Out of this World Resources

This page contains links to twitter assignments, useful articles about twitter, and more. If you have something to add, put it in the comments.

twitter assignments around the web

Daisy Pignetti’s assignment
includes guidelines specific to using Twitter in distance education and face-to-face classes

Brian Croxall’s assignment
this assignment is versatile and involves guided Twitter use with a follow-up written evaluation

Monica Rankin’s assignment
her “Twitter Experiment” was designed as a way to prompt discussion in a history survey course of 90 students

David Silver’s assignment
this assignment for a digital media production class involves guided Twitter use and an in-class demo

David Parry’s assignment
students use Twitter for a weekend, build their “following” list, and read two related articles

Barbara Nixon’s assignment
requires students to post a set number of tweets and replies over a 48-hour period; then they blog about it

Andrew Marcinerk’s assignment
two detailed assignments for history or literature students – pick a historical figure or literary character and compose persona tweets

similar to the above is Steve Rayburn’s assignment for an English literature class: students tweet as characters from Dante’s Inferno

Tanner Higgins’ assignment
designed to introduce students to Twitter and get them using it for a long-term period (over the course of a quarter) rather than just a weekend

Brian McNely’s experiment he conducted using only @replies (responding to tweets) for six days – could translate to a more advanced classroom assignment

Bill Wolff’s assignments
Leveraging Twitter for Research (graduate class on research methods)
@Twittering #wecf09 (graduate new media class using Twitter for the semester)
Microblogging with Twitter (4-week undergraduate module in a technology and writing course; Wordle of student tweets; TwapperKeeper archive)

practical tips for using twitter in the classroom

David Parry: “Twitter for Academia”
List of ideas and tips for teachers who are trying out twitter in their classes and may be skeptical about it

Bill Wolff: “Using Twitter in the Graduate Classroom”
This post focuses on using Twitter in a small graduate course.

Kim Smith: “The Twitter Experiment”
Documentary video (5 min) on Monica Rankin’s students’ impressions of using Twitter in a lecture class.

Tom Barrett: “29 Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom”
A Google Docs presentation that aggregates ideas and assignments from many educators

“50 Ways to Use Twitter in the College Classroom”
A long list of tips and tricks for every stage of college and every level of user

Claire Miller: “Getting the Most Out of Twitter, No Posting Necessary”
New York Times article appealing to a general audience – how to use twitter as a research tool, news feed, and all-around information source

Mark Sample: A Framework for Teaching with Twitter
This ProfHacker article introduces and discusses a Twitter Adoption Matrix

Kelli Marshall: Twitter and Facebook in the Classroom
Interview footage and discussion about how she uses Twitter and Facebook in the classroom

possible readings/videos to supplement classroom assignments

Rafe Needleman (cnet): “Newbie’s guide to Twitter”

Clive Thompson: “How Twitter Creates a Social Sixth Sense”

Maria Puente: “There’s an Art to Writing on Twitter – Really”

Mark Sample: “Facebook vs. Twitter”

Trent Batson: “Life is ATwitter”

Common Craft: “Twitter in Plain English” – a short video introduction

New York Times: Professional writers talk about using twitter in this vodcast

important articles in twitter history

Dom Sagolla: “How Twitter Was Born”