Twitter Assignment 1: Hashtag, you’re it!
Current Event searches
1. Determine a list of keywords that are relevant to your course (e.g. “sustainability” or “recycle” for an environmental course; “dividends” or “financial” for an accounting class).
2. Students (and instructor) should search the weekly hashtag (can be done weekly or daily) and compile a list of:
- Credible resources
- Industry leaders who may be posting using the hashtag
This exercise will encourage:
1. Discussion about current events
2. Connection with key players in the industry
3. Critical reading and thinking
4. Research and synthesis of information
Twitter Assignment 2: Follow You, Follow Me
Making connections to industry leaders
1. As a class, build a list of leaders in your chosen field (e.g. Rick Bayless for culinary students, Daniel Pink for business students, etc.).
2. Students follow these leaders
3. Students examine the people that these leaders are following
4. Students can begin to follow the people that their industry leaders follow
5. Begin to examine the resources these people use, the information that they share, and websites they may read
6. Students can follow specific hashtags, or the class can monitor these hashtags by creating a Twitterfeed in the Blackboard course site
This assignment encourages:
1. Critical reading and thinking
2. Research and synthesis of information
3. Engagement with the instructor, professionals in the field, and each other.
4. Creates a learning experience that goes beyond the classroom, and can become global as students create their own Twitter communities and connections
Twitter Assignment 3: Tweet That, Tweety Bird!
Sharing ideas with others
Create a class hashtag that all members of the class will incorporate into their tweets (note that re-tweeting may not allow a user to add the hashtag).
1. Create a Twitterfeed of the class hashtag
2. Students retweet an industry leader’s original tweet that they find interesting and relevant to class
3. Students find their own related resources, create their own tweet, incorporating the class hashtag (and any other relevant hashtags)
This assignment encourages:
1. Engagement with the instructor, professionals in the field, and each other.
2. Creates a learning experience that goes beyond the classroom, and can become global as students create their own Twitter communities and connections
3. Discipline expertise
4. Communication
5. Technological Literacy
6. Critical reading and thinking
7. Research and synthesis of information
Indicators of successful tweets:
1. A student’s tweet gets a response from someone in the Twitter community (not spam)
2. A student’s tweet gets retweeted
3. A person from the Twitter community begins to follow a student based on the merit of their tweets
4. People from the greater Twitter community begin to use the class hashtag
5. Get favorite!
· Instructors should set requirements for number of tweets, types of tweets, and frequency of tweets.
· Instructors should model the social media behavior they expect.
Twitter Safety Tips To Protect Your Account & Identity
1. NEVER share personal information
- Phone numbers
- Addresses
- locations
2. DO NOT use your class Twitter account to post photos of yourself or your friends – this account should be PROFESSIONAL and not used for party pix!
- Take a look at any pictures of you that may be posted online. Would you be embarrassed if your mom saw them????
3. Beware of unsolicited direct messages (may be a phishing scam)
4. Use private Twitter accounts
5. BLOCK & REPORT any spam or inappropriate tweets
6. Make sure you have a spam filter and anti-virus software
7. Just like Facebook, TWITTER IS FOREVER! Never tweet any embarrassing or confidential information. NEVER!
8. See what you can see: Google yourself. See what information is available to the public. Don’t like what you see? Then start to make your accounts private, and clean up your virtual footprint. Own your google search!
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Twitter Tools in Blackboard:
Blastcasta:
http://www.blastcasta.com/add-news-to-your-website.aspx
Use to add a Twitterfeed link into your Bb course site. I use the iFrame option when setting up the tool.
1. Create a new Content area in the Menu bar of your Blackboard course site. Name it “Twitterfeed” or something that would indicate that this is where the students would see their tweets displayed for the class.
2. Create an Item, and give it a descriptive name (e.g. INT 110 Tweets: Use #INT110 everytime you Tweet)
3. Go to Blastcasta, and set up all of the information in the form. The most important thing is to set the hashtag that you are using for your class!!!!
4. On the right side of the Blascasta page, you will see the html script. Copy and paste this script into the HTML editor in Blackboard.
5. Submit
You will begin to see the tweets that contain the hashtag for your class displayed in the item window.
Add a Course Menu Link
Instructors can customize items to the course menu to include Content Areas, Staff Information, and Communication Tools that best fit the course structure.
1. Above the course menu, click the plus (+) sign to reveal the choice list. You have the option to create a Content Area, Tool Link, Course Link, External Link, Module Link, etc. Click the link type you wish to create.
2. To create a new Content Area, for example, enter a name. Put a in the box to make the Content Area available to users.
3. Click Submit.
Reorder Course Menu Links
1. Hover over the vertical arrows left of the menu item you wish to move, and then click the left mouse button to hold the arrow, and drag the menu item.
2. A dotted box will appear on the menu where the menu item will be placed. Continue dragging until the dotted line is where you want the menu item to sit. Let go of the mouse, and the item will be placed.
Rename and Remove Course Menu Links
1. Click the chevron next to the right of the menu link you wish to rename or remove. Click Rename to rename a course link, or click Delete to remove the course menu link.
2. Type a new name in the box provided to rename a course link.
3. You will asked to confirm your deletion. Click OK.