Twitter for the classroom: connection or distraction?

I read an interesting article yesterday in the Chronicle’s Wired Campus Blog about using Twitter in the classroom.  Professor David Parry said that using Twitter helped the students feel more like a community and he said that “It was the single thing that changed the classroom dynamics more than anything I’ve ever done teaching”.

I can certainly see how Twitter could be used as a backchannel and have similar benefits to audience response systems.  But these technologies are mostly helpful for courses with large enrollments where connections and discussions are difficult to achieve - if not impossible.  For those teaching smaller courses, this kind of in-class interaction may be counterproductive, especially in upper level courses.  As an instructional technologist promoting new technologies to faculty at a small liberal arts college (with lots of senior faculty!), I consistently have the challenge of convincing faculty to  use any new technology.  Many already consider laptops in the classroom a distraction.  However, some faculty might be willing to subscribe to a student’s Twitter if they are already very connected to that student.  I never convinced many faculty to instant message but that’s because they didn’t want to seem available to students 24/7.  Since Twittering is not chat, it may be a more attractive communication tool.

I’m really interested in Twitter’s possibilties.  I think for the right professor and the right course, it could really enhance interaction and take the course to a new level.  It may also be attractive to faculty who are already connected to their students and communicating regularly.  Time to start Twittering myself for further evaluation!