Can Twitter Teach our Kids Math?

Well at this stage twitter is becoming mainstream. We have to accept twitter is probably going to be here to stay. I posed the question “Can Twitter Teach our Kids Math?” which is a bit of a stretch but I believe it can definitely help.
Twitter to the uninitiated is a simple SMS-like messaging service that allows people to connect and follow the messages posted by people and companys and in turn post (or Tweet) their own status. It is used in a few different ways but mainly by people who just want to keep in touch with people and organisations.
Sounds simple and it really is that simple there is a little bit more to it but basically not much more. But let’s see if we can come up with a scenario where twitter could be used in an educational situation. Imagine if all the students “followed” the teacher on twitter and could get updates and homework tips and results and personal mentoring all on twitter, it’d be a bit cool right? Imagine too if the parents could also follow the school and get updates on school closures and events and their kids progress, again cool right? This would be a super easy way to stay up-to date with what is happening in school and best of all it’s free to everyone concerned. Not particularly innovative just quick and easy movement of information.
Twitter could be great as a communications service in school as described above but it still doesn’t teach our kids. Well we could also offer anonymous free tutor help. I’m actually surprised a service like this doesn’t already exist (well I can’t find one) that allows a person tweet a specific problem to a service and get back an instant-ish response, not sure how the business model would work but hey twitter hasn’t figured one out yet either. Or how about a twitter service where people can post up homework help and advice again surprised the book publishers haven’t cottoned on to this one yet either.
Everyone knows that education is delivered and received by talking and reading well twitter is just a new method of communication and can easily then be included into the mix of education successfully and will succeed and fail in the exact same way as all communication does now. If it succeeds just remember where you heard it first, if it fails blame twitter ;-)