Twitter Spotlight Session - Leslie Fisher, 2010 Fall CUE

Leslie Fisher introduces the features of Twitter and its educational usage.
Check the below:
2010 Fall CUE - Leslie Fisher - Twitter Spotlight Session

I used Twitter for my Japanese classes that I teach as TA at WMU. There are two sections, and there are totally 36 students. I had already referenced a few resources related to Japanese in the #JPNS1010 group listing. I used this so that students can make connection between students from the other section class, and learn, help, and motivate each other out of the class. My purpose of using Twitter in the class was same as Rankin’s quotation by Marshall (2009), “…I wanted to find a way to incorporate more student-centered learning techniques and involve the students more fully into the material”. There were four main results after I integrated Twitter into the class.  

1.     Students randomly “tweet”ed their comments after each class with new grammars that they have recently used. Some students “retweet”ed the other students’ comments in Japanese as well. (I am not sure their significant purpose well.)    
2.   Two students posted websites that each of them seems to use for learning Japanese letters on their time. One of the comments was “Interesting website for learning kanji on your time! #JPNS1010” with the URL. The other student posted “… is also a good website for learning Kanji, and gives you a search feature. #JPNS1010
3.     One student asked his peers about tips on memorizing dialogue presentation since we will have the presentation soon.  I advised him as well as “retweet”ed his comment so that the other students can see and recommend him their own tips. Students and their teacher can have a good communicate by helping out of the class.
4.  As I mentioned, there are two sections for the Japanese class. There were a few communications between students from the different session, such as “retweet” and “favorite”. Through Twitter, students had diverse communication out of the class.

Unfortunately, not all students had the account. However, this activity was not mandatory. Therefore, not all students joined this opportunities. It’s still beginning, so I’m planning to keep informing them of Twitter and continue this for students to share their personal experiences and information at least during this semester. For the next step, I would create better service for students to learn through collaboration with diverse departments, such as Christine (2010) mentioned in her video through Videmo, “…different department. You can may be connect with your computer department, your art department, your graphitic, and your fashion. And you can get in really tidy conversation and discuss a similar topic. It would be a fantastic use of the service”. I may be able to make a connection with the other university’s Japanese Language Department through Twitter, and students can share what and how they learn in their own University. Also, they can make more connections from students and professionals in the same filed.