Tweeting to Educate?

I can see how Twitter can be used as a method for communication to students in a classroom, as far as educating students, not so sure. I have had a Twitter account for a while now but have not immersed myself in it as some others. I am not totally aware of all its capabilities, I am new to hash tags and I don’t tweet as frequently as others do. I have had my twitter account for over a year and have posted a total of four times, all about sport. I was first intrigued by twitter to follow various sports figures and writers but lost interest fairly quickly, due to more informative content on other websites. As with other forms of communication on the web, I can see the possibilities of becoming a more effective teacher. A teacher can post a homework assignment, or deliver various websites in an instant to students that maybe be having trouble with a homework assignment. Teachers could also update the students on future lesson plans and post reminders and reviews for upcoming assignments or exams.

I don’t think it would be fair to fully rely on twitter for teacher delivery; the same sources of information should be made available in the classroom and possibly on another social network. Also student should not be punished if the teacher posts an assignment only on twitter and only few complete the assignment. Twitter one of many ways to create a “social network” between students and teachers and I believe it would be most effective if only one was used. Opening all the doors to all the social networks can become confusing and over whelming. If twitter we’re to work out there should be a training session and made clear what exactly twitter will be used for. We also have to assume that everyone has the internet and online capabilities and this may not be true for every student walking through the door. As an elementary school teacher I see it being more difficult infusing twitter into a classroom as opposed to students in high school.