Welcome to the third step in our free professional learning series on building your PLN.

In the first two steps, we looked at what a PLN means and how to become a connected educator.

We’re now getting into the specifics of how to use particular tools, beginning with Twitter.

The aim of this step is to:

  1. Explain what Twitter is and how it’s used.
  2. Explain the benefits of using Twitter as part of your PLN.
  3. Helps you set up your Twitter account and connect with others.
Should You Use Twitter Flowchart Sylvia Duckworth
Sketchnote by Sylvia Duckworth

Introduction To Twitter

Most teachers who are using Twitter would probably agree that it is their number one way they build and connect with their PLN.

In fact, a 2016 study showed that the most popular tool K-12 teachers use to connect with others was Twitter.

What Is Twitter?

Twitter is a social networking, news, and microblogging service that allows you to send out short messages called tweets.

Along with text and links, tweets can also contain media (up to 4 photos, a video, or a GIF).

Tweets used to be limited to 140 characters but this increased to 280 characters by 2018.

Twitter is a place that you can just lurk, by reading others’ tweets, or contribute, by sending out your own tweets. Obviously, the latter is what you work towards as the more you put in, the more you get out!

You can read tweets without having your own Twitter account (as long as the accounts you’re following are public — and the majority are). To contribute, you will need an account which we will explain below.

One of the great things about Twitter is that it is accessible on your computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. You can use the native Twitter website or app, or there are many other popular third party apps that aim to improve functionality and accessibility.

Tweetdeck was once an independent app that has now been acquired by Twitter. Many users enjoy using it to organize their feed.

Twitter is used by people in nearly every country around the world. 83% of 193 UN member countries have Twitter a presence. For teachers, this means you have access to thousands of teachers with rich backgrounds and experiences that can contribute to your professional growth.

Anatomy Of A Tweet

Twitter is made up of tweets. We created this diagram to help you understand tweets better.

You’re welcome to share it with others or display it on your blog.

Anatomy of a Tweet | Edublogs Teacher Challenge

Interacting With Tweets

When you see a tweet, there are certain things you can click on:

  • The person’s name to see their profile page. You can look at their bio and see all their tweets.
  • Follow to have the tweeter’s future tweets show up on your homepage.
  • A link (if there is one) to open a website in your browser.
  • A hashtag to see other tweets that are categorized with the same hashtag (regardless of whether you follow the people using that hashtag)
  • Like (the heart) — this shows your appreciation, agreement, or acknowledgment of the tweet. Simply, tap/click the heart to like the tweet (tap/click again to undo).
  • Retweet to share the tweet with your own followers. This demonstrates that you found the tweet interesting or shareworthy. You will also have the option to add a comment to the retweet.
  • Direct message — you can message someone privately or start a private group conversation. Depending on individual settings, you might only be able to direct message someone if you both follow each other.
  • Comments — this allows you to either read what other people have said in a public reply, or add your own reply.

Think You’re Not Interested In Twitter? Think Again!

Twitter is more than just “another social networking tool”.

It generally isn’t about reconnecting with people you knew in high school or sharing what you’re cooking for dinner. Of course, some people only use Twitter for fun, although for most educators Twitter is about connecting with like minded individuals for personalized and ongoing professional development.

There are millions of tweets flying around in the Twitterverse 24-7 but the good thing is you can use Twitter as your time and inclination permits!

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach has shared an analogy of Twitter being like a river. The river keeps flowing but sometimes you might just walk past and have a quick look, sometimes you might hang around and dip your toes in, other times you might spend hours swimming around.

The choice is yours.

In this three minute video, Alec Couros explains how Twitter is used effectively in education.

Benefits Of Using Twitter

Twitter is like a virtual staffroom where you can catch up with your PLN. It’s a place where educators can find advice, give advice, find great links, share work, and engage in general musings about education.

Want examples?

  • In this post, Chris Betcher describes what he got out of tweeting for just 10 minutes.
  • Similarly, in this post Edna Sackson describes what she got out of 30 minutes on Twitter one morning.
  • In this post, New Zealand teacher Juliet Revell explains some fantastic professional and personal opportunities that she experienced thanks to building a PLN on Twitter.
  • This video by Matt Miller offers snapshot of some of the things you might see on Twitter in any given session.

While these examples aren’t new and some minor functions of Twitter have changed, the basic premise remains; there are countless ways educators are using Twitter to benefit themselves and their students.

Here’s a tweet from a high school history teacher who joined Twitter in 2019.

Check out Why Teachers Are Turning To Twitter by Brendon Hyndman for more research and examples of how Twitter is used in the global education community.

Twitter provides a modern platform for teachers to share, network, gain emotional support, build professional learning communities and make a contribution to their profession.

Five Steps To Building Your PLN Via Twitter

1. Join

The sign up process is easy. Just follow these steps:

  • Go to http://twitter.com and click on the sign up box, or go directly to https://twitter.com/signup.
  • You will be required to enter information such as your name and email address as you’re guided through the sign up process.
  • Once you sign up for an account, you can select a unique username. Try not to make your username too long and make it something that identifies you, like your name, rather than a complex nickname.

Once you’re signed up, you can customize your profile.

  • Complete your bio so people know who you are. You have 160 characters for your bio. Educators often share the age group or subject they teach, and particular interests.
  • Add a profile photo. Real photos can be a better choice than a cartoon avatar. It helps you to build your relationship with your PLN. Bios and photos can hold a lot of weight in virtual relationships.
  • You’ll also be able to add a header photo. Popular header images for teachers include landscapes, a classroom photo, or a quote. Tip: You can make a personalized Twitter header image with Canva.
Twitter Profile Page Example
Your Twitter profile page offers a snapshot of what you’re all about

Refer to the Educator’s Ultimate Guide to Twitter for more detailed step-by-step instructions on how to set up and use Twitter.

2. Follow People

Following someone on Twitter means:

  • You are subscribing to their tweets and their updates will appear in your home timeline
  • That person is able to send you a private direct message if you’re following each other

Following isn’t necessarily a reciprocal relationship, like Facebook friendships. Someone can follow you without you following them back and vice versa. You don’t need to wait for approval to follow someone either, as long as their account is public.

There are thousands of teachers around the world on Twitter, you just have to know where to find them!

No ideas?

Start with our Edublogs team like @edublogs @suewaters @ronnieburt @Edublogs_Eugene and me, @kathleen_morris

There are many educational thought leaders who thousands of people enjoy following such as:

Additionally, there are many popular sources for keeping up to date with the latest news, trends, and research in education, such as:

The examples listed above are only the tip of the iceberg and far from an exhaustive list!

Once you have a few people to follow, look at who they are following and you will start to build up your PLN.

You can also adopt some Twitter regulars as your mentors and ask them to put a tweet out to encourage their followers to connect with you.

Twitter also regularly shows you suggestions of people you could follow.

Watch this video to learn how to follow and connect with people on Twitter.

3. Lurk

You’ll need to spend some time checking out the stream of tweets and getting the hang of tweeting, retweeting, direct messaging, and hashtags.

Some people say Twitter isn’t as intuitive as other web tools but it doesn’t take long for it to make sense. Give yourself a few weeks to try it. Whenever you have a few spare minutes, open Twitter, scroll through your feed, click on some links, watch how people are interacting with each other.

If the people you’re following don’t interest you, it’s fine to unfollow them. Remember, you’re in charge of building your own personal PLN.

4. Contribute

When you’ve lurked for a while, jump and contribute! Like or retweet a few tweets, reply to tweets that resonated with you, and send tweets of your own. You could try contacting a few people via direct message too — ask them a question or introduce yourself.

It may take some time to get the hang of how Twitter works. We’ve made this cheat sheet to help. Feel free to share it with others or use it on your own blog.

Twitter Cheat Sheet for Teachers | Building Your PLN Edublogs Teacher Challenge Course

Remember, the more you put in, the more you get out.

Don’t be afraid to start replying to people, retweeting tweets, asking questions, and striking up conversations.

Many teachers on Twitter are very friendly and always happy to help newbies find their feet!

What To Tweet About

Still not sure what you could be tweeting about? How about:

  • A photo from a lesson
  • A link to something interesting you’ve read
  • A question about a topic you’re interested in
  • A request for a resource
  • A link to something from your own blog or someone else’s blog
  • A favorite online tool you like to use with students

5. Stick With It!

Many regular Twitter users have commented that it took them a few attempts to get going with Twitter. Sticking with it is so important. Make yourself check into Twitter daily for a month before you make any decisions about whether it is for you.

It takes time to build rapport with people. When you do, you’ll find your professional world will be so enlightened and your students will be better for it!

Remember, you definitely won’t be seeing everything that’s tweeted, so don’t feel like you have to. You’ll receive notifications when someone replies to you, mentions you, tags you, or direct messages you. Otherwise, Twitter works fairly serendipitously and you’ll just see what you see!

Useful Video

To walk you through getting started with Twitter and to demonstrate some of the tips mentioned in this post, check out Starting a PLN on Twitter: A Quick Guide For Teachers by Common Sense Education.

Conclusion

Effective teaching and learning doesn’t occur in a vacuum. To be the best teacher you can be, you need a diverse and innovative network.

As we outlined in Step Two, traditionally, the staff at your school was your main network of teachers to collaborate with. This network may be fantastic but can become an echo chamber for the same ideas, values, and perspectives.

With Twitter, the barriers of distance and access are broken down and the world is at your fingertips!

In our next step, we explore Twitter further by looking at hashtags and Twitter chats.

Your Task

PLNs are about sharing, collaborating, and learning from and with others. Here’s your chance to ask a question, comment, and get involved!

We’d like you to add your voice and ideas to our ongoing conversation on building your own PLN by undertaking one or more of the following challenges:

  1. Video Reflections: Watch How To Use Twitter Effectively In Education with Alec Couros or the Common Sense Education video on Getting Started With Twitter. Leave a comment on this post to share your ideas on how you might use Twitter to build your PLN.
  2. Join: If you haven’t joined Twitter yet, head over to twitter.com and sign up. Leave a comment on this post with your Twitter username so others can follow you. If you’ve joined in the past, now could be a good time to review your account. Do you need to update your images or bio perhaps?
  3. Find Someone: After browsing Twitter, find someone who you think you’d be interested in following. Leave their Twitter username in a comment and tell us what they’re tweeting about that you find interesting.
  4. Go Deeper: Write a blog post about your initial impressions of Twitter. You could include — what you see as obstacles to taking part in Twitter, what you have learned from being on Twitter, or who you have connected with via Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a comment here with the link to your post. You might even like to document your own journey as a new Twitter user to inspire others to do the same!

Also, feel free to leave a comment to ask any questions or share your tips.

How to leave a comment: Scroll down to find the comment box. Write your comment, then enter your name and email address (email addresses are not published). Enter the anti-spam word. Press submit and we will moderate your comment ASAP.

772 thoughts on “Step 3: Using Twitter To Build Your PLN

  1. One way I plan to use Twitter to build my PLN is by following educators who are teaching the same content as I am. For example, if I am teaching 4th grade, I would follow other teachers who are teaching 4th grade. This would be a great way to collaborate and share thoughts with other teachers about the curriculum or lesson plans! As the video mentions, hashtags are also a great way for educators to explore interest areas. I definitely plan on using the hashtags feature on Twitter to build my PLN.

  2. Addressing Twitter like I stated a bit above on how these social media websites are used for Personal Learning Networks, such as Twitter being one. Another great tool is Twitter. Twitter is a way for people to connect with one another as well as a way to share ideas. It is also a way for teachers and or educators to branch out and search for new techniques to use inside of their classroom. Furthermore I have formed a few PNL sites myself such as blogs, wordpresses, instagram but have not thought to use Twitter as a source just yet. Although I might soon as it again is another great source for people and or educators.

  3. Addressing Twitter like I stated a bit above on how these social media websites are used for Personal Learning Networks, such as Twitter being one. Another great tool is Twitter. Twitter is a way for people to connect with one another as well as a way to share ideas. Such as sharing new ideas between one another. It is also a way for teachers and or educators to branch out and search for new techniques to use inside of their classroom. Furthermore I have formed a few PNL sites myself such as blogs, wordpresses, instagram but have not thought to use Twitter as a source just yet. Although I might soon as it again is another great source for people and or educators.

    1. Addressing Twitter like I stated a in task 2 on how these social media websites are used for Personal Learning Networks, such as Twitter being one. Another great tool is Twitter. Twitter is a way for people to connect with one another as well as a way to share ideas. S It is also a way for teachers and or educators to branch out and search for new techniques to use inside of their classroom. Furthermore I have formed a few PNL sites myself such as blogs, wordpresses, instagram but have not thought to use Twitter as a source just yet. Although I might soon as it again is another great source for people and or educators.

  4. I am going to respond to the first prompt of this question about how to use Twitter to grow your PLN. Although Twitter is not my preferred form of connection with people it also poses a great platform for writing out quick questions and receiving quick answers. Twitter allows a good way to find accounts easily that are looking to do the same things that we are and as a long-established platform, there is a lot of good content already out there.

  5. After watching “How to Use Twitter Effectively in Education” with Alec Cuoros, I’ve begun thinking about all of the different possibilities Twitter brings to the table. I think I would search hashtags that I am interested in to find different perspectives and people I can follow on Twitter to continue connecting within my PLN. I love the idea of connecting with other teachers and educators around the world to see how they think and feel about different topics, and the hashtag feature allows for us to find those people easily through tweets and conversations related to the hashtags we search for. It is an easy pathway for us to search for and find the people talking about things we want to learn about and explore further.

  6. JOIN: After the whirlwind that was 2020, I ultimately decided to take a step back from social media this past December, at which time I deleted most of my social media accounts, including my Twitter account. I realized just last week that a Twitter account could be very helpful with personal branding and marketing. To use Twitter to build my PLN is a logical next step in this same direction. Since I just recreated my new account, I still need to find people to follow in educational spaces, as well as in philosophy, psychology, creative, and spiritual spaces. My Twitter handle is @summer_rosemary

  7. I joined Twitter a while back, but I never really got into so I never posted anything or followed anyone except for a friend. I re-downloaded it, and now my username is @seventhbashir. I tried finding an educators’ blog and found @shakeuplearning. I really liked it because it gave a bunch of tips on different technology-rich tools teachers could use. I have had trouble trying to figure out different and creative ways to incorporate technology into my lessons, so this is a nice way of discovering new ideas.

  8. Prior to this course, I have not spent any time using Twitter. I don’t use it personally, and I didn’t realize it could be used professionally. Now that I know I can use Twitter to build my PLN, I am excited to connect with other professionals. I expressed in the previous step that my biggest obstacle was my lack of connections with other people due to the pandemic. I like that you can use Twitter in so many different ways, with connections being one of them.

  9. The twitter page I followed is @TeachersPetUK. I followed this page because she shares so many different activities and worksheets that students would actually be interested in and she includes students with disabilities.

  10. @alattelearning
    Halee has been someone I have followed on instagram for a long time. She has an upbeat energy and is an experienced teacher in many different grade levels. She always brings something new to the table and has such great resources to share. She works to encourage other teachers and shares about her personal life as well. Something that Halee has tweeted about that I really find interest in is her multiplication fact songs. This is a resource that she created and is super useful in the classroom.

  11. I actually don’t have twitter anymore and never realized that it could also be used to reach other teachers all around the world! The use of hashtags in a tweet can easily reach people anywhere, and you can quickly get any answers/advice/ideas from other teachers!

  12. If I were to create a Twitter account, I would use it to build on my PLN by retweeting cool posts that I would use in my classroom! For example, if I saw a post on something another fellow teacher did with her classroom, such as activities on a difficult topic, I would retweet this to not only remind myself but to share to my other educator followers.

  13. I just created Twitter, I have my ups and downs with social media because it’s become so negative over the past few years. That being said I hope this is a positive experience I can learn from. I do know twitter has a lot of diverse users… Follow me @Lexismonyee__

  14. People are constantly posting to twitter about every subject that you can imagine. I hope to use this to hear about more current events that could tie in with whatever topic I am teaching. When you can connect what you are teaching to things that are happening in our world today it really enriches the content and helps the students understand and relate with the material.

  15. Although I hate twitter and never use It because I forget I have It and use my personal one RARELY, I went ahead and created a twitter that was all about education rather than anything else, just to try out this approach. The twitter i created is @EducatorNewman

  16. I have been a fan of the YouTube channel 3blue1brown for some time now, so following @3blue1brown is a natural step for me to take. Grant Sanderson, the head of the math YouTube channel, offers cutting-edge visuals for upper-level mathematics, making it accessible to a wide audience. He is constantly on the lookout for promising math educators and YouTube channels.

  17. I will be responding to the first prompt

    I would use Twitter to build my PLN by connecting with teachers all over the country and even the world to collaborate on ideas, ask questions, and share things that I have learned from the profession. I would probably just lurk for a month or two to feel out the climate of the PLN I was building, but then I would begin to participate by posting, commenting, and direct messaging other educators. By using twitter, I would hope to find a community of educators who I could ask questions of, find answers, and share my own materials and takes on the world with them.

  18. I feel like making a twitter that just focuses on my teaching profession will be a great way to learn new things from other teachers more experienced than me, keep me motivated, and be able to provide different lessons or content to my future students that I would had otherwise probably never encountered.

  19. To build my PLN with Twitter I think I may start off with just following hashtags about education that sound interesting to me. Following the hashtags and being connected to a variety of different educators, I will be able to decide who I wish to follow and who I wish to connect to. I will frequently look at different hashtags that I believe that may help with different areas I need improvement. Following those hashtags will always run me into a new person that can help me to continue to learn through their page and posts.

  20. I find the use of twitter for educational and career growing opportunities interesting. In my own experience, I have only used twitter for social reasons and to keep up to date with news and my personal interests. Twitter allows me to connect with people all over the world and lets me be exposed to a lot of different opinions and experiences. I do not see myself using twitter as a teacher, but I might use it as a tool to reach more people if I was doing something related to activism or politics.

  21. I have had a personal twitter for a few years now and when reading initially that twitter is the main platform educators use to build their PLNs, I was somewhat skeptical of how that was effective. After watching the videos and seeing the methods that these educators used on Twitter gave me a better sense on how the platform could be used. I think that it really can be a great way to share little updates, class activities, research, and motivation with other educators around the globe.

  22. (3) The tutorials and videos on this page provided a ton of help as I created my new Twitter account. Feel free to follow me @KyleJRogers97. After consulting the above list of education thought leaders and organizations, I followed several, including Kasey Bell (@ShakeUpLearning). In my Instructional Technologies class, I am currently learning how to use Google Classroom, and Kasey’s tweets appear to offer lots of helpful tips on using Google’s education suite. I also followed @edutopia, @WeAreTeachers, and @TeachThought for their excellent posts on pedagogical theory, inspirational teachers, and ideas for learning activities.

  23. Task 2:
    my twitter handle: ogqueenlala

    I have had this account since 2013 and am well aware of the awes of Twitter. I definitely strongly disagree with “Twitter is a place that you can just lurk, by reading others’ tweets, or contribute, by sending out your own tweets. Obviously, the latter is what you work towards as the more you put in, the more you get out!” I think the more time spent on educator’s Twitter the more you learn, but I do not think the more Tweets you send out is beneficial in any way unless people are connecting to it.

  24. While I have used Twitter before, I mainly used it to look at memes or search pop culture news. So, I made a new account to have a more professional space to start building my PLN. My username is @tgschoolpsych . After creating a new account, I searched for a few new school psychologists to follow, as well as following the school psychology departments at prospective graduate schools and the official NASP Twitter.

  25. After browsing Twitter, I explored @WeAreTeachers page. After scrolling through their feed, they offered tips and lessons for different subjects. They share lasted news and suggestions that help teachers during the pandemic. One thing I found interesting about the page it doesn’t have one specific topic. They give us a variety of sources and news. For example, they give us a list of experiments the teacher may use in the classroom. They also share recent studies and needed information for teachers to have.

  26. I used to use twitter a lot when I was younger, to stay connected with my peers. I used it more for interacting and sending my friends memes. After watching the video on how twitter can effectively be used in education, I can see how easy of a tool twitter can be to keep educators informed and connected. It’s a great platform to share lessons and ideas on what to incorporate into classrooms. It’s also a great way to share articles or any research found. I plan to stay connected by seeing what other educators have to share about their experiences.

  27. After watching the video on Twitter I felt better informed on how to use it for a PLN. I have used it for years for fun but did not know how beneficial it can actually be. I think that Twitter has a really large demographic of younger people, which I think will make it easier for me to relate to other young educators and share things with them. I think Twitter can appear a little overwhelming at first so lurking would be beneficial to see how to get a hang of everything. Once I start finding pages that I like and would feel comfortable following, then I could start interacting with them and lurk less. I wish there was a better way to organize the information you find on Twitter. I feel like you could find something cool but lose it pretty fast if you don’t take a screenshot. I do like the hashtag aspect of it though and did not know Twitter logged the hashtags.

  28. I wanted to address the first prompt because it has to do with my last comment about the importance of creating a world-wide PLN. Twitter is a great vehicle for creating a network with educators from around the world, and that would be my biggest objective. I would utilize Twitter to follow teachers from all over the world, learning different forms of pedagogy depending on where they’re from. Furthermore, I think that Twitter, and social media in general, is a great place to “lurk”. It’s incredibly easy to follow someone on Twitter and read their thoughts and insights without having to provide any feedback. I think that following a bunch of different educators on Twitter would be great for a young teacher like myself, as I can constantly learn more and more about teaching as I scroll my timeline. If I’m curious about something that an educator tweeted about, I can stop “lurking” and respond to their tweet with a question. I think that this level of engagement is important in the learning process, and can be a great way to learn more about pedagogy and how to apply different forms to different circumstances.

  29. Twitter is an amazing way for people to connect with each other and share new ideas. This is also a great way to share new teaching strategies with others as you branch out and teach in more modern ways. These are just a few of the ways that Twitter can be so useful when building a PLN.

  30. Similar to how the video discussed different hashtags that bring you to conversations about specific topics and subjects, I think I would use Twitter to get ideas for lessons that are not the most fun lessons to teach. Throughout my education classes, every teacher always discusses the fact that you are not going to love every SOL that you have to teach and there will always be a few that you simply cannot think of a way to make it creative and fun for students to learn, and even for you to teach. I think Twitter could really help here because, in a place where there is talk about 6th-grade science, I could post my concern with my lesson and ask for feedback on how to make it better and more interactive and fun, and other educators could share what they do to teach that SOL or topic.

  31. The Getting Started with Twitter video was very helpful. There is great advice for how to make connections with others by choosing who to follow based on who people you already know are following. I will definitely get started with Twitter this way. I would do a little bit of lurking for a while as I just get a feel for the system as a whole. I will also try to glean what advice/resources/pages are already available that could help me. Then, at some point I would start posting questions on Twitter as needs arise in my classroom so that I can get some personalized feedback. I also did not know that there was a website that logs hashtags and what the hashtags are so that is very helpful as well. It can seem overwhelming to try to become familiar with using this new system so I think that all of the points that the video touched on gave a good outline of important information. It seems very easy to get connected with other on Twitter. I also like how organized the system is so if I find a useful comment or page, I would not be afraid that I might lose it somehow.

  32. After browsing Twitter, I found the page @funKindergarten. I followed this page because they offer so many free printable worksheets that are perfect for preschoolers and kindergarteners.

  33. I didn’t know you could use Twitter is all of these different ways! It was cool to see how you could connect with different people on this social media platform. I think Twitter is pretty easy to navigate, so I feel like once you learn how to properly work the platform, then you can easier become better at using the app and connecting with other educators through it!

  34. I’m so excited to use Twitter in this way! Tweets are honestly the fastest way to receive new information. I’ve never really used hashtags but I’m definitely going to start! It’s easy to navigate once you’ve figured out the site. Can’t wait to start this journey of creating a PNL!

  35. I think Twitter will be a great resource to help grow and build my PLN. Twitter seems to be more commonly used across the education world than other social media platforms. I think the way to search and being able to use the hashtags to find people to follow and ideas will be very useful. I just have to find people that are already using Twitter to see who they are following. My Twitter username is @JodiRKnight1. While searching for someone to follow, I found Kasey Bell @ShakeUpLearning. She had several posts about Google classroom and different tips and tricks. I just found this very interesting.
    Honestly, I am a little overwhelmed with using Twitter. I am not familiar with it and it seems a little difficult to maneuver. Once I found the person I was going to follow, it became a little easier to find things from her page.

  36. Embarrasing enough, I didn’t really know what are hashtags and what’s for till today… I appreciate that this course explains everything ( I mean Everything!) for real beginners like me.

  37. I’m fairly new to twitter, but I know that twitter has a wealth of informative information that will be beneficial to me. Follow me
    @KsuNoble

  38. I have enjoyed following several ITEC publishers, but find myself most comfortable in the ‘lurking’ stage at the moment. As my confidence grows, I hope to be an active participant in the conversation with contributions.

  39. Twitter has also been my “go-to” platform for “teacher” stuff. Twitter allows teachers the ease of posting about their classroom achievements and the efficiency of locating a nearly endless supply of resources and ideas. Twitter is also user-friendly enough that students can be in charge of the classroom Tweets. Your classroom can have a “Tweeter” of the day.

  40. @dhpeters4; updated who I was following with the suggestions above and am excited to see how my feed adapts.

    Also, specific to a PLN supportive of the work I am doing now, I have started to build one in Twitter focused in on wearable devices for measuring vagal tone (hrv) in classroom settings for exploring student self-regulation and wearable technologies ability to support in this area.

  41. After browsing twitter and browsing some of the suggest users it seemed like a whole new world that was actually designed for educators. I never thought to use Twitter in this way due to it always seeming like a space that is just packed with information. Though Twitter is very much a platform packed with information that is ever flowing, these suggestions gave me a lot of structure and tips to control the amount/ type of information that flowed towards me.

    One user I found that can be helpful or useful to some educators I stumbled across is
    Twitter handle: @JakeMillerTech
    He post a ton of free resources and has a newsletter to all his content help with things like:
    Google Classroom organizational ideas
    Tech tips
    Formative assessments tools in virtual learning
    sharing other’s educators post that are helpful for structure
    exit ticket ideas
    google sheets and so much more !

  42. With twitter I can definitely see it as being a great avenue for communication and the sharing of ideas when it comes to education! With twitter like other social media platforms, you’re not limited to any one region, you have access to anyone, anywhere and any ideas they provide!

  43. I just created my twitter account and followed the suggested users this blog offered as well as my college, and topics I am interested in and will be talking about a a teacher, such as national geographic. I didn’t spend too much time on my new twitter but I hope to set it up and personalize it more in the weeks to come. I am excited to see what information and tips ill receive from twitter.

  44. I have had a Twitter account before but I did not use it much. I decided to start fresh and create a new one that I could use for my P (professional as well as personal) Learning Network. I followed all the suggested accounts above and I am excited to start exploring!

    username: mspierce_class

  45. I was looking through the recommended educational thought leaders and found someone on Twitter who I was very intrigued to follow! Jennifer Gonzalez @cultofpedagogy. One of her tweets that caught my attention was “how to plan outstanding tech training for your teachers.” I am currently completing my practicum teacher prep experience virtually and have seen the importance of being technologically component, especially throughout virtual teaching due to the pandemic. I have heard a few of her podcast but never thought to follow her on Twitter. I will now be able to better keep up to date with all of her informative blogs/podcasts!

  46. Twitter can be a valuable resource to create a discussion or even follow different educators. Through sharing, tweeting and retweeting, content. It allows the user the opportunity to interact with people with differing views so that it avoids the echo chamber effect. There are many people and hashtags that are listed on the page that are valuable for a teacher’s use. Twitter is a site that I would rather lurk or go down a rabbit hole of resources and information versus being a member. 

  47. Although I didn’t create a twitter account, I did see how/why it would be a great platform to use for PLN. I think I decided against it because there is a lot of things on twitter that aren’t appropriate. Although the account isn’t for students and the age restrictions are both 13, I still feel that Instagram is more child-friendly. I still see how helpful it could be and may create one in the future.

  48. While I already know how to use twitter, I was not aware of the types of hashtags that are beneficial to creating a PLN, which “Using Twitter effectively in education – with Alec Couros” introduced me to. I believe I will use hashtags such as #edchat and #englchat to follow discussions on general education and english class pedagogy.

  49. Just created a Twitter account @TaranaTavangar. I’m excited to learn from this platform of diverse users!

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