Twitter

It’s been a week of ups and downs with two of the Twitter pilot projects starting in Week 1.

I’ll start with the slightly disappointing bit and end on a high note.

Ok, the disappointing news is that the idea of participating in Twitter-based activities has not been met with very much enthusiasm by the students. My colleagues are keen and have worked really hard thinking about appropriate activities but the enthusiasm has yet to be shared by the students. In the words of one colleague, her students were “sceptical but willing to try” (private email to me from 2nd October). More worrying though was her conversation with the colleague leading the other pilot in which she reported that Twitter “had gone down like a lead balloon for her students”. Ouch.

It’s early days but will this change? I hope so. Is there anything I can do? Not sure, but possibly gathering some data – via online survey – on initial attitudes to Twitter might be useful. My gut feeling is that I should stay out of the way though and be as supportive as I can to colleagues and to the students who may be having technical difficulties with Twitter.

Right, let’s end on an upbeat note. One of the pilots has given me permission to publish the Twitter activities on this blog. I’ll see if I can get permission to publish the activities – just as good – for the other pilot later.

What I like about these activities is that they mix discussion board forum/essay-type discursive questions with more playful or creative activities. Also, Twitter is being used for mid-point module review comments and essay discussion so therefore playing in role in student support and in gathering student feedback for module review. I also liked that the tutor used Wallwisher (thanks Sian and Jen for the inspiration ) as an ice-breaker and as a means of getting students sharing short tweet-like messages. Only about a third competed it though (shyness, fear of the technology?).

Anyway, here’s the schedule of twittorials:

Week 1 (2 October): Introduction. Playing on Shakespeare’s Stage
Twitter task: Set up your twitter account and follow the module feed

Week 2 (9 October): Staging Sexual Morality
Twitter task: Tweet an answer to the question, ‘Is Isabella justified in her decision not to sleep with Angelo?’ and justify your answer.

Week 3 (16 October): Wild Women
Twitter task: Tweet as if you are the character of Katherine responding to all of the critical debate about whether your final speech in the play (about submitting to your husband) is sincere or not. Did you really mean it?

Week 4 (23 October): Talking about Love
Twitter tasks: (2 this week)
1. Tweet an idea for your creative project.
2. Tweet a love poem in the voice of Romeo or Juliet.

Week 5 (30 October): Political Fantasy/mid-point module review
Twitter tasks: (2 this week)
1. Tweet one good thing about the module.
2. Tweet one thing about the module you would like to be changed.

Week 6 (6 November): Student enrichment week
There will be no formal seminar this week. Your proposals for your essay and project are due to me by email at the end of the week.
Twitter task: Tweet about how you are progressing with your proposals.

Week 7 (13 November): Playing and Moral Identity
Twitter task: Tweet one helpful secondary source you have found for your essay that isn’t on the module reading list.

Week 8 (20 November): On the Edge
Twitter tasks: (2 this week)
1. Tweet as a minor character from any Shakespeare play other than Hamlet.
2. Tweet a link to an adaptation of Shakespeare (videos, fan fiction, poetry, visuals, etc)

Week 9 (27 November): The Play’s the Thing
Twitter task: (2 this week)
1. Tweet your working thesis for your extended essay.
2. Tweet about how Shakespeare functions in Terry Pratchett’s novel.

Week 10 (4 December): Teenage Shakespeare
Drafts of your essay and project are due to me by the end of the session this week.
Twitter task: Tweet an answer to the question, ‘How conservative are teenage Shakespeare adaptations, in particular in relation to gender? Does it matter if they are?’

Week 11 (11 December): Post?-Modern Shakespeare
Twitter task: Tweet on the contrasting attitudes toward the power of language in Shakespeare in Love and Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Code.

Week 12 (14-16 December): Individual Tutorials
Individual Tutorials will be held in the first half of the week. There will be no formal seminar.
Twitter task: Tweet on a question or problem you are having with your essay or project.

Tags: Twitter in HE

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