Twiddly-Diddly-Dee, Tweet-Tweet, Tweet-Tweet

While I am not a personal fan of Twitter, I can definitely see the appeal. According to Twitter, Twitter is “a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.”

Common Craft gives an excellent video on explaining what Twitter is.

As a future educator, I am always interested in how new technology can be implemented into the classroom. Several programs have been enacted to incorporate Twitter into more and more classrooms. According to Wikipedia:

The Distance College of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, used Twitter with native Chinese students as a tool to train communicative and cultural competence. Students had to post a certain number of English tweets and react to the tweets of their fellow students. Twitter was viewed as a supplement to practice in authentic environment different aspects of the target language as it was taught in the classroom.

The University of Vienna, Austria, used Twitter as an evaluation platform for student ratings. Every student had to send a tweet after each course unit with feedback to the teacher. Twitter turned out to be "a useful tool for evaluating a course formatively. Because of Twitter's simple use and the electronic handling of data, the administrative effort remains small."

At the University of Texas at Dallas, Twitter has been incorporated into the actual classroom setting of History courses with big groups of students. This innovative approach gives more students the opportunity to express their views in class discussions. Another advantage of this approach is that the limit of characters forces them to get to the central point.

According to telegraph.co.uk, Twitter is put on the new primary school curriculum. Children should be able to "organize and adjust" speaking and writing skills depending on the technology being used, including using "emails, messaging, wikis and twitters". During the primary years, children should also be taught to speak, write and broadcast using "blogs, podcasts, websites, email [and] video".

Obviously, Twitter is taking hold to the current culture, but how far will it go. I personally don’t care what people are eating, drinking, doing… It’s pretty irrelevant to me. But obviously, not to everyone! Tweet on!

iPhones and Androids and Blackberries, oh my!

While I am fully addicted to my cell phone, I do not, however, have one of these amazing phones! After looking at all of the specs for each of them, I honestly couldn’t choose which one to have in a perfect world. Each phone has its own concept as well as pros and cons for consumers. Below I have listed some things I found out about each.

• iPhone- According to the About.com website, the iPhone is Apple's first Internet-enabled smartphone. It combines the features of a mobile phone, wireless Internet device, and iPod into one package.
  Perhaps the iPhone's most innovative feature is its 3.5-inch multitouch screen. This screen allows an interface based on touch, rather than a keyboard, mouse, or stylus, and allows items onscreen to be manipulated by two finger touches, rather than just one. The iPhone can also be viewed in landscape or portrait mode, with the screen automatically shifting based on the angle that the phone is held at.
  The iPhone runs a version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system.
  

• Android- According to the WiseGeek website, an Android phone is a cellphone that uses the Google-developed Android™ operating system and platform. Google partnered with the High Tech Computer Corporation (HTCC) to build hardware for the G1 cellphone, the first mobile phone to run the Android™ platform. In 2008, T-Mobile premiered the G1 Android™ phone to the public.
  One of the biggest differences between a phone running the Android™ platform and others is that the software Android™ uses is a complex operating system. In contrast, the majority of operational cellphones run primitive real time applications.
  In regard to its Internet capabilities, the Android™ phone uses WebKit to power the G1's Chrome Lite browser. Because WebKit also powers iPhone's Safari, the G1 is a competitor to the iPhone in terms of users' enhanced web experiences.
  
  


• Blackberry- According to Wikipedia, a BlackBerry® is a mobile communications device from the product line of the same name. They are designed to fit into a large pocket or clip into a belt holster, and most have some type of built-in QWERTY keypad. Modern BlackBerries, unlike traditional mobile phones, are considered to be both smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDAs); they have Internet connectivity, web browsing, e-mail, an address book, a calendar, a day planner, an alarm clock, games, text messaging, and mobile phone service. Options on some models include a trackball, WiFi™, Bluetooth® connectivity, speakers, GPS, a digital camera, and functionality as a media player. The line is owned by the Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion Limited (RIM).
  Windows Mobile- a compact mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and designed for use in smartphones and mobile devices.
  
  As a Graduate student, a future educator, and as a human in general, I am very excited about what is happening and what will come within the realm of cellular phones. The hardest decision will be which one to pick!