Below are listed a number of possible Twitter-based activities and assignments that can help students and teachers connect in new ways (or old ways using new media).
For an opinion piece:
The teacher tweets a question, something like: “What do you enjoy reading?” This kind of discussion helps students see that their teacher cares about their opinions (making them more willing to share those opinions in a graded setting) while allowing the teacher and the student to interact in an ungraded experience outside class.
For an analysis piece:
The teacher posts her favorite line of the piece on Twitter, inviting the other students to do the same. Students will come to respect the instructor’s expertise as it is made available.
For a researched position:
Tweet three different sides to your argument. This will give the teacher the opportunity to respond in a non-threatening and very informative way to one of the most important concepts in a research assignment. The students will get these small comments and know that the teacher has put forth effort reading their work and formulating a response to it.
For a multimodal composition:
Tweet a link to your favorite webpage. Comment on the way the page is organized. The instructor, again, gains credibility through reading and commenting on students’ personal opinions.
In summary, instructors will be able to connect with their students as they comment regularly on students’ small and low-key opinions and assignments. Teachers will create an ambient scholarly buzz that will help the students feel connected to the class discussions and readings.
With their Peers
Some might wonder why Twitter is better at creating rhetorical identification than non-microblogging forms such as whiteboards, emails, class discussions, etc. The key comes in this element of phatic communication: the classroom will be augmented with an ambient buzz of scholarly discussion, collaboration, and commenting. Students will be more connected as they interact in such a proprioception-oriented manner.
For an opinion piece:
Write your first paragraph. Now condense that down into a sentence. Now condense that down into a tweet. Now post. Read and comment on 3 other argument sentences. This exercise helps students find the essence of their paper, which helps them focus their future drafts. It also gives students the opportunity to communicate “phatic-ly” with each other, to comment on others’ efforts and identify with their opinions.
Post a link to a digital draft of your paper, along with a short description. Now go read two other papers and write comments. As students read their peers’ extended arguments, they will become more invested in the success of their peers.
For an analysis piece:
Find an article that uses irony. Tweet the link and comment on whether you think the irony worked or didn’t work for the intended audience. Read three other tweets and comment on their analysis. This will fulfill the twofold purpose of helping the students develop a critical eye for audience awareness while at the same time helping them get to know each other and express themselves in phatic-based discussion.
Find an article whose audience is tree-huggers. Tweet the link. Respond to whether you are a part of that audience. Read and comment on peers’ tweets. This assignment helps students learn to pick out audiences while at the same time giving them the chance to identify with other audiences. Students will get to know each other by reading and discussing peers’ analysis and statements of belief.
For a researched position:
Condense your argument down to 140 characters and post it to Twitter. Now respond to another student’s argument with a question. As students engage in this short-and-sweet peer-review session they will learn principles of analysis and coordination.
Find other members of the class who are researching similar topics. Tweet links relevant to all your papers. This example of scholarly proprioception will help students learn to engage in a scholarly community and share the load of research.
For a multimodal composition:
Tweet a response to at least three peers’ profile pictures on Twitter. Does their picture capture them as people? Tweet any suggestions. Many students love pictures, and inviting them to look at their friends’ pictures with a rhetorically critical eye will help them learn the principles, get to know their peers better, and grow closer together as a class.
In summary, as students share blips of informed thought with each other, they will begin to get a feel for how their peers think about the class’s readings and discussions. This understanding will help them feel comfortable to engage in peer reviews, to share research, and to discuss class readings.
With Experts
If Twitter is so effective in passing links, is it equally as effective in helping students engage in a back-and-forth with experts in their fields? I believe it is, and here are a few examples of how that can come about:
For an opinion piece:
Read at least two other op-eds on your issue and tweet the more powerful along with why it’s the more powerful. Not only will students read up on their issue, but they will engage in the thoughtful discussion on the issue. This will help establish them as investigators of that particular issue, helping them join the topic’s discourse community on Twitter.
Find at least five twitter streams of people who tweet about your issue. Follow them and ask them their favorite source on the matter. This is a wonderful way for students to engage with experts in their field. People are often quite willing to help over Twitter, especially if the student has spent the time to find high-quality Twitter streams.
For an analysis piece:
Tweet a link to your analysis along with the thesis statement. Ask for comments. This will invite the comments of those who agree as well as those who disagree with the student’s analysis, engaging the student in the real debate about the issue. Here are some ways this might happen.
For a researched position:
Find a link to an opinion that disagrees with your own. Post it along with the reason you disagree with the opinion. Students will practice engaging with opposing viewpoints. Twitter’s accessibility means that others—maybe even some who disagree with the student—will be able to read and comment.
For a multimodal composition:
Tweet a link to your completed project. Ask for feedback. It’s amazing how many people are willing to help when contacted through social media. Students might even learn that someone in their network is an expert visual designer.
Find a twitter user who has a webpage you admire. Tweet them and ask how they designed their page. Even if the expert never responds, the students will have found a website whose design they appreciate and spent a few minutes crafting and sending a tweet. If the expert does respond, that’s just icing on the cake.
In summary, students become more active scholars and citizens as they interact in the discourse community they are entering with their writing assignments. They are able to see that their issues really matter to the outside world, and that their assignments are preparing them to interact with experts on their issue. This interaction helps give students the perspective and confidence to actually engage with the experts, rather than summarizing or parroting their arguments.
For the full theoretical discussion of these assignments, see my series of blog posts based on my MLA 2009 presentation, and the accompanying “Prezi” presentation can be found here.
