Saturday, September 12, 2009

Twitter and Your PLN

In previous posts I've expressed my interest in Twitter and how it can be a tool for growing one's own personal learning network (PLN). I thought this week I'd share just a little bit of how I utilize it.

Twitter is a great way to connect to other smart, innovative, creative people in your field or with similar interests. I think there are some who have given Twitter a try and decided it didn't work for them, probably because they were not connected to the right people. If you connect to users who are only reporting on the state of traffic or what they had for breakfast that day ("life tweeters"), then you probably won't see the value, and if you follow only celebrities or just your family, I doubt you'll get the full benefits. However, if you connect to users who are willing to share ideas and genuine feedback, then Twitter is a great tool for building a potential personal learning network of other users whose ideas and insight you can benefit from.

Okay, so here are only a few of the nuggets from my last 24 hours or so on Twitter that I hope will illustrate some of what I think the value can be for educators. A Collection of (mostly elementary)
And honestly I get good ideas and information from Twitter every day. I've written about the blogs I think educators should follow, so its no surprise that most of the same ones are on Twitter. It is an easy way to be connected and benefit from the resources of many.

You can follow the WSFCS Dept of Technology at http://twitter.com/wsfcsdit and WSFCS at http://twitter.com/wsfcs

3 comments:

Linda McDermon said...

"spot on" Emory!

Melissa said...

Twitter does "grow on you" once you find the right people and connections. I love all the ideas that find and have even made some new teacher friends (in Colorado).

Scott Armstrong said...

Definitely agree with your point about "life tweeters"--that's a term I'll have to steal. ;)

I wish there was a way for students to follow certain Twitter pages. I and several other teachers at our school use it for school functions. From what I understand, the system has to block all of Twitter or none of it.