[Yr7-10it] Twittering

[Dr Paul Chandler]

Roland and others,

I hope you haven't put the moz on other responses to my question, Roland :-)

I'm presently engaged in observing classes using Kahootz, for which there
is no existing (student-accessible) forum or similar system.

What we are observing is that students are thriving on the immediacy of
getting help.  For instance "how do I make it seem that this character is
morphing to another ... oh, I can show you how to do that"   There is help
being spread across schools ("how can I show rain"), but it is
teacher-mediated and word of mouth (but very efficient when it works).

I think help forms are terrific.  The rapidity in which I've received
assistance for products like vlc and PGV is astounding, but these are very
large and very active communities, where the principal developers devote
huge numbers of hours to answer questions.  This is not likely to be the
case with Kahootz.

You're not going to get extended responses in a medium like twitter.  But
interactions such as "Can u mk rain?"  "yeah - check http://somerain" are
possible, and probably very helpful.

So, notwithstanding Roland's informed comments about forums and Yahoo
answers, I think my question still remains: I'm wondering if anyone as
thought of - or implemented - the use of Twitter (or some twitter-like
technology) as a "help system" for students?

Regards,

> Twitter is a bit different from a forum to ask for help .. it is an odd
> mix
> of micro-blogging and chat. I have a small, friendly gathering of
> educators
> on my Twitter rgesethuizen identity but not as many as I can tap into via
> these forums. No students although I expect they have moved beyond
> micro-blogging to communicating in fewer syllables with words like hmm,
> shh,
> ahh, grr, hah, ugg, huh, yeh etc.
>
> Perhaps if students were looking to share questions they would use Yahoo
> Answers. Last year I was surprised to spot my VCE students skim this for
> answers until I found out that one was handing out IT advice and trying to
> gain more 'points' than somebody else! She was doing a swell job of
> answering basic questions by doing some snap research and typing up short
> answers. Apparently they got the most points if the questioner voted her
> answer as the best. Worth studying although I should warn that I now
> recognise that like other similar engines, some of the questions discussed
> cover adult concepts.
>
> Regards Roland
>
> 2009/6/22 Dr Paul Chandler <paul.chandler at une.edu.au>
>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> I'm wondering if anyone as thought of - or implemented - the use of
>> Twitter (or some twitter-like technology) as a "help system" for
>> students?
>>
>> We all know that kids talk with one another and 'get help' on various
>> aspects of computing when they are working in the classroom ... is this
>> the logical extension?
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> --
>> Dr Paul Chandler
>> Research Fellow
>> 'Multimedia grammatical design and authoring pedagogy' (Kahootz)
>> project,
>> School of Education, University of New England
>>
>> located at Australian Children's Television Foundation
>> 145 Smith Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, 3065
>> e-mail: paul.chandler at une.edu.au
>> Ph: 0400 198 187
>> Fax: (03) 9419 0660
>> Skype: paul.d.chandler
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
> http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au
>
> "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
> change
> the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
>


-- 
Dr Paul Chandler
Research Fellow
'Multimedia grammatical design and authoring pedagogy' (Kahootz) project,
School of Education, University of New England

located at Australian Children's Television Foundation
145 Smith Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, 3065
e-mail: paul.chandler at une.edu.au
Ph: 0400 198 187
Fax: (03) 9419 0660
Skype: paul.d.chandler