Abstract
Students in a weekly, face-to-face interdisciplinary graduate seminar were given a Twitter assignment designed to promote immediate reflection and to encourage students to look for connections between class content and their experiences as graduate students and GTAs. What began as an assignment to help students become more aware of their learning through reflections and connections became a community-building resource as well—a place where students shared information about graduate life, offered resources to extend class discussions, and made personal connections between their content areas and other students' interests. This session will include an analysis of the types of information students shared via Twitter, as well as their pre- and post-semester reactions to the assignment, both positive and negative. The session will conclude with a discussion about the viability of microblogging in other college classroom settings, how to handle resistance, and extensions into live, in-class Twitter feeds for larger classrooms.
Location
Room 2911
Recommended Citation
Domizi, Denise P., "Microblogging to Build Community and Foster Connections" (2011). SoTL Commons Conference. 50.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2011/50
Microblogging to Build Community and Foster Connections
Room 2911
Students in a weekly, face-to-face interdisciplinary graduate seminar were given a Twitter assignment designed to promote immediate reflection and to encourage students to look for connections between class content and their experiences as graduate students and GTAs. What began as an assignment to help students become more aware of their learning through reflections and connections became a community-building resource as well—a place where students shared information about graduate life, offered resources to extend class discussions, and made personal connections between their content areas and other students' interests. This session will include an analysis of the types of information students shared via Twitter, as well as their pre- and post-semester reactions to the assignment, both positive and negative. The session will conclude with a discussion about the viability of microblogging in other college classroom settings, how to handle resistance, and extensions into live, in-class Twitter feeds for larger classrooms.
