Is it wise to set up a Twitter account to keep in touch with students online for educational reasons?

[Bob The Builder]

Noo its not wise. Lol

[boricuaflutie4]

my online virtual school does that.. i suggest it because if for example a teacher is not able to reach her students or vice versa twitter would be useful just as long as people dont post too much personal stuff. but yeah its allright..

[Flarg]

Pros:
You could tweet helpful things to them like "Don't forget the quiz tomorrow!" or something
You could see what the troubles are that they're having

Cons:
If somebody says something negative, you may not like it

If it were me, I wouldn't do it, but you could balance out your choices.

[Annie]

Our school is doing a test run with our senior class as many senior classes are using twitter as way to find quick news sources, articles, ect. but also connect due to homework, questioning, studying, ect. Each student has a school account and their own personal account. With us, most students use their personal for both, but are careful about what they say. Teachers follow us, we follow our teachers. Hell, one of the teachers tweeted us we were having a fire drill 5 minutes prior two weeks ago! It's also a way for the teacher to gain another foot on the students level since most students now a days are addicted to technology. We can ask teachers throughout the day questions, or even tell them "hey sorry won't be in class, just a heads up!" and things of that nature. Of course due to the rule teachers must report what they feel necessary, so far no one abuses the priviledge of having it unblocked on our school laptops but we can also use our phones.

[ICAL TEFL]

I would say, no.

Keep your professional and private life completely separate. This might mean having 2 twitter accounts, but definitely don't allow students (current or former) into your private Twitter account. The link below is about Facebook but the same principles apply!