This presentation, part of the Social Media for Teaching and Learning, focuses on the anecdotal experience of Krista Jackman's use of Twitter in Freshman Composition at the University of New Hampshire, English 401. Krista developed pedagogy that used Twitter for a dual purpose: as an experiment designed to facilitate a feeling of community, prior to the start of a Residential Learning Community, and to introduce the the function of critical analysis.

1. Social Media for Teaching and Learning
Sheraton Hotel, Boston
October 19, 2012

2. Social Media in the
classroom?

Why? Why not?

3. My Objectives

• Use Social Media
• Build a sense of Community
in the classroom
• Raise awareness of University
Dialog topic
• Introduce the idea of critical
analysis
• Launch the semester’s writing

4. Twitter

• Social Media that allows posts of
140 characters or less. (writing
component)
• Build community by allowing users
to “stay connected” to each other in
a digital environment (builds
community)
• Can “follow” = subscribe to their
Twitter updates (University Dialog
Topic)
• Student seem to LOVE or HATE
Twitter… (critical analysis)

5. +
My
Objectives
=

6. One Week Before Class Started…

Twitter is a microblog that allows you to express your thoughts, to share the
happenings of your life… in 140 characters or less, per post. Your task in this
assignment is to follow the musings (“tweets”) of your chosen classmates for the
next week, and to post your own...
At the very least, please “tweet” and read “tweets” at least twice a day, so to
insert yourself into this online classroom community. If you can tweet and
follow more often, please do.
Your specific task in the coming week is to use Twitter to get-to-know and be-
known… to the extent that this technology will allow. What do you want your
classmates to know about you? Next, choose a handful of to “follow”. Read their
tweets. “Listen” to what they’re doing, where they’re going… What is happening as
they prepare for university life? Is it similar to your experience? Different? What
reactions and responses have they shared? Obviously the character limitation
impacts the type of material that is shared. Do you think that you are getting to
“know” this person?

7. During the First Week of Class…

“… when my four closest friends and worldmates send me dozens of updates a
week for five months, I begin to develop an almost telepathic awareness of the
people most important to me.
It's like proprioception, your body's ability to know where your limbs are. That
subliminal sense of orientation is crucial for coordination: It keeps you from
accidentally bumping into objects, and it makes possible amazing feats of balance
and dexterity.
Twitter and other constant-contact media create social proprioception. They give a
group of people a sense of itself, making possible weird, fascinating feats of
coordination…. “
How Twitter Creates a Sixth Sense
Clive Thompson

8. Let’s Talk…

~ Comments ~
~ Questions ~
~ Conclusions ~