About the Project

1. Integrating Smartphone's & Twitter into Course Content Presented by Joseph Martinelli, College of Education, Seton Hall University About the Project The course selected for the inclusion of both the Smartphone and Twitter was a summer 2009 graduate course in the Graduate Studies and Special Programs Department of the College of Education at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. It was titled Production of Instructional Materials II with the content focusing on the design and development of instructional professional products using a variety of technological tools to produce audiovisual, text, and computer based and RSS feed resources. What made this course unique is it was an intense two-week course that met four times a week for 4.5 hours meetings, with a week break between the first and second meeting sessions. The Smartphone Twitter Training to use Twitter was done by the instructor during the first meeting session Students were trained how to access and register for Twitter Accounts. Hashtags - #6305, Used to track course related Trending topics, adding followers and becoming a follower Customizing of Twitter Accounts Unique Backgrounds & Representative Icons Initial resistance to Twitter, quickly subsided as students became immersed in the tweeting process Seton Hall University’s Mobility Pilot Project is exploring the use of Smartphone and other highly mobile devices to support teaching, learning, collaboration, and access to institutional information.  Students in Production II were selected to be part of the pilot study and were issued Nokia N95 Smartphones which featured enhanced digital photography and video cameras as well as the audio recording capabilities. The device could also access the internet via open access networks, which enabled students to send and receive tweets. Class enrollment was 18 students who were required to meet a series of learning objectives utilizing technology skills learned in Smartboard, Glogster, Microsoft Photostory3, Photoshop, Flickr, Word Press (Blogs), Google Earth, Microsoft Design, and Twitter. Individual products which were to be produced included: a fully developed, multimedia enhanced with external links and interactive Smartboard lesson, informational and interactive Glogster online posters, a Flickr photo album with captions and detailed descriptions which could be enhanced with Photoshop, icons and learning objects created with MS Design, and keep a detailed, reflective course blog. As part of the course requirements students were required to send a minimum of 25 tweets over the three week period and were taught by the instructor how to add a hashtags to their individual tweets. This was done so that tweets concerning course matters could be easily searched and selected for timely responses. Data & Feedback “SmartBoard, Glogster, Flickr and Twitter were the most enjoyable.” “This class has increased my confidence in using different technological applications, and now I am also more willing to try new ideas…” “It showed me many products that I would not have considered as usable.” “I am more aware of how students are content when doing work that involves technology.”