John Hopkins University Professor Mary Knudson requires students in her medical writing class to send reports from scientific conferences, but limits them to 140 characters. She requires them to Twitter. She says Twitter teaches students to write concisely and lets them share online information, such as links to stories about scientific discoveries and websites with new research, that others might never have come across on their own.
Apparently some in the British government agree. In April there was a proposal that Twitter taught in elementary schools as part of a wider push to make online communication and social media a permanent part of the UK’s education system.
Other educators are using technology specifically designed for the classroom.
However, even as more educators are using Twitter, others think the site actually harms learning, see no value to using the technology in education, and worry about privacy issues.
What do you think?
