Using Twitter for Professional Development

twitter.com

When I first signed up for Twitter, I started off following some authors I read and some of the companies I patronized for materials in the library. After a while, I thought ... is this it? Basically, I was reading promotion for this or promotion for that. This wasn't going to be useful for me. You see, I had it in my head that I could use Twitter to promote items and events related to the AMS library. But, I sure didn't know how to start doing this.

One day I just happened across the #edchat hashtag (a hashtag is like a label, tag or keyword) on Twitter, and my eyes were instantly opened. I'd discovered hundreds of educators discussing what's relevant in today's classroom, how to use technology with your students, a way to ask questions or just get feedback on ideas. It's today's professional development for educators. You don't have to travel to a workshop, sit for six hours, and leave lesson plans for a sub. You can join this professional development at your convenience. I love that I can sit down for five minutes to read posts from some of those I follow or read a few posts that contain some of my favorite hashtags.

My suggestion for those that want to try out Twitter is to start out slow. Just follow a few people. Once you find a person whose posts you find useful, look at who he follows. Read their bios and you will probably find a few more to follow. Before long, you will have developed a network of educators whom you can use as part of your Personal Learning Network, or PLN. Oh, and if you start following someone and find that his posts don't add to your experience, there's nothing wrong with unfollowing. 

I hope those that are curious will try out Twitter expressly for the purpose of creating their own PLN. I've found that it has energized me and allowed my passion for teaching kids to bloom again. Well worth the time and effort I've put into it.

Click here to read this excellent post for spelling out the step-by-step process when starting out on Twitter.