Twitter Used to Help Shy Students, Lesbian Syrian Blogger Is a Fake, and Gabrielle Giffords Facebook Pictures

These days it's not unheard of to see laptops or even iPads in the classroom, as long as students use them for learning and not social networking. But in a report by CNN, one East Los Angeles teacher is embracing social media as a teaching tool, and it's helping students combat shyness in the classroom. Enrique Legaspi, who teaches 8th grade at Hollenbeck Middle School, uses Twitter to engage his students. For example, in a discussion about World War I, his students answered questions on a Twitter feed using the hashtag "#WWI." According to a study by Pearson Learning Solutions, 2 percent of the nearly 2,000 college teachers surveyed use Twitter in the classroom. However, half of those polled said that social networking sites hinder the learning experience. Legaspi says Twitter makes him a better teacher because it helps shyer students participate in class. His students say it makes learning fun and helps them feel equal to their peers. According to his Twitter account, Legaspi wants to expand to other technology, like using the Internet video-calling program Skype for parent-teacher conferences. But not everyone agrees about social media's place in schools: Some have taken to Twitter to speak out against the practice, while others say social media should be embraced by schools, not feared.

Last week we told you about the saga of Amina Arraf, a.k.a. Amina Abdullah, the lesbian Syrian-American blogger and activist whose reported kidnapping by Syrian officials captivated the world. When the picture of Arraf turned out to be taken from a London woman's Facebook page, people started questioning the blogger's identity. NPR's Andy Carvin asked his Twitter followers if anybody had actually met her in real life. When no one came forward, more questions were raised, and yesterday a new post on the blog revealed that it wasn't penned by a "gay girl in Damascus" but by a 40-year-old married man from the United States. Tom MacMaster, who is studying in Scotland, confessed that Arraf is completely fictional. He said he used the blog over the past five years to shed light on the human rights record of a country largely closed off to the international media. He apologized on the fake blog on Sunday, saying that "while the narrative voice may have been fictional, the facts on this blog are true." MacMaster, who has written fantasy novels and is married to a graduate student in Syrian politics, told the Washington Post that he never thought the site would get so much attention but admitted that the worldwide focus on his fictional character raised his confidence. He told the Post, "I also had a real ego boost in thinking that, 'I'm good. I'm smart. These journalists don't realize I'm punking them.' "

Social media was the venue of choice for releasing new photos of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot five months ago in Tucson, Arizona. Two recent pictures of a smiling Giffords were added to her Facebook page Saturday. The photos have gotten more than 1,000 comments and nearly 3,000 "likes." Yet differing accounts of her condition have emerged. Yesterday, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke of Giffords' rapid recovery on NBC's "Meet the Press." But two days earlier, Giffords' chief of staff Pia Carusone said Giffords still has a very long way to go with her rehabilitation.

Do you think Twitter should be used in the classroom? Weigh in on Facebook and Twitter. And get my trending updates all day by "liking" my Facebook fan page.