Implementing and Using Twitter with Students #SafetyFirst

Twitter, like any other form of social media, requires time to set up and implement safely. When using it at school, I ask myself the following questions: How can I ensure the safety of my students when they are using Twitter? If I would like to create individual accounts, what are some questions to ask myself regarding their accounts? Let’s take some time to explore these and other issues that can arise when using Twitter for educational purposes.

Twitter Settings

Twitter has settings that allow you to control who can tag you in photos and who can see your tweets. I recommend that for school use everyone turn on these two settings as a safety precaution. Technology is a great tool, but it is wise to be conservative when setting parameters for your online image and communication. These settings are safeguards, they should be implemented. 

Technology Usage Letter

Send a letter home to parents explaining what technology platforms you will use and how you will be using them in your classroom. Most parents have heard of Twitter, but they may not see its educational value. Give them peace of mind by explaining your plan, and then invite them to create an account and follow your handle. I suggest you give them step-by-step instructions for creating an account and following you.

The end of your letter should include a form for parents to sign, giving you permission to create a Twitter account for their child. The administration at your school may have policies or strong feelings about this, so consider talking to them prior to sending home the letter.

Technology Talk

Teachable moments present themselves every day. Setting up Twitter accounts can be one of these moments. Spend some time talking about Internet safety and appropriate versus inappropriate behavior online. Depending on the age of your class, what you need to include will vary. In general, you will want to include what type of comments and searches are appropriate and inappropriate, how nothing is ever truly erased once posted online, avoiding communication with people they have not met in person, and how to handle someone who is bullying them.

Usage forms and technology talk should be completed before setting up class Twitter accounts. To set them up, you can follow the same steps mentioned in the previous article. Here are some questions for you to think through as you have your class create their accounts: 

1. What e-mail address should they use?

• Some schools have student e-mail addresses. This is one option.

• Another option is for you to create a classroom Gmail e-mail address and create multiple accounts from there. To do this, simply determine your classroom e-mail address (mrsdeckersclass@gmail.com).

• As you create the Twitter accounts, use that e-mail address with a plus sign and extra letters or numbers (mrsdeckersclass+1@gmail.com or mrsdeckersclass+jt@gmail.com). Though you added the extra portion, all e-mails will be sent to the main e-mail (mrsdeckersclass@gmail.com). In essence, Gmail ignores everything after the plus sign. This grants you access to all of their accounts if you know their Twitter handles (you can control their passwords).

• The third option would be to allow students to use any e-mail address that they already have.

2. Should you dictate your students' Twitter handle? Here are some considerations:

• Do you want to provide some anonymity for your pupils? By dictating their handles, you can help create anonymity. Many kids like to include a favorite thing/animal in their usernames, which easily gives away who they are. If you are planning to use Twitter for things like survey questions, you may want to create a sense of handle anonymity.

• Are you concerned about the Twitter handles they may choose if given that freedom? Many children do not think through what their Twitter handle may say about themselves. To prevent inappropriate handles, you can either assign their handles or have a class discussion on what appropriate Twitter handles would and would not be. This conversation can help them later as they create other usernames. You can also have kids submit their choices to you and their parents before they create their accounts.

• Will you be able to easily remember which Twitter handle belongs to whom? If you will be grading some of the Twitter assignments or needing to know quickly who posted what, it is important that you can easily remember who is who. Teacher-provided Twitter handles can allow you to create a pattern for you to remember . For example, all students in your second period class may have your last name, the number 2, and their initials, so for John Smith, it would be decker2js. 

By thinking through these questions, you can set up and use Twitter safely in your classroom. In the next article, we are going to look at some ways you can use Twitter in your classroom.