I work at a super cool high school library that is fortunate enough to have a 70″ flat screen in its space. This last Thursday and Friday, we aired the NCAA Basketball tournament from 11 am to 4:30 pm. Previously to turning on the games on Thursday, we had not promoted the viewing, and when I first turned the games on, I noticed a student texting his friends. Pretty soon, we had more, more spectators, phones in hands, arriving as the games got under way. We were at capacity both days, and on Friday at 4:30 pm, I had to literally force some of our male students to leave against their will.
During the games, the students were very engaged-yelling at the screen and reacting to the plays. They were also talking to each other and on the internet and their phones. Many were commenting on the Twitter feed on the sidebar-commenting on the comments and commentators. They were participating and connecting, in both the physical and virtual environments.
This level of engagement can be replicated in the classroom using Twitter and other chat tools. Students have something to say that can be said in 140 characters or less.
Read more:
Danah boyd, Scott Golder, and Gilad Lotan.“Tweet Tweet Retweet: Conversational Aspects of Retweeting on Twitter.” Proceedings of HICSS-42, Persistent Conversation Track. Kauai, HI: IEEE Computer Society January 5-8, 2010
Social media demographics 2012: 24 sites including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn
The Trending 20: Teens On Twitter Share What They Like Least About High School
Follow
I never thought a high school library would host a sporting event. Great original thinking.
Did those not watching mind?
We have a quiet study room for those who would rather work. Our library is not really a quiet library; it is more of a collaborative space so there is always some talking and general murmuring. The games got pretty loud toward the end of the day on Friday, but then it was the end of the day on a Friday so everyone was a bit more engaged. It was a really big draw for our male student population who are not always inclined to hang-out in the library. We also have a gaming day once a quarter and after school movies once a month. This Thursday is our Edible Book contest. It’s a really great place to work.