052

td16 1/12/2010 6:37:44

General Session - Conference Presentation Only (no formal paper)

//Aaron Hochanadel, Kaplan University, Leawood, Kansas, USA, ahochanadel@kaplan.edu//
 * Staying connected to your students with Twitter and Facebook**

In the online classroom it can be difficult to make personal connections with your students, and for students to get to know you better. While most online classes include an introduction area or student lounge, most online personal interaction stops there. In the past year, Facebook and Twitter have become household names, but have you considered using this social networking technology with your students? Since March of 2009 I have been using Twitter to reach out to my students and have linked it to my professional profile on Facebook. I use Twitter to communicate reminders and motivational comments, and to build community with my students. Every tweet that I send shows up on my Facebook page, and from there, students often comment or ask questions. It allows me to communicate with students beyond the classroom, where they spend much of their time – with their mobile phones, on Facebook, etc. It also allows students to see my picture as well as some of my interests through my Facebook and Twitter bio. In this presentation I will discuss what Twitter and Facebook are and how they can effectively be used in online education, and I will include research that has been conducted on Twitter and higher education.

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