I was skeptical when I first started tweeting on Twitter. At first I was bored...even with my own postings. My fascination "grew slowly then all of a sudden." In following the meandering thoughts and ideas of others -especially of those who interest me, I felt an impact: How to better heat my home, deal with teenagers, new music, radical thoughts, not so radical thoughts, new video clips, medical information, rental cars, macular degeneration aids...and all this within days. It was if Twitter was not only "describing conciousness" but even "expanding conciousness."
My friends and colleagues ask, "where do you get the time to do all this?" Why don't they believe me when I say all this happens in only a few minutes a day...and most days I don't even bother with Twitter! My students in my Seminar in Applied Psychology are equally fascinated...many of whom are just beginning to experiement with Twitter (we followed Kirstin during spring break last week as she battled with her fear of flying during a trip to San Francisco: "I made it" she Tweeted to us...and later reported feeling our "Twitter-like support."
And other web 2.0 experiments have produced amazing results...For e.g., just before break we used Skype to bring my student Danielle in to the class when she was away from school in the Dominican Republic. She didn't want to miss class knowing that author Shawn Shea ("Happiness Is...") would be coming to talk about her favorite book. She got to listen in, ask questions, and let Dr. Shea know how much she loved his book, all from her family's apartment in the Dominican Republic...to our class in Keene, New Hampshire.
And, author John Elder Robison ("Look Me in the Eye") continues to post comments on my students' blogs where they posted critiques of his book. Imagine the excitement when a world reknown author provides online feedback on a student's book report! While most student papers eventually yellow on the shelf and eventually see the trash can in a prof's office, my students' papers attract responses and stay alive...long after the class is finished (for better or for worse).
From blogging to Twitter...academics should consider these tools for teaching. And psychology researchers should consider using Twitter to study the daily lives and conciousness of our students.
You were one of the first to get this student-teacher-author thing going, but now quite a few schools are using blogs and I'd like to think some other authors have picked up on it.
I think its a great thing.
I don't know about Twitter . . . but I am going to this PodCamp thing in Holyoke this morning to learn about that and podcasting
Posted by: john Elder Robison | March 28, 2009 at 08:10 AM
John:
Wait a minute, it stopped raining...guys are swimming, guys are sailing...
Would love to hear about how "Pod Camp" worked out!
Larry
Posted by: Larry | March 29, 2009 at 11:20 AM
The direct contact authors and students can have with each other was one of the big joys of incorporating blogging into my Keene State class. It makes the academic dialogue palpably real in a new way.
Hearing about your use of Skype makes me want to start teaching in the classroom again!
That how do you find the time question...I feel like I don't have time to labor in obscurity, which is what we do in the academic world if we're not high on the food chain or publishing right at that moment.
Posted by: Tracy Mendham | March 31, 2009 at 08:13 AM
The new therapy session on the road with skype and twitter hmm? I think I like it.
Posted by: Matt | March 31, 2009 at 08:09 PM
Tracy:
I agree...teachers are either "on the bus" or not...and those who limit themselves to "chalk talk" will continue to bore their students to death.
Larry
Posted by: Larry | March 31, 2009 at 09:42 PM