We covered a lot of ground in 60 minutes but we landed on a few keys for Twitter rookies :
#1) PLN – Personal Learning Network
Use Twitter as a personal information aggregator by following great thinkers. I shared with them a tweet from one of my favorite bloggers/tweeter who had this to say about PLN’s.
“by far, my educator/professional Twitter network has been more immediately useful than any *offline* PD I’ve ever attended”#2) Event Notification
Use tweets to inform your network about events such as the “Jelly” gathering at the Marlboro College Grad Center or to let folks know about job opportunities. New blog posts, workshops or brown-bag talks are also a great ways to notify your local network about important information.
#3) Lean on Your Network
Use your network to get answers, suggestions, or ideas. If your network are thinkers, doers, and participators, you won’t be disappointed!
#4) Levity
Follow Steven Colbert (stephenathome). Enough said.
#5) Build Out Your Network
This is probably the single most important advise that I can give anyone new to Twitter. Twitter is only as good as you network. It’s pretty easy really:
a) Have a purpose for using Twitter
b) Find 5 or 6 people that you want to follow and build from there
c) Check out their network. Chances are you will find a few who are worth following
d) Tweet, re-Tweet, contribute, and participate
The conversation eventually circled back to using Twitter in the classroom. There ere are many resources online that outline ideas for its use including a wonderful YouTube video "The Twitter Experiment"; a 5 minute clip outlining how Professor Monica Rankin of the University of Texas - Dallas used Twitter.
50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom
https://tle.wisc.edu/solutions/engagement/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom
Delicious search “twitter in the classroom” which will yield a number of great results
http://delicious.com
Jenny
I agree about with your comments about the personal learning network - I have learned SO MUCH about technology, cognitive science, education trends and issues, and teaching in the time I have been using Twitter. PLUS I have also learned about my favorite celtic rock band, new ballets that are being choreographed, political opinions, and a million things from updates on TED talks, etc - all the stuff that I find interesting as an individual and that eventually, in one way or another, enriches my teaching because the new information changes or broadens by view of the world.
ReplyDeleteI say - be brave, and, as Jenny says, "contribute and participate"!
Thanks for the endorsement Ellen. It's hard to "tell" people to use Twitter since its use is so personal. But I can say that if you're curious and are interested in learning then your Twitter network can't be beat. It's amazing how much I've learned about digital literacy/fluency, students, social networking, and open education...and so much more.
ReplyDelete