Today, I'm requiring my students to sign up for twitter. In doing so, I'm hoping to teach digital citizenship in real time with real rewards and consequences.
I know the kids need time to play and construct their own digital identities. I'm pulling from the work of danah boyd and her work with youth and technology. Additionally, I'm pulling from Brazilian educator Paulo Friere and other critical pedagogy writers in an effort to collapse the distance between home codes of learning and school codes of learning.
Additionally, I want to create an environment where students can navigate the storm of data and maked informed decisions through critical analysis of the source and the information.
Therefore, in class today, I'm giving them the basic instructions for setting up a twitter account and letting them go. There are a ton of selfies being taken, people are trying different identities via their bios, they are sharing both in analog and digital form, their connections, and followers. The pitch was to create their own digital identity that was "school appropriate." With that, I know they need to experiment with identities and boundaries. This is a social act. They are showing each other phones, taking pictures, listening to podcasts, and just experimenting with their digital identity in a public space.
One thing I need to keep in mind is to keep using this platform. It can't be just novelty. I need to build lessons that are twitter specific. That will be the challenge. What lessons can I create that can only take place on twitter?
Got me thinking... Lessons that reach out to include ideas and thinking of others - a broad spectrum...
ReplyDeleteLessons in/on Twitter itself - how # work and are used to convey a message... I know this question is inviting conversation because I know you have lots of ideas on your next step. Looking forward to learning with you!
Agreed. The rhetoric of twitter is a huge thing, especially hashtags as part of the message (embedded meaning, sarcasm, etc...).
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to get the kids going. They seem to take to it. They're looking at a variety of different accounts and making decisions based on preference and whatnot. As such, they are becoming consumers on the way to becoming producers.