How does a Twitter discussion compare to a Blackboard discussion as well as an in-class discussion?
To
clarify, Blackboard is a tool used by many colleges where students
openly post threads and comment on other student's posts to facilitate
outside class discussions. In-class discussions would be as imagined,
where a student would talk openly, and ask questions, having immediate
responses from professors and their peers.
When
thinking how a Twitter discussion compares, I would say that it takes
positives of both Blackboard and the in-class discussions. Being a
social networking site, it has a huge amount of people online, and it is
dissociated with school, people are generally more open to sharing
their thoughts they might not otherwise in school. I think that
encourages Twitter discussions to be as frequent as in-class
discussions, as well as getting a diverse group of people to contribute
to the talk. While Blackboard discussions are limited to the class that
the student is it, Twitter is global and free to anyone who has internet
access. Also, the topics of discussion are not limited to a certain
topic, that a specific in-class discussion might have. This openness in
terms of who is able to join the conversation as well as the variety of
topics are all positives of Twitter. However, because of the online
platform, it is susceptible to very mean and unrelated comments, hurting
a discussion. While classes and Blackboard have a professor moderating a
discussion, Twitter has so many users, it is hard to keep track of
everything. There are trending topics that help topics that have gained
traction be on the front page of the news, but if one does not have many
followers, there might be limited comments on a post.
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Comments
Hi Donghyun,
ReplyDeleteI think it's true that in-class discussions can discourage students from speaking their mind, as there can be consequences, but to say that it is limiting is, in my opinion, an overstatement. In-class discussions allow in person contact and interactions which is completely unavailable online, and this might help students relate to each other more. Furthermore, in-class discussions are a lot more frequent and a lot faster than either Blackboard or Twitter are.
Thanks for a great read.
Nanar
Hi Nanar,
DeleteI definitely agree that my wording could've been better. I think that all areas of discussion, whether in person or online, have their pros and cons. However, in terms of how limiting an in class discussion can be, I'd like to give an example. Time restrictions, taking turns talking as to not talk over each other, a moderator leading a certain topic of discussion, as well as immediate judgment and response from peers that might not be well thought out, are all cons of an in class discussion.
With all that being said, I do agree that the personal contact and interactions cannot be replaced with new media. I am a fan of all platforms to converse and in person definitely has it's place and time as do other platforms.
Hi Donghyun,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessment of Twitter: Despite the limitation of character count per tweet, Twitter still facilitate discussions. Each tweet is important due to the restriction and brevity they carry. Each conversation is important, in a sense.