Educating Educators and Administrators on Twitter Use

[Jon Freer]

I am looking to put together a presentation/PD experience for my
administration and teachers on how Twitter can be used to enhance their
learning and to create their own professional network.  Being somewhat
new to this myself, I am looking for ways others have gone about
explaining and demonstrating the use.

When I was first shown the power of twitter it was by someone who had THOUSANDS of followers.  He
could say "say hello to ___" and the tweets would roll in.  I don't
have that and want to find a way to demonstrate the connections that
can be made in Twitter.

Any ideas on how to accomplish this?

Thanks.

[Amanda Kenuam]

3 PLNS Every educator should join and info for teachers on twitter. check these out!

[Kelly Geigner]

If you are presenting this to people who have never used twitter before then demonstrating communication with just a small group of people, maybe 10-20 may be more helpful. I think for teachers who are already overwhelmed with work the idea of keeping up with so many followers can be intimidating.

[Amanda Parr]

Hi

This could be a useful prstn- http://www.slideshare.net/maggiev/twitter-for-educational-purposes-....

The author is quite a regular blogger in the educational domain.

Cheers

[Thomas Whitby]

On the Main Page of this Ning site there is a section on Twitter. It contains Twitter links, and tutorials. Additionally, there are lists of Educators to follow on several Twitter lists. One click has you following up to 500 collaborating Educators on Twitter. You will be able to do what you mentor did and request a shout-out twitter response. In addition to that you will have increased the power of your own PLN.

[Olaf Elch]

One thing that I see quite often on Twitter is that people use the #edchat tag to ask for comments at a particular time during a demonstration.

Create your own hashtag and post something like this:

I'm demonstrating Twitter as a PLN to a group of teachers for the next hour. Pls RT and give your tip using #abc999. Thx. #edchat

A lot of edchat followers will see this, and you usually get quite a few quick replies.

Hope this helps.


Olaf

[Linda Bethel]

Oh surely. #edtech also has a lot of participation.

Hashtag rocks.

[Thomas Whitby]

The #hashtag strategy is a way to increase the reach of a tweet. By placing a specific # at the end of a tweet, people who do not follow you, but follow the hashtag, will see your tweet. The more hashtags on a tweet the further it goes.

[Amanda Kenuam]

After searching through these links I decided to put together a post that took the best of the best from all of them. Top 5 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom. Hope it helps with synthesizing all this info :D

[Laura Goldberg]

More Information in here - http://cooper-taylor.com/blog/2008/08/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-education/

And Edmodo - which is referred to as Twitter for education - http://cooper-taylor.com/blog/2008/08/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-education/

[Alexa Scordato]

A good friend, Laura Fitton, wrote the book Twitter for Dummies and has compiled a series of Twitter resources on her website: http://pistachioconsulting.com/featured-articles/getting-started-on...

It's definitely worth a look if you're compiling your own recommendations/presentation.

Cheers,
Alexa

[Mark Brumley]

Hi Jon,

I just taught a professional development session about Twitter. Teachers who are non-users have the mindset that Twitter is for constant updates. You know…”I’m eating a pizza right now.” So make a joke about that and tell them that’s not how educators use it.

Introduce them to Tweetdeck or Hootsuite and show them how to create a search using hashtags. Then, watch as the tweets roll in and try to find some interesting content. I tell my teachers it is usually not the tweet itself, but the links they refer to.

Then introduce the concept of PLN’s and how you can develop a network of like minded professionals.

Here’s a more detailed post: http://budurl.com/xd9p. You’ll also find some educational hashtags.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Mark



Disclaimer: I am a representative of the HP Teacher Experience Exchange community and may receive compensation for my participation on third-party sites. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[Morgan Kolis]

I just taught a similar class to teachers in my district on the uses of twitter. I set up this protopage with links that they could check out on their own. Feel free to use it. http://www.protopage.com/teachtech10. If you click on the Social Media link, there are many links to twitter and the educational uses. I let the links speak for themselves.

Also, I used my page- @Room5Friends - to show my class of teachers what I use twitter for. I use twitter to take IN information from my PLN. I described it as a newspaper with resources that you've already subscribed to. You've asked these organizations to send you articles. The hardest part is finding the organizations- at which point, I let my class loose on this site- http://listorious.com.

Hope this helps! Please let me know if it does. ;)