Taking cues from the Twitterverse
Both a humorous and critical commentary of Twitter, Ben Walker’s song “You’re no one if you’re not on Twitter” makes a number of points about the variety of viewpoints on Twitter.
The “Twitterverse,” certainly, has its fair share of “rubbish,” as Walker says. But I still maintain that its this “rubbish” that creates community. The last stanza in his song reads:
“We validate each other’s insecurities
And brag about the gadgets that we’ve bought
We laugh out loud at every hint of jolliness
And try to self-promote without being caught”
Minus Twitter, this scenario sounds like what happens at a bar…and people have been flocking to bars for centuries to share their “rubbish.”
Oh, if only we could make them gleefully flock to classes! Unfortunately, beer in a classroom is generally shunned. Alcohol aside, I’m pretty sure it’s the environment and openness of bar patrons that enable people to create the pub community.
Now then, speaking of bars, let’s consider pub quiz. People VOLUNTARILY come to bars to take these quizzes as teams. It’s social, people learn things, and it is goal-oriented (usually with prizes of schwag, beer, or food). Can you imagine students looking forward to a session of being quizzed as a team for their classes?
I believe we can make it happen…and that we can make it happen using Twitter.
Clickers have been the latest rage for interactive in-class quizzing, but require proprietary devices…and frankly they’re just a little bit lame. And if you’ve been reading this blog, you already know that I think education needs to overcome lame. In no way could a clicker ever be considered a sexy gadget. So here’s an idea: combine sexy gadgets and pub quiz and have your students team up, tune in, and text their thoughts to you. Poll ‘em on their comprehension. Ask ‘em if they care.
More formally put, engage your students by having them use their mobile devices to participate in a synchronous feedback environment either from the classroom or from a distance.
There are a variety of Twitter polling applications, including
They each have slightly different features and uses, but the important part is that the polls can be created quickly and easily and allow both text and web interfaces. A bit edgier than a graphic calculator in a way that clickers aren’t, text messaging using a students’ own mobile devices is a scaleable, accessible, and easy-to-implement learning technology.
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