Twitter and the Personal Learning Network (PLN). If you are a connected educator, chances are that you have often seen these two terms used together and, perhaps like me, you have wondered what's the connection? This question formed the basis of my 2011 Masters thesis and while my research showed that you can have a PLN without Twitter (and, indeed, those non-Twitter spaces are important for a well developed PLN), Twitter does play a unique role within a PLN, which makes it a powerful platform for networked learning and professional development [1] . Literature Review Twitter is a free service that is part microblogging platform and part social network, which allows users to send and receive short, 140 character messages [2] .
How important is Twitter in your Personal Learning Network?
10 Free Web 2.0 Tools And How To Easily Use Them In Your Classroom
Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend the first Ozarks Education Research Initiative (OERI) Teacher Technology Conference at Willard High School (MO). The learning sessions I attended were all very good and I am going to share 10 of the FREE tools I learned about below. I will be incorporating them into how I teach and hopefully by using these tools during faculty meetings, PD sessions, and other opportunities as they arise, this will help us all to find ways to incorporate them into the classroom to engage our students even more. This quote from last week has stuck with me ever since it was spoken – “Date the tool. Marry the idea.”Twitter’s “Bots” Problem: Time for Twitter to Take Ownership and Declare War on Spammers! » Social Media Lab
It has long been an open secret that many users on Twitter and Facebook are fakes or bots. As part of their Form 10-Q report to the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Facebook disclosed that it has more than “ 83 million illegitimate (fake or duplicate) accounts ” - about 8.7% of its user base of 955 million. But Facebook is not the only social media site facing a problem with “illegitimate” accounts. Recently, Twitter too has taken a lot of heat about the authenticity of their users’ base with stories about people buying their way to Twitter fame . Buying Twitter followers is easy. Over the last few years a whole cottage industry has sprung up to satisfy people’s seemingly insatiable need for an ego-boost.
Twitter is a real treasure trove of educational resources for teachers and educators. It is one of my favourite web tools to stay updated about what is going on in the field of educational technology. It goes without saying that everyone of you has got a Twitter account but the question is do you really benefit from Twitter as should be ? By implication, my question is referring to educational and professional development benefits. Yes you might be following hundreds of bloggers and educators ; yet still unable to sift through the tsunami of tweets you have everyday.Tweeting is an art which you should master and the key to the mastery of this art is hashtags. Hashtag is a great way for users to locate and keep track of particular information within the massive tweets.
Top 10 Educational Technology Hashtags for Educators
I’m hearing more and more about teaching with Twitter in the classroom. The potential is amazing and I see this as a big step towards embracing the real power of Technology in the classroom. I am also aware of the concerns and understand the validity and necessity of ensuring the safety of students. But, when done properly, the opportunity to positively impact the classroom is exciting!
Over 100 ideas for using Twitter in the Classroom (Revised 6/3/12)
Every time we host live webinars (and as this long list suggests , that is quite often), quite a few attendees get confused about what to do with the hashtag we provide.
How to Use Hashtags on Twitter: A Simple Guide for Marketers
