#MacroSW Live Twitter Chat on 10/28/14
Jimmy Young (@Jimmysw) and I (@laurelhitchcock) have designed a social media assignment for social work students that involve students watching a documentary and then participating in a live Twitter chat. The assignment is meant for a policy or macro class and involves students watching the documentary Inequality for All, and then participating in a live Twitter chat on October 28th at 9pm Eastern Standard Time. We have partnered with the wonderful folks that conduct the #MacroSW chat for this special event and will be using their hashtag #MacroSW to facilitate the live chat.
We are interested in piloting this assignment in classrooms across the country and hope that other social work or human service educators might participate by including the assignment in class and providing feedback. Of course if you would rather just join the Live Chat only, that would be wonderful as we hope to have many individuals participate.
The assignment includes some critical thinking and reflection components that include brief writing pieces and peer- and self-assessment forms. The purpose of this assignment is to: 1) help students learn about policies and societal contexts that influence income inequality, and 2) give students the opportunity to collaborate and communicate with other students and professionals using technology. The assignment consists of three parts:
1. Students will watch the documentary Inequality for All on their own or in class, and then write a brief reaction to the movie including if they agreed with the film maker’s position (why or why not?) and how the movie informed their understanding of poverty in the U.S. (500 –700 words).
2. Students then participate in a one-hour Live Twitter Chat on October 28th at 8 PM Central Standard Time. Questions will be based around the film as well as the overarching topic of Inequality. Students will need a free Twitter account, and will demonstrate participation during the chat by: a) posting responses to at least three of the discussion questions; b) responding to at least three other chat participants; and c) include a hyperlink in at least two posts. If you or your students are new to Twitter, you can use the following guide to help get you started (Getting Started with Twitter) or watch this video on how to participate in a live Twitter chat.
3. After the live chat, students will write a self-reflection about the experience of participating in the live twitter chat that includes a brief summary of the chat, lessons learned from the chat and how the experience could inform future social work practice (300-500 words).
Naturally you can assign point values or simply include this as part of the class participation. Should you choose to use it as a traditional assignment the following Rubric will help with grading and providing directions for students. The rubric is based upon the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards from Council on Social Work Education.
Lastly, to help us with improving this assignment we ask that you assess the quality of the rubric for this assignment by using the following meta-rubric and share it with us by clicking on our names below. Please feel free to contact either of us with questions.
How to cite this post:
Hitchcock, L. I. (2014, October 3). #MacroSW Live Twitter Chat on 10/28/14 [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://laureliversonhitchcock.org/2014/10/03/macrosw-live-twitter-chat-on-102814/.
