DWRL Lesson Plans - Twitter

Semester-long Project

Assignment Length:

Semester-long Project

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Close Reading

Textual Analysis

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Collaboration

Multimedia

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

Class participation, class interaction, promoting discussion.

Media Requirements:

Required Materials:

The participation assignment requires each student to either create a twitter account or to use an exisiting one; to show them how to do this there should be some available computer (ideally with an overhead projector). After the first day, though, most of the technological interaction will take place outside of class.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Useful Anytime

First Day/Week

Early in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

On the first day/week of class, I introduced the concept of reading participation, a way to show that every student is reading the course texts and thinking about them. I went through previous attempts to gague the student engagement, including pop quizzes (cue groans). I then announced that this semester I was going to try something different, and require students to live-tweet their reading process. This amounts to each student creating or using a twitter account to post responses to and questions about each week's reading. I explained that although I will read the tweets, my interaction will be minimal; twitter is to be a space for the students to feel free to express whatever, and to interact with each other. I emphasized that it is fine, even encouraged, to express superficial, banal, or even "stupid" reactions to the reading, as long as there are occasional thought-out and perceptive observations. I let them know that I expect around 3 substantial tweets a week (see instructions below), but that they should feel free to do many more. I also emphasized that, if they choose to use a personal account, I have no interest in invading their privacy or reading their personal tweets. To allow for some privacy, I do not follow students, but will instead check the class #hashtag every week. We came up with our class hashtag (ours was #disgustE314), and I told them to make sure to tag every post with it so I could see them all in one feed. Since we were in a compter classroom, I then gave the class a few minutes to log in or set up twitter accounts, encouraging the twitter-experienced students to help out the newbies. I had everyone send their first tweet with the hashtag, and that was that. Since then I have opened class by addressing one or two questions or comments from twitter, to show that I have been reading, and we have occasionally used a twitter question as a discussion starter.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

First, be familiar with twitter and create an instructor account for this class/other professional uses.

Instructions For Students:

Twitter: For participation and preparation for this class you will be expected to use twitteroutside the classroom. To do this you can use your personal twitter or create a new account; to respect your privacy I will not follow anyone. For me to see your tweets, be sure to mention me and/or use the class hashtag. I will expect a general output of around 3 tweets a week for this class; in general one of those tweets should be an interpretive question about the reading, and one should respond to another classmate. I will occasionally use student tweets to begin discussion on the week's reading, so be sure to have something before class begins. I understand that the semester can get very busy, and will allow you to miss a week or so, but expect consistent and engaged participation with the texts and class outside of class. If you choose to "livetweet" your reading process, all the better.

Evaluation Suggestions:

My evaluation thus far has been very general, even abstract. I read the twitter feed at least once a week, and make a few notes of students who are making particularly insightful comments, and also noting anyone who isn't posting. Like most "participation" grades, I expect my process at the end to be very impressionistic and generous to those students who contribute. I also try to give individual students answers or feedback in class to reward more active participation.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

So far I would say that twitter participation has been high and relatively engaged. Since I require students to tweet at each other, I hope to create more of a personal class community in the classroom. This is my first semester using this assignment, though, so it won't be for a while that I see long-term results. I may very well write a blog post about this later in the semester.

Course Type:

Literary Studies Course

Course Description:

In this course we will examine books that have been banned in England and America for "graphic" or "explicit" content. What has offended in these texts is (supposedly) not distasteful political or religious sensibilities, but instead a depiction of that which "should not be shown": usually sex, violence, or depravity. This sort of literature raises interesting questions about the role of disgust (or horror) in literature. Are there acts, events, or cultures that should not be shown? Is disgust purely a negative reaction, or might it yield positive results? Is explicit material worth defending for its own sake (see, for example, the recent controversy over The Human Centipede 2 in Britain), or must it be serving some other artistic, political, or religious purpose? Does what an era finds disgusting reveal something about the culture's changing sensibilities?

Charting violent, sexual, and gory literature from the sixteenth century to today, we will examine both the thematic uses of explicit literature as well as reactions to it. In doing so, we will discuss the disgusting, the horrific, and the graphic as both a literary motif and a point of tension within a culture.

This course will combine close reading of primary sources with the study of secondary critical essays in order to understand how the historical and cultural contexts surrounding these works (and the controversies they sparked) relate to their formal characteristics as literary artifacts. In the process, students will also learn how to use library databases including such as the online Oxford English Dictionary as well as other resources essential to literary study.

Tags:

Participation

Twitter

Reading comprehension

Researching a Controversy using Twitter

gerdes — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:14:58 +0000

Author:

Kendall Gerdes

Image Credit:

Class Twitter account, @rhetoric306, with Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students (5th ed.) as background

Brief Assignment Overview:

By creating their own Twitter accounts and finding accounts to follow that are related to their research topic, students learn the difference between library resources and online resources like daily news, blogs, and opinion.

Type of Assignment:

In-class Exercise

Assignment Length:

Single Class Period

Multiple Class Periods

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Invention

Pre-Writing

Research

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Collaboration

Open Access Software

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

Research, digital literacy

Media Requirements:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Media Console/Projector

Required Materials:

Students need a computer (or conceivably, smartphone) with internet access to sign up for a free Twitter account. When I taught this lesson in a computer mediated classroom, I had a projector screen to introduce students to Twitter.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Early in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

Students created their own Twitter accounts in class, and I asked them to follow our class Twitter account right away. I use the class account to retweet my students and make short announcements. Then, I asked students to find an active Twitter account (with recent tweets) that is relevant to their research topic. I asked students to follow the account, then tweet the handle of thtat account to our class account. I also asked students to come up with a class hash tag.

I also gave students some research guidelines (see Instructions for Students, below) to help them think about the relationship between library resources, with their slower editorial gatekeeping process, and online resources, and the different research strategies required to use both.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Creating a class Twitter account can help keep students organized around a central account. I also recommend reading about what other instructors are doing to come up with a mix of ideas that suits your class. Some recommended reading is included in the additional resources, below.

Instructions For Students:

These are the instructions I gave my students:

Your first Twitter assignment is as follows:

Create your own professional Twitter account (or if you're not shy, you can use a Twitter account you already have).
Follow our class Twitter account, @rhetoric306, and tweet us to introduce yourself online (your name and the issue you're researching would be helpful!).
By Friday at 2 pm, you need to find an active Twitter account (with recent tweets) that is relevant to your issue. Follow them, then tweet their handle and how you found them to our class account. I'll use the class account to follow your recommendations!
We're going to need a class hash tag to keep track of our class tweets across our different accounts. When you tweet the account you followed, you should also propose a hash tag by tweeting @rhetoric306. The goals here are short, unique, and informative.
If you have ideas for how you want to use Twitter in our class, tweet them @rhetoric306.

Some Twitter guidelines:

You can only tweet 140 characters at once.
You create a link to other Twitter accounts when you put their handle, like @rhetoric306, in your tweet.
Hash tags help categorize your tweets for searches. #likethis
Although Twitter created a way to re-post someone else's entire Tweet (called retweeting), many people often still edit or comment on the tweet and post it again using the marker "RT" to credit the original poster.
If you can't figure out how to do something, try to Google it.
NB: Using Twitter puts us in contact with people outside of class. Obviously, we have no control over what these people say or share. If you find yourself uncomfortable with any Twitter content for any reason, you may unfollow or block any user, and disregard any comments, conversations, or links. Please come to me if you have any questions or concerns about this.

Some Twitter/Research guidelines:

Don't just go with the first thing you find. The goal is to find high-quality sources. Even just one quality Twitter account will give you much better returns than a dozen mediocre ones. Look through lots of Tweets (30-50) from each account, and look through lots of accounts before you decide who to follow.
Think about your search terms. You can search for words that appear in tweets, but you can also search for hash tags and usernames. And there are more ways to search Twitter than just the interface they provide you. Get creative.
Try to find experts and advocates. Journalists may be excellent news, but you also need opinion, and sometimes organizations or even scholars will have useful tweets.
Follow the links. Read what they are reading, check out who they are re-tweeting, surf their hash tags. Twitter doesn't use MLA, citing sources in such a way that your readers can recognize and locate the originals is still important.
Experiment. Whether it's on Twitter or on the Library site, effective research requires some creativity and experimentation. You have to try things out, and don't be disappointed if you don't what you want on the first try--use your failed and frustrated searches to figure out how to do it better.

Evaluation Suggestions:

I evaluate my class using the Learning Record, and I have students complete brief reflective writing exercises on what they learned each class.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

I admit, I was surprised at how many of my students were not already using Twitter. I wished I had left more time and given them more detailed instructions on the first day I introduced it. But, I also think Twitter is relatively easy to learn. A technological challenge can also foster student collaboration, since they pose questions and help each other figure out how to solve the problems that inevitably arise.

Additional Resources:

My post on Twitter at Blogging Pedagogy: http://bloggingpedagogy.dwrl.utexas.edu/content/researching-public-issues-twitter
Grad Hacker on Teaching with Twitter: http://www.gradhacker.org/2012/11/26/teaching-with-twitter/
Matt King's RHE 312 Twitter Assignment: http://rhe312.pbworks.com/w/page/21055220/Twitter%20Assignment
The Learning Record: http://www.learningrecord.org/

Course Type:

Introductory Writing Course

Course Description:

I used this lesson in my introductory writing course, RHE 306 Rhetoric and Writing.

Tags:

Analyzing Ethos Using Twitter and Storify

Cate Blouke — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:43:38 +0000

Author:

Cate Blouke

Image Credit:

Storify Twitter Mash-up by Cate Blouke

Brief Assignment Overview:

Using the multimedia curation program, Storify, students compose a short writing assignment analyzing an "author's" ethos based on his or her Twitter feed. This demonstrates the ways in which ethos is cultivated over time and in a variety of different ways.

Type of Assignment:

No Classroom Technology Required

Assignment Length:

Partial Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Annotation

Organization

Synthesis

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

Ethos, visual analysis, digital literacy,

Media Requirements:

Intermediate Writing Course

Media Console/Projector

Required Materials:

Students only need a computer with Internet access and to sign up for a free Storify account.

While a media console with projector would be helpful to demonstrate the online programs in class, this is not strictly necessary for students to complete the assignment.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Early in the Semester

Mid-Semester

Full Assignment Description:

This assignment is designed to encourage students to think about the ways in which "ethos" is cultivated over time and in a variety of sometimes subtle, sometimes overt ways. Instead of analyzing the ethos presented by an author, journalist, or other professional writer in a long-form piece of writing, students examine the ways in which ethos emerges from the short-form, long-term writing of a person's Twitter feed.

This helps students to recognize that ethos is not something that is "only" cultivated by politicians or authors, but something that we all present in one way or anther - particularly in online environments. As such, this may be another avenue for initiating a conversation about online identity and the ways in which we present ourselves on in the Internet.

Storify offers a unique platform for this short writing assignment as it allows students to literally pull pieces of multimedia into a single platform and comment on each piece of evidence. This allows for a more visually interesting analysis of very short pieces of writing and for a visual analysis of the person's profile image or twitpics.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Familiarize yourself with the Storify platform and demonstrate how to use it. I would also encourage showing the students an example, and I've included a student example in the "Additional Resources" section below.

Instructions For Students:

In this assignment, you'll be analyzing the ethos of a stand up comedian based on his or her Twitter feed. You'll compose your analysis using Storify and pull evidence for your assessment directly into the Storify piece.

Essentially, this assignment asks that you make an argument about what kind of comedian this person is, basing your argument on their presentation of ethos.

The following are the kinds of questions you'll want to consider, though you will need to find ways to synthesize your answers into a coherent narrative. These are meant as brainstorming questions and are typed in no particular order - so for your narrative, it will be up to you to order your answers to these questions in a manner that flows/coheres.

What kind of message does his or her profile picture send?
What is he doing in the picture? (looking at the camera? smiling? laughing? holding anything?)
What is he wearing in the picture?
How does your comedian address his audience (as in is he nice? mean? aggressive? stand-offish? jovial?)?
What kinds of jokes does he make? (insults? snarky comments? word-play?)
What subjects does he most often joke about?
How does he address his audience/followers?
Are Tweets written to/directly addressing his audience or are they just observations thrown out to the Twitterverse?
Does he insult people?
Does he respond to his followers' Tweets?
Does he "re-Tweet" his followers Tweets?
How does he seem to use Twitter primarily (for promotion or to Tweet jokes)?
Who is his audience and how big is his following? (You may want to browse through his followers or make a case for who his audience might be based on what he tweets about)
thinking back to the first reading for the course - is this comedian a "negative exemplar" or a "spokesperson"
What attitudes/values do his Tweets reflect?
Do you have a sense of his political beliefs?
What aspects of society/life does he critique?
How does he describe himself in his tag line?
Does he Tweet about personal things or major events?
Does he Tweet about celebrities?
Does he Tweet about current events?
Given the things he Tweets about, do you think he has the credibility or authority to do so? Why or why not?
Can you identify some ways in which your comedian builds goodwill or demonstrates that he is "trustworthy?"
Why would you want to listen to this comedian?

Directions for turning in a Storify piece:

1. Create a wiki page in your student folder titled "lastname-date-RS3-Storify"

2. On the page, provide a link to the piece on Storify or insert the embed code onto the page

3. (Optional) Post a link to your project on the class blog

Explicit instructions on how to post your link:

1. make sure your project is "published" before you try to share the link

2. make a page in your wiki folder titled: "lastname-date-RS3"

3. on your published Storify project, there are options to "share," "email," and "embed" - click on the "embed" link and copy the code

4. on your wiki page (when you're in the "edit" screen), click on the "insert" drop-down menu in the formatting toolbar

5. select "HTML/JavaScript" and paste the embed code into the pop-up screen that comes up, then hit "next," and then agree to "insert plugin"

6. save the changes to the wiki page, then test the link

Evaluation Suggestions:

I created a standard rubric and then offered comments in paragraph form. I posted my feedback to the student's wiki page (where they submitted the assignment). There was no grade given, since I was evaluating based on the Learning Record.

[ ] Makes a clear assertion about the comedian’s ethos

[ ] Makes an assertion about the comedian’s audience/followers

[ ] Addresses the content/type of comedian’s tweets

[ ] Identifies (some of) the comedian’s values represented in tweets

[ ] Offers visual analysis of profile picture

[ ] Offers explanation and analysis of tweets (doesn't just let them “speak for themselves”)

[ ] Tweets are framed/introduced effectively (not just dropped in between analyses)

[ ] Project is effectively organized and information synthesized (conceptually vs. chronologically)

[ ] Sufficiently robust assessment (meets length/thoroughness expectations)

[ ] Writing relatively free of grammatical error

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

My students seemed to enjoy the exercise, though several of them encountered problems with the technological aspects. It's important to point out to them the various toolbars/functions of the Storify interface and to make your own expectations clear in terms of how you want the information presented/overall goal of the assignment.

Additional Resources:

A student example of this assignment, analyzing Ralphie May's Twitter feed.

My gratitude to Megan Varelmann Gianfagna for her lesson plan on Tracing Memes in Storify, which served as inspiration for this assignment.

Course Type:

Introductory Writing Course

Course Description:

I implemented this assignment in my intermediate rhetoric course, RHE 309K Rhetoric of Stand Up Comedy, though it is easily adaptable to a number of other topics. For my course students analyzed the Twitter feed of a comedian of their choosing, but this same approach could be used for any public figure/author. I'm including my abbreviated course description.

Beginning in the 1950s and 60s, pioneers of comedy such as Lenny Bruce and Dick Gregory tackled issues of civil rights and liberties, opening the door for future generations of comics to criticize society and oppressive government policies. By the 1970s, George Carlin and Richard Pryor turned stand-up comedy into one of the most subversive forms of popular rhetoric. Now, late night monologues and “fake” news shows increasingly shape public understanding of world events and political figures.

This course examines how comedians use humor to advocate positions in public controversies, to construct notions of group identity, and to criticize public figures – essentially, how they use humor to persuade. If laughter is a sign of persuasion (a question we will explore together), we will think through why audiences do or don’t laugh, are or are not persuaded by a text. We will think and write critically about what makes comic performances compelling, focusing closely on the relationship between performers and their audiences. We will track how the purpose and message of texts changes as jokes move across media and venue in the digital age, looking at a wide range of sources - from comedy albums to HBO specials, from YouTube to Twitter. Fundamentally, we’ll be asking whether these performances encourage audiences to re-think their ideological and political values, or if humor simply reinforces the beliefs that audiences already hold: when are we laughing with, and when are we laughing at, and, most importantly, (how) can we know the difference?

Tags:

Twitter in the Classroom: Observations and Analysis

King — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:10:45 +0000

Author:

Matt King

Image Credit:

Twitter icon

Brief Assignment Overview:

My class used Twitter for a few general purposes and then for two specific assignments. For our general goals, we used Twitter to share resources among one another and to familiarize ourselves with various conversations that are important to people in the digital humanities. By following one another, we were able to tweet helpful links, questions about class, reminders and advice about assignments, etc. By following people participating in the sorts of conversations we were interested in (conversations about digital technologies, rhetoric, and writing), we found out how these conversations develop on Twitter and the internet generally.

For the two assignments, we practiced rhetorical analysis by analyzing various Twitter feeds and then used our own Twitter streams as a space for sharing Learning Record observations.

Type of Assignment:

Assignment Length:

Single Class Period

Course Unit

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Audience

Invention

Rhetorical Analysis

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pre-Writing

Research

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Collaboration

Open Access Software

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

Research, rhetorical analysis, invention, delivery, reflection, Learning Record observations

Media Requirements: