Twitter Question

I teach in an independent study school so students aren't with me all day like in traditional school. That said, I created a website for extra academic support and a Twitter account to send students and parents reminders about upcoming events and deadlines. I released both the website and the Twitter account this week so I'm just starting to see the student usage. I'm hoping it's helpful.

My question is this: When my students follow me on Twitter, should I follow them, also? Seems like that's getting into some sketchy territory. I ask because I saw one of my student's tweets that said "trying to do my homework". I wanted to make a comment, but didn't know if it was appropriate. I don't want to know about their private lives, but given the type of school setting when I teach and the students we work with, the teacher-student connection is really important.

I guess with the out-of-classroom stuff, those lines that are easy to see in the classroom become subjective.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Tags: twitter

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by laurie strain on November 20, 2010 at 5:59am

The students will be notified when you follow them, and you could make a point of letting them know, that way no privacy is violated. They can always open a twitter account under another name if they want to separate home and school tweets.

Permalink Reply by Gerald Aungst on November 20, 2010 at 9:22am

If you want more of a "walled garden" approach, consider using Edmodo (http://www.edmodo.com). It's like twitter, but specifically designed for teacher-student communication. You control who is permitted to access your group, so communications within the class are visible to everyone in the class, but are not publicly posted. It might be a good middle ground.

Permalink Reply by Sharanda Payseur on November 30, 2010 at 5:30pm

I love edmodo. It sends text messages to update when you post things. I also like Schoology, better even. The only problem I have with Schoology is that there isn't a text message notification option yet, but they are working on it. They are also working to sync with Google calendars.

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