As instructors, we often make the assumption that our students are mostly 'digital natives.' Anyone that has worked a college help desk. quickly comes to understand that access and/or familiarity with digital tools does not equate to a high level competences with said tools.
Here is a collection of websites that realistically address the use of Twitter. They also address the idea of taking charge of directing the use of this powerful social media tool.
Guide to Using Twitter in your Teaching Practice ; this is a blog post from KQED with emphasis on online safety tips, netiquette, reasons and suggestions for using Twitter, and most importantly Twitter 101, resources to quickly make instructors feel comfortable, even competent in using Twitter.
Best Practices and tips for the higher ed classroom, is less comprehensive but a great tone and aimed at getting you up to speed quickly.
Here is a 6 page downloadable PDF from Illinois Valley Community College that provides a quickstart guide to using Twitter.
A bunch of ideas for using Twitter are proposed here - some useful, some obvious, and some really intriguing.
Twitter may evolve into something totally different before long. Who knows? But the connections that are possible with social media (and the responsibilities) should resonate and strengthen your teaching for years to come.
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