This week, I chose to review twiducate which describes itself as a safe social networking tool for educators and students. You may click here to go directly to the twiducate website: www.twiducate.com .
This tool would be best described as a social/communication tool. twiducate can be used to post questions, comments, homework assignments, dates to remember and web links.
twiducate is a Web 2.0 tool that was designed by an educator in Ontario Canada in 2009 in response to a need for an effective, easy, free and most importantly a safe way for teachers and students to continue learning outside of the classroom. twiducate is similar to Twitter except that you are not limited to the number of characters you may type so more information may be provided at once. At no time do students have to provide any identifying information except their course code and the password- both created by the teacher.
With twiducate, teachers are the administrators of their courses. They create and have access to the user names and passwords. Even though students are able to change their password, teachers will still have that information in their 'roster' of students.
In a couple of reviews I read for twiducate it was being promoted as a Learning Management System. I really think that this program is too simplistic to use it as the sole LMS for a class if it is at all technologically intensive. There are places to add calendar dates that you can use for assignments and also a way to link to outside information such as YouTube or other websites. I did not find a way to post teacher created documents with this tool unless of course they are saved through another online source. I also read that there is a mobile app for this program, but it was not in the iPhone app store!
Before using twiducate, you need to have basic computer knowledge and internet service. If you are the teacher you need an email and a name for your class/group. If you are a student you need the Course Code and your individual password that is generated for you by the teacher.
This tool is very simple to use!
Go to the sign-up/log-in page at www.twiducate.com
If you are a teacher creating a group, click on SIGN UP on the top right of that screen. This is the screen you will see next:
If you already have an account you will go to the log in screen which looks like this:
This is the log in for students. You can see that students are not required to put in their email address or any other identifying information besides the Classroom Code and the Password provided by the teacher.
Whether you are a teacher or a student, you have to also complete a box like the one below each time you log in. Unlike some websites, these are easy to read but also easy to forget to do since it looks more like an advertisement than something you have to complete!
This is the toolbar for teachers:
This is the toolbar for students.
Here is the screencast.com video I created showing you more information on the use of twiducate:
Click Here: twiducate
I have created two Student accounts for the class I developed if you would like to try it!
Course Code: spch1315md
Password: 944397
or
Course Code: spch1315md
Password: 691749
As with most of the tools we've explored, twiducate is only limited in use by the creativity of the person and the limitations of the program.
1. The way I would use twiducate in my course is to set up a a course page for a class that doesn't already have BlackBoard used. I can post dates for the assignments/tests, links to relevant information and additional reading, and mainly use it for students to post their questions and thoughts about the course content. I like having one place for questions- that way you aren't answering the same questions 4-5 times in separate emails.
2. Teachers can use this tool to post questions for students about the learning material. The students can post their responses. The teacher might then print this exchange and use it for a study guide for a test or quiz. There is a button where you can export the information into a Word file and then print.
3. In my class, I might have students watch a specific speech in history and provide feedback and comments via twiducate. Homework assignments or journal questions could be posted.
4. Another use, that has nothing to do with students, is to use twiducate as a group meeting place for a department or other group of people. I know in my department we are scattered across campus sometimes and miss out on information. This would not take the place of official emails and such, but would be a place to post maybe social or friendship questions and comments- the stuff that tightens groups!
The advantages to twiducate are that it is easy to use, it is free and it is private. The disadvantages are that it is somewhat juvenile in appearance (which is an advantage for younger students) and to me it doesn't provide anything unique...nothing that can't be found on many other websites.
I recommend twiducate for use with younger classrooms of students or with students that are not familiar with social networking.
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