Many UNC faculty and students use Twitter for a wide variety of reasons including to extend in-class discussions, to reinforce key concepts, and to gather real-world data. For more ideas, see 60 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom.
Here’s an example of how it might look in Sakai (click images to enlarge in a new window):
Overview:
- Create a Twitter widget, and copy the resulting code.
- In Sakai, create a HTML page in Resources & paste the code.
- Display HTML page on the course home page.
Integrating Twitter into Sakai is relatively easy. However, one’s tweets must be public. For those who have tweets “protected,” the steps below will not work.
8 Steps to Integrate Twitter into Sakai
1. Log into your Twitter account to create a Timeline widget by going to https://twitter.com/settings/widgets.
2. Create a widget of your User Timeline, and add sakai.unc.edu to the domains.
3. Copy the code that is generated automatically.
4. Go to your Sakai site > Resources > Create HTML Page.
5. Click the Source button, and paste the code.
6. Name, save and view the HTML page.
7. Grab the URL of your file by going to Actions > Edit Details
8. Paste the URL in the Site Info Display area & Update Options.
Wait a moment, and you should see something like this. Done!
Note: As you consider ways to extend Sakai, keep accessibility in mind. EasyChirp.com is a web-accessible alternative to the Twitter web site. It is designed to be easier to use & optimized for disabled users. (Learn more about accessibility at UNC via Accessibility Resources and Service.)