Thursday, March 4, 2010

March Madness: Consider Twitter

If you think Twitter is only about celebrities, chitchat, gossip, and idle talk, read on.

If you'd like a way to connect with educators from around the world who share your interests, questions, subject area, problems, and perspectives, consider Twitter.

In the year that I've been tweeting I've built a professional learning network (PLN) that's taught me about technology, teaching, leadership, and learning and helped me make connections never before possible.

When Joe and Lori were looking for kindergarten classes to Skype with, for instance, I put out this tweet:
By the end of the day we'd connected with schools in California and Kansas and the Kinder-Skyping project was underway.

On Twitter I learned about free or very low-cost web tools like Voice Thread, Animoto, Delicious, and Google Forms. On Twitter I met Ken Royal (@KenRoyal) from Scholastic who met with our Ohio eTech team and Peter Pappas (@edteck) of Copy/Paste who agreed to work with West Clermont teachers next fall. Yoon Soo Lim (@DoremiGirl) helped me with Flip Camera and You Tube filter questions. On Twitter, I discovered online conversations with thinkers like Daniel Pink, Seth Godin, Kylene Beers, and Alfie Kohn.

Twitter was my window to Web 2.0 learning.

It's not everybody's cup of tea. But I invite you to spend a little time there just to "lurk and learn" for a while.

Get started with tips from these terrific teachers:

Why Teachers Should Try Twitter by teacher William Ferriter (@plugusin on Twitter) in the February 2010 issue of Educational Leadership

What Did They Tweet? by teacher Shelly Terrell (@ShellTerrell) on her award-winning edublog

Seven Ways to Find Teachers on Twitter by teacher Richard Byrne (@rmbyrne) on his site Free Tech 4 Teachers

Twitter? Professional? ...C'mon!!! by teacher William Steltz (@jpsteltz) on his blog

And if you decide to open an account, click here for a list of teachers, administrators, or  PLN builders to follow.

M.E.

PS Follow me on Twitter. You'll find me @steelepierce.

This is post 4/23 in our March Madness quest

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