February 2013: Tweeting Teachers

Twelve tips for using Twitter as a learning tool in medical education. Forgie SE, Duff JP, Ross S. Medical Teacher. 2013, January; 35L: 8-14. Available online.

We all know it, but it bears repeating: teaching is about the learner, not the teacher. And, learners can be tricky. Fortunately, there’s an app for that. Or, so say the authors of the article highlighted this month. 

In their “Twelve Tips” feature in Medical Teacher, Forgie et al. push Twitter (and Tweeting, Tweeple, Twittory, and Twit) into our apparently stodgy medical education vernacular.  Make no mistake, the article is first and foremost an embarrassingly helpful foray into social technology. Stepping back, though, the authors present a fresh solution to an old problem: how do we continue to make teaching about the learners? 

Presuming that your learners are comfortable with Twitter and the integration of technology, this article neatly highlights several opportunities for the adaptability of standard educational processes (evaluation, self-reflection, feedback, sharing literature) into Twitter. So, after reading this article, are you going to run to your computer (or mobile device), set up a Twitter account, and start counting your characters? Perhaps.

But what might be more likely – and more effective – is for you to use this article as an impetus to think proactively about opportunities to make your teaching more about your learners. Twitter is one way. There exist other technologies which can tap into such basic principles of adult learning, such as audience response systems, online learning sites, or sites to freshen up your presentations. Experiment with innovative teaching strategies. With all this opportunity, all that stands between you and learner-centered teaching is remembering your username and password.

Bottom Line:

140 characters can be the distance between you and your learners: how else can you bridge the gap? (98 characters)