steven eberry

Twitter today has become a ubiquitous form of communication and is used by Governments, Businesses, and ordinary people alike.

This is in response to @DPaswaters’ potential use of Twitter in the Classroom. Below are some common arguments and how they should be refuted. They are compared to Email in every situation, which is much more distracting than Twitter.

Argument: Twitter can become a distraction in the classroom.

Twitter can indeed become a distraction in the classroom, but all it takes to use Twitter is a cell phone with text messaging - which everyone has. Twitter users can use text messaging to a) update their status AND b) subscribe to others statuses. This means that person A can send out an update, and if person B,C,D,E,F and G are subscribed to their updates, they get it all at the same time - via text message.

Twitter is the last thing teachers need to be worried about in the classroom. As a student from LPS, I see behind the laptop screens to what people are really doing - and I can tell you that people are not interested in Twitter. I see games, along with the occasional person actually working. There are much more distracting things on the internet than an occasional 140 character message floating by.

Email - All major email accounts are available for access from school, and serve a very similar purpose as Twitter, however are narrowed to only one person - the recipient.

Argument: Twitter Contains Objectionable Content

Twitter contains no objectionable content in accordance with its Terms Of Use - at least in terms of pornography and explicit images. Users can post LINKS to whatever they please, but those links are handled by the filter independently. For example, a user can send out a tweet with pornsite.com enclosed, however pornsite.com should be blocked anyway.

Email - on the other hand uses a secure method of transmission, so user A could send an email to himself/herself with illegal content, and it would go right through to the other side - with no filter intervention.

In this case, Twitter is many, many times safer than email because Twitter only allows text to be transmitted, whereas email allows all kinds of content.

Argument: If we block Twitter, Nobody will use it at school!

This is an extremely inaccurate statement. I, Steven Eckelberry, frequently pull out my iPhone in between classes to update my Twitter status. How? I am on an iPhone using AT&T’s cellular network. Because the Communications Act of 1924 allows me to recieve any signal on any wavelength at any time, I can read and respond to my Twitter and my Facebook account during the school day.

If the schools really want to block access to sites they deem unacceptable, they have to interfere with the Federal Communications Comission and block access to AT&T’s cellular data towers.

Twitter should not be used as a teaching tool.

Twitter can be used safely by teachers and students alike. Heck, I’m still alive and well after posting over 2,130 updates and having 1,177 followers. Twitter can be used like most sites - allowing only approved people to see your updates, location, name, etc.

Let me propose a scenario. A teacher posts a thought provoking question that can be quickly read on Twitter. Students - either as Homework or personal interest - can respond to the question. What’s more, students can see all of their classmates’ responses inline with their other posts. Wouldn’t it be great if students were interested enough in Twitter that they would not only use it for personal purposes but also for class purposes? This brings the classroom and the personal life closer together - which fosters learning. And because you must answer in 140 characters or less, it is easy to keep interested.

As you can see by these reasons, Twitter should be fully unblocked from the 8e6 portal. Twitter can be used in ways that foster learning, and should be given as an option for teachers and students alike. Any questions regarding anything referenced here can be sent to Steven . Eckelberry at GMail dot com.

Steven Eckelberry