symbols. Now,

how do you get students to follow you without feeling like you are invading their digital

space? I use four different mechanisms to invite my students to the group. You can:

1. INVITE THEM FROM TWITTER. Twitter has a built-in search engine thatcan find people by name, e-mail or group.

2. CREATE A CLASS WEBSITE. Integrate a Twitter feed into it. Studentsthen feel like they are following you along with their classmates, which makes it

more communal, and less like homework. (Read my white paper, WordPress for

College Professors, if the idea of creating your own site gives you cold sweats.) 3. POST YOUR TWITTER URL IN YOUR SYLLABUS. If the first method

is too-time consuming, let the students come to you. Add a Facebook link and

you are golden! (Read my white paper, Facebook for College Professors, if you

are starting to hyperventilate.)


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TWITTER AS A TEACHING TOOL

Adding Twitter to my curriculum has been one of the most rewarding technological

experiments I have tested. I have found that my class has become a living, breathing

discussion, fueled by bold perspectives that students might be afraid to share face-to-face.Try my top 10 practices to grow your following:

1. ASSIGN IT. Give out little Twitter business cards on the first day. Make it reallysimple. The front could read, Follow me and the back broadcasts your URL.

Tell students their first homework assignment is to follow you.

2. POST EXTRA CREDIT EXERCISES. If you teach American government,have students write an essay about a timely political issue. If you are a Calculus

professor, post a challenging theorem, equation or word problem to solve.

Histology professors could post pictures of cells and ask students to name that cell

layer. The possibilities are limited only by your creativity.

3. PUBLISH YOUR SYLLABI. Some of my students lose their syllabus mid-semester, but are bashful about asking for another. Posting it online helps them

save face and helps the University save trees.

4. ADD READING LINKS. As a journalism professor, I found many of mystudents had a hard time writing compelling leads to their stories. I made it a

habit to Tweet stories I found that had great opening lines. Within the next two

weeks, I noticed a marked difference in my students approach. Regardless of your

discipline, you can use Twitter to give real-world examples of class lecture

material. If your link makes your Tweet longer than 140 characters, you will want

to shrink it down to size using the TinyURL Web site atwww.tinyurl.com.

5. POST RELEVANT VIDEO. This is a student favorite. In my unit onideological bias in media, I ask them to post links of newscasts that appear to lean

extremely left or right. I then award extra credit to students who pick the best

examples, which helps them and serves as assessment to me. Through Twitter, I

can see whether students have met a learning outcome.


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6. LINK TO PODCASTS. National Public Radio has great podcasts. If you arean economics professor, perhaps you could post a link to a podcast from American

Public Medias show, Marketplace, for instance. Whatever your discipline,

remember the key is to find a timely, applicable piece.

7. START A FORUM DEBATE. If a heated discussion erupts at the end of yourlecture, by all means, fan the flames online. I usually say something like,

Students, we have to break, but lets finish the talk on Twitter.

8. UPLOAD A PHOTO SLIDESHOW. Maybe you are an immunologyprofessor who wants to post microscopic views of pathogens. Maybe you are a city

planning professor who has historic then and now aerial pictures of a town. Be

creative and students will view.

9. FOLLOW THE LEADER. Encourage students to follow industry thoughtleaders. Many times, students only have an inkling about what they would like to

do beyond college, even though they have declared a major. You can help show

them that your discipline translates to real-world employment by directing

students to follow the big shots.

10.GO LIVE! Create Live Tweet assignments. This works best if all of yourstudents are at the same event, or viewing it together, from different locations.

For instance, I realized that my News Writing I students were having a hard time

using journalists shorthand to capture accurate direct quotes. Instead, they kept

getting frustrated and began to paraphrase interview subjects very liberally. The

Presidents State of the Union address was coming up, so I asked students to live

Tweet his speech. I told students to pull soundbites they found most poignant or

informative. The first fifteen minutes were rocky. The students saw, in real time,

how different were each of their quotes. But by the end, the sloppy mistakes

dwindled, and we made a timeline that looked synchronous and credible. Any

teacher can assign a live Tweeting exercise. Economics students can live-Tweet

the stock market. Criminal justice students can live-Tweet a trial. Get creative!


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LAST WORDS

Since I began using Twitter in class, I have developed a deeper bond with my students.

They think of my class in a larger context. They apply the lectures I give in class to real-

world situations. For me, Twitter has become a fast and free way to avoid the Ivory Tower syndrome that can plague us sometimes. It has also made me seem more

approachable, since many shy students message me privately to ask questions they were

too timid to voice in class.

Twitter can become a great extended forum for you, if you use it wisely and frequently.

Nothing is worse than a Twitter account that lies dormant for several months, only to be

revived with a once-per-semester homework assignment. Be forewarned, Twitter works

best for people who write often, relevantly and concisely. If you know it will be toodifficult for you to keep up at least once per week, Twitter might not be for you. But if

you like social networks and all the transparency it engenders, by all means, Tweet away!

Just ask yourself these guiding questions, before you Tweet:

1. Does my linkENRICH the in-class discussion?2. Does this Tweet PROTECT my students rights to classroom privacy?3. Does this Tweet EXHIBITTACT and good taste?

If you have answered all of these questions affirmatively, feel free to begin Tweeting. And

one last thing: do not follow your students back unless they ask you. They might use

Twitter for their personal use, and may feel uncomfortable about you reading their

Friday-night beer pong Tweets. Along these lines, I also give a Twitter Etiquette 101

class at the start of our classroom usage, explaining to them that potential employers will

one day Google them. Part of our introducing students to this technology is also teaching

them how to comport themselves in a professional manner. All the lascivious screennames like BigSexy have to go, I warn them. Once the embarrassed giggles subside, I find

students are actually eager to interact me in this neutral space. Here, in Twitter, teacher

can become student and vice versa. And what a fun time it is!


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GLOSSARY

@the at symbol, which attributes the Twitter speaker. FOLLOWERa Twitter member who subscribes to the Tweets of another. HASH TAGthe official Twitter classification symbol, (#) which categorizes

conversations by subject. MICROBLOGto provide real-time anecdotes in 140 characters or less. PUBLIC TIMELINEthe real-time aggregation of global Tweets. SOCIAL NETWORKan online community of like-minded Internet users

who often share vocations, hobbies or other unifying interests. TINYURLa Website that condenses long Web address links into shorter

addresses that comply with Twitters 140-characters-or-less rule. TWEEPLEthe informal nickname for people who Tweet. TWEETthe act of creating a microblog post on the Twitter platform. TWITTERa free, social networking and microblogging service that enables

its users to send and read 140-character-long messages known as tweets. TWITTERVERSEa compound word that describes the Twitter Universe.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Allissa V. Richardson, 29, is an award-winning

journalist and college professor. She empowers youth to

tell their stories using new media and technology, and ispassionate about training Millennials to be critical

thinkers and multimedia producers.

At Morgan State University, Prof. Richardsons infusion

of educational technology into the journalism curricula

earned her the Deans Award for Excellence in

Teaching and Advising for the 2007-2008 school year

the same year that she earned a promotion from the rank of lecturer to assistant professor.

Most recently, the Knight Foundations Institute for Interactive Journalism awarded her a

$25,000 grant to create a cutting-edge mobile journalism (MOJO) lab at Morgan. All

MOJO students will learn to report using only iPhones. Richardson appeared on NPR in

June to discuss her project.

Before becoming a professor, Richardson began her journalism career at Jet magazine.

There she had the privilege of working for, and with, the late publishing magnate, John

H. Johnson. Within four months, Johnson promoted her from intern to assistant editor

of the magazine, allowing her to pen cover stories at the tender age of 23. Richardsons

work also has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, Baltimore Sun.com and the Examiner

newspapers. She earned the Weinstein-Luby Outstanding Young Journalist Award in

2002 and the Freedom Forums Chips Quinn Scholars award that same year.

Prof. Richardson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Xavier University of

Louisiana and a Master of Science degree in Journalism from Northwestern UniversitysMedill School. She lives in Baltimore with her fellow media junkie husband, Bryant

Richardson. In her spare time, Richardson loves gardening, collecting African masks and

leading youth media workshops. People are often surprised to discover that Richardson,

standing only five feet tall, owns a 140-lbs. Rottweiler, whom she has wrapped around

her finger. Theres also a Boxer and a kitten, but they prefer her husband.

twitter for college professors

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