A Microblogging Lesson Idea and Template You Can Customize

What is Microblogging? We see it everywhere you go, and your learners could possibly take in this information, way too. Merriam-Webster defines microblogging (noun) as “blogging carried out with significant room or measurement constraints generally by posting frequent temporary messages about particular activities.” When it comes to developing for an viewers, a sequence of small-type posts is super common — and I have a microblogging lesson strategy.

From tweets on Twitter to a sequence of Instagram posts, microblogging can take quite a few sorts. If you are pondering if this weblog submit is about encouraging pupils to put up shots and captions on a public social media page… not specifically. Instead, we’ll glance at a microblogging lesson plan (and a template you can customise) that takes a spin on this common way of posting updates for an on the internet audience.

The microblogging lesson that we’ll seem at currently is very open-ended and ready for you to customize. You can decide on the structure and the prompts you share with pupils. I’ll share a couple suggestions and a template for you to use “as is” or make your own. With this lesson, you can simulate a classic social media viewers by examining this preferred format for sharing strategies.

In my book EdTech Necessities, I devote an whole chapter to the plan of an authentic viewers. Here’s a swift excerpt:

“Connecting university student work to an viewers is potentially extra significant than ever, as on the net sharing prevails in our electronic earth. Learners are familiar with acquiring material shared on-line, and some could even be aspiring material creators. In today’s on the web earth, college students are nicely-positioned to determine information creators and observe how they connect with their viewers. Students count on their have creations to be seen and celebrated, and obtaining an authentic viewers is vital. ” p. 79

Obtain the free of charge study guideline for EdTech Essentials on this page.

Of training course, you may possibly make a decision to publish scholar creations on a school social media page if that is portion of your normal apply. Or you may well have a further audience to share college student get the job done, like a partner class learning a comparable matter.

Established an intention

Right before we glimpse at applications and an example, you are going to want to set an intention for this undertaking. For illustration, you may well have the aim of providing students a room to capture their observations for a composting task. Or you might use this as a way to have students respond to reading through responses. The focus of this action is absolutely up to you. You could find that it gives a new way for pupils to share their understanding similar to an objective you have taught in a different way in the earlier.

To aid set up college students for accomplishment, you can produce an illustration that connects to the task you share with them. In the template I have produced for you, you will see I involved an illustration for you, much too. This illustration connects to an activity where learners may well replicate on what they’ve discovered following beginning a composting endeavor.

Select your resource

I generally use the phrase “embrace your place” when discussing ways to simplify technological know-how integration. When I use the phrase location, I indicate the place to arrange and write-up content material for students. For case in point, in a kindergarten classroom, your spot could possibly be Seesaw. In a middle or large college classroom, your place may possibly be Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, or an additional learning management process (LMS). 

But this phrase can also link to tools presently in your device belt or locations (on the net areas) you and your students are by now relaxed navigating. So for this venture, I’ll share screenshots from Google Slides, but you can use a range of equipment to execute the identical plans.

Acquiring started off

For this microblogging exercise, I opened up a new Google Slides and went straight to the Site Set up selection under the File menu. This gives me the solution to transform the sizing to glance additional like what you’d see on an Instagram web page. I decide on the proportions 5 x 10 inches, but you can pick whatever you like.

Then I added a text box to the base 50 % of the slide and a gray box to the top rated 50 percent of the slide. Immediately after you share this slide deck with your learners, they can make it their have. Pupils can increase a picture to the prime 50 percent and swap the grey box. They can style in their caption or brief reaction below. Pupils can modify the textual content sizing and font, way too.

Scholar do the job example

Right after earning your template, you may possibly want to insert an case in point as the initially slide. In the illustration I have integrated in this write-up, I designed a slide with a composting photo and a reflection about composting. At this position, you are going to want to feel about your expectations and responsibilities for this style of challenge. Then, you can make an illustration that connects to what students will create.

Sharing a template

If you are likely to share this with a significant team of college students so they can perform on one slide as their classmates function on the others, you are going to want to have a method to make guaranteed each individual pupil is aware which slide is theirs. Alternatively, you may possibly want to make a duplicate of your template for each individual university student to have their very own. Then they can make a single or various slides for their microblogging generation.

The place can college students find photos to use? For this challenge, you may possibly want college students to use a photo they’ve snapped on their own or one particular they have located. Google Slides lets pupils add a photo from their unit or Google Push. Alternatively, students might lookup for an picture that grants authorization to use it on a web-site like Unsplash. This web site post also has guidelines for producing collections of shots for pupils.

Ready to get started off? In this article is a template you can use as-is or customise for your students. Recall, this isn’t just a “Google Slides” job. You can attempt this out with another slide-based presentation resource or use the idea of microblogging with any open up-finished creation resource.