next »

[karmie]

I certainly think this would be an interesting experiment in a large class (think lecture hall) in which it is physically impossible for a professor to address every question students might have without sacrificing too much class time, but it might actually be detrimental to students in smaller classes. 

Most class objectives list "communication" as an area in which the professor would like to see the student improve.  The obvious ways to address the objective are through the use of group work and presentations, but encouraging students to have enough confidence in themselves and the validity of their questions to ask a question in class in front of an audience is equally important towards addressing this objective.  I understand that some students are just too shy (I was, as an undergraduate) or too embarrassed about their lack of native fluency in the target language to expose themselves by asking questions out loud.  But isn't the purpose of college to challenge students? Where will the student get in life if hu is so afraid of attention and/or confrontation that hu cannot even ask a question in class?  I fear for students like that - the world is full of people waiting to take advantage of people who are too weak (for whatever reason) to question a charge on a bill, etc.

I can definitely see the advantages of using Twitter in a large classroom (the conference example sprang to my mind as well, punchnpie).  It's been hugely successful at conferences.  The only concern I have is about the level of maturity of some students. Conferences, for the most part, are attended by people who are interested in the presentations and who have an honest desire to benefit from the presentations.  Students, on the other hand...well, we've seen in other threads just how rude and immature they can be.  If they view Twitter as truly anonymous, they could very well take their frustrations out on the professor (e.g. "Dear god, Im so boooooored," etc.)