Twitter

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Abigail Appleman Schrack Due: December 1, 2010

**Twitter for Educators: Not Just a Monologue **

It has long been time for educators to take control of their own professional development and personal learning. Perhaps good teachers have always done this through deep studies relating to content or personal interest. Unfortunately, with an ever-increasing list of tasks to perform in the teaching profession, this is no longer as feasible as it once was. Thankfully a new development, part of web 2.0, is the idea that 140 characters or less can convey important ideas, striking concepts, and crucial resources through the portal known as “Twitter.” In today’s society of now isn’t soon enough, professionals do not have the time to sift through scores of books, blogs, and news articles. Instead, twitter is a forum where sharp minds can share important resources in one or two clear, concise lines of text. This can take shape as a live chat, repeated posts called re-tweets, website links with a few words of description, or status updates. When used as a professional development resource, Twitter is an excellent place to find innovative ideas and a plethora of resources. Educators seek to help other educators, thus questions are welcome and readily answered. Websites chock full of information, lesson plans, and ideas for assessment are distributed to audiences of one or various millions. Apart from professional development, Twitter can also have great educational value. Students can communicate with people around the world. They can gather information by posting their needs and waiting for responses. They can use Twitter as a search tool by searching key words or hashtags for informative updates. Students learn that their work has value when others, especially strangers, comment on it and provide feedback. The lessons learned through these tweets are lasting. This relatively new tool, formed in 2006, has its place. It is easy to lose valuable time staying updated, both posting and reading other posts. Some people choose to use it simply to banter back and forth. There are also dangers to posting status updates, especially if they contain a person’s location or other pertinent details a reader could use against them. One must keep limits in mind, both in time spent on Twitter, and what should be posted. On a more personal note, I have found immense benefit in using Twitter, and I prefer this social network over others for professional development. It has been very helpful as fellow professionals post feedback to my comments and queries. Resources abound. My network is quickly becoming a community of dedicated, passionate, professional educators with pursuits similar to my own. One thing I learned was that after I started posting a few questions, I gained followers. It appears that in order to gain more followers, I need to post updates more often and also add appropriate hashtags. Without the hashtags, no one seems to notice my updates, even when I post great resources or questions. I do plan to continue to use Twitter as an educational tool. I hope to gain permission to download Tweetdeck on my computer at work to be able to briefly look over tweets after school each day. I have also found some key education-related chats on Twitter that take place at certain times and days of the week. I can also think of several ways to use Twitter in other professions and personal interests, namely the dairy industry, which I am also involved in. After this semester, I am left wondering why more organizations are not yet using Twitter!