Blog About Twitter

 A Twitter discussion is different from a BlackBoard discussion mainly based on the fact that the users have to condense their ideas into certain amount of characters. On blackboard, students have no limit to the length of their responses or comments (unless told otherwise). Aside from that, a blackboard discussion is reserved between fellow classmates and the professor. Twitter, depending on the settings can be viewed by a much larger audience. In addition, the discussions that fostered on BlackBoard tend to be more educational and have a guiding purpose (whether that is answering a prompt or discussing ideas related to the class). On twitter, the topics of the discussion can range from educational, political or social. Tweets can essentially be about anything. For example user A can tweet about the fabulous red carpet photos while user B provides their insight into the latest political debate.  

An in-class discussion compared to Twitter discussion can feel more natural as people are able to see each other’s facial expressions and body language. If a discussion is happening behind a screen, whether that is on BlackBoard or Twitter, the participants are not able to relate and connect in the same manner as if they were in the same room. When people engage in classroom discussions, they tend to get more invested into the topics. The environment itself in a class room can energize a student to become more involved. However, with online based discussions regardless of how significant and useful the discussion itself is there can be a potential disconnection among the participants. The reason being that each person is able to simply log off their computers after posting a comment or tweet.

Twitter, in-class and BlackBoard all allow users to engage in meaningful discussions. However, they are different because of the way in which a discussion itself can be facilitated.