Digitizing the Learning Process?

In my graduate class about digital history, we utilize Twitter (some students more than others, of course). My group, Team Playboy, uses Twitter to quickly update and question each other on our progress. Twitter is an easy and quick way to keep all group members on the same page. Many students tweet their class blog so other classmates can easily access them, but this also has the possibility of networking students to a larger interested or professional group by the use of hashtags (such as #digitalhistory or #history). During class, my professor opens her Tweet Deck on the projector so that everyone can view it. Students tweet questions and information during discussion and lecture. This can be helpful, because students are able to tweet their ideas before forgetting them (my mind is easily sidetracked during discussions, for many reasons), and with the questions/thoughts visible to everyone, students can ponder the tweets a bit before they respond, or before the tweet is even acknowledged. The most effective use of Twitter I have seen in class is when a student could not be physically present, she was digitally present. She contributed to class discussion through Twitter, while multiple students tweeted her back to keep her involved. This digital dialogue was immediate and viewed by the entire class on the projector.

I am fascinated by creative uses of technology to educate and disseminate information; this is one of the many reasons I'm studying Public History. Based on my experiences with Twitter and graduate school thus far (I had a grand total of two tweets prior to my enrollment in grad school), I consider Twitter an intriguing tool. In the effort to gain another perspective, I found Eva Kassens-Noor's article,"Twitter as a teaching practice to enhance active and informal learning in higher education: The case of sustainable tweets." While I have linked the article, you may not be able to view it since it is a scholarly work; I accessed it through UNC Charlotte's library. This is a great article that begins by explaining formal and informal active learning, along with the advent of Web 2.0. Active formal education is exactly what one expects in higher education. This includes engaging the student during class, such as a class debate. Informal active learning, then, is involving students in the learning process outside of class. It seems active learning is the opposite of a professor lecturing AT you for hours on end, never allowing the student to participate. Twitter, YouTube, blogger, and Wikipedia are some examples of websites possible because of Web 2.0 and are also potential tools for informal active learning. The author then discusses her small classroom comparative study to gain some insight about the pros, cons, and most suitable environments for the use of Twitter in increasing active and informal learning. Ultimately, Kassens-Noor concludes that Twitter is an effective active and informal learning instrument that has some advantages over traditional methods, yet some disadvantages exist. She explains:

The advantages lie in that Twitter can foster the combined knowledge creation of a group better than individuals’ diaries and discussion, because Twitter facilitates sharing of ideas beyond the classroom via an online platform that allows readily available access at random times to continue such discussion. The disadvantages of Twitter lie in constraining critical thinking and self-reflection because of the tweets’ character limit.

She supports some of the same things I realized in my own experience, yet she further points out that the assignment given in a class dictates the effectiveness of Twitter. For example, if an assignment involves a lot of critical thinking and reflection, Twitter would not be a suitable tool. Of course, we must keep the limitations of this small study in mind. I still think this article brings some valid information to the table, much of which my informal learning experience supports. Twitter is certainly a beneficial tool for the classroom, inside and out. Based on Kassens-Noor's article, it seems the instructor needs to understand how and when to use Twitter to further engage students and help prepare them for the increasingly digital world in which we live.