So I’m doing the readings for tomorrow’s class and they both revolve around the use of Twitter in teaching. I look at the overview for the class tomorrow as well and see that not only will we be talking about Twitter, but we will also be setting up Twitter accounts that we will maintain and use throughout the semester. When this class started I was slightly apprehensive about the idea of creating a blog, but I could see the usefulness of it and I resolved to at least give it a good try. This Twitter thing though…I have to say I have several negative feelings about Twitter and I’ve been against creating one and just kind of hoping the Twitter craze would pass by sooner rather than later. I also have a very difficult time seeing how I could actually use it in a class I would teach. Like this blog, I’ll still give Twitter a try because I want to get everything I can out of this class, but there is going to need to be some serious convincing on the instructor’s part tomorrow.
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NeuroticAcademic 
I could not agree more- I am right there with you. I too have held on getting a Twitter account because I have tried to refrain from too many online identities. Plus, its one more time sink. I just don’t have a lot of time to keep up with Twitter. I do not have a smart phone to alert me to every post, and email already kills my time. With so many other time-consuming technology related things going on at once, how does one keep up?
Ditto. While I can see the potential usefulness of Twitter in certain limited areas, but for the most part I have both limited interest and patience to “follow” what my fellow humans are doing in 140 characters or less.
Not sure it will come up tonight, but one way I keep up is through an app called TweetDeck. It lets me customize my Twitter flow so that I see in a glance tweets to me or tweets that belong to some group (such as GRAD602).
I totally agree with you. Limiting yourself to 140 characters—the maximum for messages on twitter—is not easy.
[…] We are seeing some excellent writing in their first posts, but few have caught on to commenting so far. That will come with time. We are also seeing some interesting push-back on the use of technology in teaching and learning. One student posted today: […]
I hope you at least give it a try with an open mind. There is very little, if any, value in the Twitter tool itself. But for me, Twitter has been a fabulous professional development outlet for because it has been so easy to connect with so many really smart people who are interested in the same things that I am. That includes your instructors as well as a few hundred other people who are trying to facilitate change in education. (BTW, it’s also a good idea to connect with some people who think very differently than you do, as I’m sure you can appreciate.)
One thing I say to the Twitter non-believers is that I learn more from my Twitter network on any given day than I ever learned in a day at school. Some educators consider that to be blasphemous. However, I never had the opportunity to take a class with 300 of the smartest people I know; all sharing, collaborating, teaching, and learning. That would have been great, too.
It’s a time suck only if you let it be. 140 characters can be very effective, especially when they include a shortened link that takes you to more learning. In short – good luck and enjoy the ride.
Ultimately…the convincing…is all on you. It seems that an entire cadre of future faculty members will need to understand how a generation of students / learners has self-selected to communicate and interact. Increasingly their communication is social, mobile and connected. #relevance
Ah c;mon, join the conversations with a global network of educators – start now by following @courosa @coolcatteacher @murcha @clifmims @mgraffin @krivett1 @EdTechEmpowers @speters @amichetti @langwitches @heatherd1951
and read 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Education