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Monday, January 12, 2009
How Can Twitter be used as a Learning Tool?
If you still haven't got your head aroundTwitter, don'tworry! You'll get there. And it really is a lot more simplethan you might think.It's basically a free social networking tool that connects you with other people andinformation. People write “tweets” (or posts) of up to 140 characters about what they're upto, what they're reading, anything really or they throw a question out there to be answered.Depending on how many people you are 'following', and how many are 'following' you, therereally is a wealth of information at your fingertips that may otherwise be difficult to find. So,that's the basics!One thing I really like is the ability tosearchconversations for keywords. You can see if anyone'stalking about you or a subject you're interested in.And one of the coolest things is that you can access a lot of untouchable people on Twitter(@richardbranson) andbig brands are now using itto market themselves in a morepersonal way. AsBenYoskovitzsays 'Twitter is now used quite actively to drive peoplesomewhere - to get them to click through to somewhere. Brands do it. Marketers do it.Everyone does it.'
But does this mean it can be used as a learning tool?
As much as people say it's a marketing tool for business (true - we do have this blog feedhooked up to our twitter account), my main use for it is to discover blog posts and articlesrelevant to the tech industry and training i.e. learning.JeanneMeisterof New Learning Playbook sees Twitter as 'a great tool for communicatingand asking questions on conference calls and other types of static asynchronousconferencing. The added benefit of this is that using Twitter to connect allows you to keep arecord of all the questions and comments, in a manner similar to a blog post."MarkNeedham, Software Developer atThoughtworkssees the benefits of using it but describes the negative as 'it is hard to follow message trails after the event - you tend toneed to be there at the time the discussion is happening to get the most value from it'Twitter has a lot of learning tool potential. It can be used by trainers to keep studentsinformed about coursework, reading materials, and provide a place for discussion. I don'tthink you can create groups though, which would mean forums andFacebookstill trumpTwitter for that purpose.The only real downfall I see is our own insatiable curiosity for knowledge and our addictionfor needing to know what will happen next. Which, may lead us to unknowingly sit there forhours and hours watching the Tweets scroll by!Follow our tweets here:@litmos
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