Evaluation of Communication Tool:  Twitter

CRITERION	SCORE (1-3)	NOTES
Learning Effectiveness	2	- Provides real world experiences - When combined with teaching, the application extends the student’s learning
Reliability & Support	3	- Student is able to access the program with no support - Efficiency in speed and design - Easily able to correct errors
Ease of Use	2	- Program automatically saves work - Most students at all levels are able to learn the tool easily
Safety	3	- Ad free - Academic links – could be embedded - Individual login - Secure environment - Age requirement
Technology Requirements	3	- Free student & staff & parent accounts - Web-based - Use on multiple platforms:  laptops iPads, iPods
Curriculum	1	Non-applicable

Twitter with age-appropriate students could be a wonderful learning tool.  As I’ve seen in this class, Twitter allows me to collaborate with any person or group I choose to throughout the world.  By following a group that I share a common interest with, I’m able to learn from others’ experiences and ideas.  

A student’s voice amongst a large-world gathering is very different than in a small classroom.  For up-to-date research information, a student just has to search a few key words to be following a live professional.  This is first-hand and the most current information.

Sentence structure is key in Twitter.  Some posts will be very informal or social while others will be what’s considered substantive using complete sentences.

Special events or for social studies current events is a unique feature of Twitter.  If a student wants to know at this very instant what is happening in the world, Twitter will have that information.  The media post tweets at all times so information is current and global.

The greatest drawback on Twitter is the age limitation, at least in my world.  On the other hand that is a safety feature perhaps best suited for older, more mature and reliable students.