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Twitter In Education

Shannon I. Spini

Azusa Pacific University

EDTC 517 Digital Communications

Prof. Kristi Hernandez

With technology growing as rapidly as ever it is interesting to step outside your social

tech bubble and explore with other media within the World Wide Web. This week that's exactly
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what I did, I not only created a Twitter profile but also participated in a Twitter chat. Being an

educator I was a bit sceptical to create a profile due to the fact that the small town I live in has

quite a few teenagers who are much more advanced in the social media world than I. Not that I

have posted crazy pictures of me partying but that fact that nowadays anything can be twisted

into what its not. After doing some research and reading up on quite a few blogs, I have come

to realize the Twitter world is beyond full of educators and endless resources.

The research about Twitter and its chat feature is how I found out about a chat for

teachers in special education. Using the hashtag #SpedChat I was able to participate with not

only other teachers but quite a few parents from across the United States discussing the many

different topics of special education. The chat at first was a bit confusing since my internet was

not working at its fullest potential, but once it finally did, I was able to actively participate with

other educators explaining the newer laws about transition goals for students of 16 years of age

and older. I was pretty thrilled to be able to comment and participate as much as I did since I

just attended a specific training on transitional planning for sped students.

This opportunity allowed me to communicate with so many people all at once instantly

and from all aspects. The wheels in my head started instantly turning when I was done with the

chat. I feel like there are so many parents who have questions when it comes to doing what is

best for their kiddos, special ed or not, but yet how often do teachers actually get back to the

parents to answer those questions, to fully explain the answer, to share their knowledge? With

simple Q&A Twitter chats there is plenty of time, anytime, teachers could hope on a chat and

communicate with parents. Educators from all over would be able to participate too, sharing

their knowledge with parents. I feel this is a great idea considering there is only one meeting a

month for parents with special needs in the entire high desert and only about 25 parents tops

are able to attend. Twitter chat could be once a week at least, and parents could participate

from their couch! As far as in the immediate classroom, I would like to see my mod/sev

students become more familiar with technology as well as the internet. I feel a simple Twitter
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account would work great when they share their fun facts every Monday. Students would be

able to instantly provide links with their facts and be able to further explore the world, something

that is unfortunately very limited to them for the most part.

Another thought when it comes to Twitter chat helping out high school students, I think it

would be great for young athletes who are interested in colleges and have colleges interested in

them to be able to create a Twitter chat with other coaches, that way they can get a feel of what

coach and program they might be interested in instead of the endless emails and letters in the

mail. Just another thought as to how much a simple Twitter chat can be so convenient and lead

to more within the educational environment.