Twitter Town

Est. March 2006

Population 7,038,000

Age Group 35-49

Twitterati 10% of population=90% of tweets

A nice place to visit 60% leave within 1st month

Getting to Twitter Town

Twitter Town’s Sheriff

Professor of Italian at Montclair State• iVenus – Apr 2007• profeac – Jan 2008• profenza – Jan 2009

Students have used Twitter in• ITAL103 (Intermediate)• Grammar & Composition

(Advanced)• Cultural Studies (in English)

The Laws of the Land

Text-based posts only

140 character message size constraint

Community members include “friends” (people you choose to follow) and “followers” (people who follow you)

Public or private participation allowed

The Lay of the Land

The Town Square = the

Timeline

The last thing youmicro-blogged:a.k.a. a tweet

Where you update/ tweet

Town water cooler = Populartopics

Twitter Town Passports

Digital Natives in Twitter TownWhat benefits will students and/or teachers perceive with this type of social network?

What disadvantages?

• Raise your hand• Or chat

Twitter Town & YouTweets are a source of information; people in certain places, at certain events, sharing at a global level

How is this applicable to the foreign language classroom?• What would you communicate to your

students in 140 characters or less?• Use the hashtag - #larc09

#HashtagCreate groupings by adding context and metadata

@Replies a.k.a. Mentions

The @Replies feature was introduced because we noticed lots of folks putting the @ symbol in front of Twitter usernames as a way of addressing one another. • For example: @biz what are you drinking in

your avatar? (It's a soy latte.)

@username also now in the middle of tweets as a way to simply reference another account

The Retweet (RT / via …)

Sharing and crediting sources

The Power of the Retweet

Benefits to Twitterers

They can:be engaged in either synchronous or asynchronous modes of communication (always on, always connected)interact with individuals or community members in the L2 participate in the virtual classroom and in the L2 culture

Not just a place to visit

Twitterers can:micro-blog about what they are doing (learner written output)read what others are doing (learner’s comprehensible input)communicate directly with someone they are following (negotiation of meaning)

Twitter Town TipsCreate a Twitter handle for academic use only

Use class time to have students create their handle, follow classmates and tweet for the first time

Prompt them initially to have them feel comfortable with tweeting

Develop your best practices for course objectives

Educational Things To Do

Follow a ProfessionalFollow a Famous PersonGrammarRule Based WritingMaximizing the Teaching MomentPublic Note PadWriting Assignment

Class chatter Classroom communityGet a Sense of the WorldTrack a WordTrack a ConferenceInstant Feedback

Source: AcademHackwww.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/twitter-for-academia/

Tweeting in ItalianTwitter is self-perpetuating and generative

School 22.3 %

Entertainment 13.6 %

Feelings 13.6 %

Food 12.1 %

Hobby 8.0 %

Family 4.9 %

Home 4.4 %

Friends 4.1 %

American life 3.9 %

Events 3.6 %

Unexpected uses of Twitter:

bulletin board, requesting information and help• in an academic context (e.g.,

looking for misplaced textbooks and handouts, asking about deadlines for assignments)

• technology-related matters, (e.g., how do I tweet from my cell? how do I personalize my Twitter homepage like you did?)

Students tweeted rather than e-mailed the instructor with questions

Students’ Refl ections

Twitter can transform social networking to educational networking.

Twitter helped reduce affective filters.

Learners stated that twittering had them asking for more information and allowed them to clarify using the L2.

Twitter Town & YouWhat would you communicate to your students in 140 characters or less?

What prompts would you use?• Use the hashtag - #larc09

Tourist AttractionsThere are many different applications that can enhance your visit to Twitter Town

http://twitter.pbworks.com/Apps

THANKS FOR VISITING.

Y’ALL COME BACK NOW

SOON