Tweet Tweet for Education

Twitter has served for several years now as a social media frustration and praise outlet. In 140 characters or less, users of this service can say whatever they wish. The topic of these tweets ranges from political to personal commentary. Twitter keeps a lot of people connected to the world in a really accessible way.

I activated my Twitter account for school. One of my classes freshman year of college required me to go on Twitter and tweet responses back to posed questions my professor provided. I didn't use Twitter as a reliable source of information because it was presented to me as a social media program. The subject matter shouldn't all together be ignored though because it does touch on real life issues presented by the community in which we live.

The biggest educational perk I've seen from Twitter is the endless amounts of information you can search. I recently learned that #hashtags can be researched on Twitter in order to find tweets that have that same keyword in them. For example, I searched #Ferguson and saw a multitude of controversial opinions from people across the country. Twitter can be educational!

Just like any other website available to the entire world, facts presented on Twitter need to be taken with a grain of salt. Teachers can use Twitter in order to keep in contact with each other and help create well organized and effective lesson plans.

Twitter can be used in a teachers' PLN, or Professional Learning Network. Clinte Lalonde comments on the logistics of Twitter in his journal entry, "How important is Twitter in Your Professional Learning Network."He comments on the community Twitter creates by also noting the importance of being an individual teacher. Lalonde informs, "while a PLN involves negotiating social relationships for the purpose of learning, it is also a very personal and intimate construct in that decisions about who to include in your PLN are personal, autonomous decisions." Teachers make their own plans while being able to collaborate through livetweeting, chats, and shared links from other professionals across the globe.

Lamonte also conducted a study with educators to see what they thought the biggest benefit of using Twiter in the teaching process is. The openness of Twitter won the teachers over. Lamonte wrote, "participants relayed numerous stories and anecdotes about people "dropping in" on conversations they were having with people in their PLN, adding a richness to the conversation by adding in comments or observations about whatever was being discussed." The more conversation the better!

Another commenter on the Twitter network informed me on how I can use Twitter beyond its search engine abilities. Luz Chavez of Green Light Professional Development wrote a post entitled, "Twitter: How Teachers can use it as a PLN." He says that Twitter usage is all about who you follow as a teacher. We can "follow education experts, conference presenters, teachers at other schools, and professional organizations for teachers," just to name a few. The more people you follow the more information you get. The more information you get, the more you know about the education field you work in!

Personally I haven't used Twitter enough. Before conducting this research, I only ever used it for a social outlet and quizzes. I didn't realize teachers around the world used Twitter to connect with one another about specific learning tools they wanted to use in their lives. Now I follow a couple education based accounts called English Education and Higher Education. English education focuses on how English is taught around the globe and gives updates on teacher meetings being held online as well as provides lesson plan templates and educator commentary on teaching English to students.

Higher Education gears itself towards graduate students and teachers getting higher degrees. It shows students and teachers in education what they can do to be more well rounded and how they can stand out with their knowledge. I hope to use this site as reference when I'm working on my doctorate and masters in graduate school. The account also shows other peoples' progress of learning, academia awards, and theses. I will use both the English Education and Higher Education accounts to get advice and get involved with people doing the same thing I am with learning how to teach English. 

It's one thing to talk to fellow teachers at your own school, but Twitter alows access to teachers from anywhere who may have more experience with what it is you're trying to learn. Twitter gets teachers involved and talking as one collective unit.

I still say on the surface that Twitter is a social media complaint source of spotty incomplete information. Teachers who know how to use it however, are able to dive into learning deeper and easier than they would have been able to do without it. I like Twitter now that I know more about it, and will use it in part to stay connected with the world around me as well as in the classes I teach.

References

C Lalonde. (2012, September). "How Important is Twitter in Your Professional Learning Network?"
http://elearnmag.acm.org/archive.cfm?aid=2379624

L Chavez. (2014, Febuary 27th). "Twitter: How Teachers can use it as a PLN."
http://glpd.greenlightlearningtools.com/blog/2014/02/27/twitter-teachers-can-use-pln

10 Ways Teachers Can Use Twitter For Professional Development [Electronic Image]. (2011). Retrieved December 12th, 2014, from: http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/10/twitter-for-professional-development.html

A Principal's Reflection [Electronic Image]. (2014). Retrieved December 12th, 2014, from: http://esheninger.blogspot.com/2014/06/twitter-as-tool-for-academic-discourse.html