Microblogging

Until this course, I have only used Twitter for social networking, or so I thought. As I scroll through my twitter feed on my personal account I notice that I follow friends, celebrities, news sources, and politics. I have realized that I use twitter not only for social networking and catching up with friends, but as a way to stay informed on what is going on in my area and the world. If I can use it to follow politics then why not use it to follow educational topics as well? Through my professional twitter account I have noticed the power twitter can hold in an educational setting.

The article, "Over25 Ways To Teach With Twitter" sheds light on the value of microblogging in the classroom. This article suggests 25 ways for teachers to use twitter a few include; asking for recommendations, writing a book list, sharing new studies, starting a twitter book club, and to posting requests for people to speak at your events. These ideas can go both ways, as a teacher you can write a book list and also view other educators book lists for idea. Twitter can connect you with educators from all over the world at all different steps in their educational path. This can make a diverse array of opinions available to you and enhance your educational knowledge.

The article, "Teaching With Twitter" also provides suggestions that are more geared toward students. One of the suggestions in this article is to post "twitter pals" where students find a penpal via twitter from another culture and share ideas with them. This can be very useful for ESL students to learn about American culture as well as practice utilizing the English Language. This can also help connect students with other students in their school to get to know them on a personal level and have interactions with them.

I think that microblogging can be very useful in an academic setting as long is it is utilize properly and safely. The internet is a big place, which can be a good thing or a bad thing.

I followed the #edtech chat on Monday September 30th from 8:00pm-9:00pm. I thought it was very interesting to be involved in a live chat. I am a very big twitter user and oftentimes I use my twitter to follow different hashtags or to communicate with other people who are at the same event as me (ex: concerts). I never thought of using twitter educationally. I created a separate account for my twitter for this course because my personal account is private. My account is private so my students can't follow me. I think twitter can be a great place for professional development but currently, as a college student, I use my twitter heavily for my personal life and I do not think it is appropriate to be mixing the two, I like to keep them separate. I feel much more comfortable that way. On my personal account I would like to add microbloggers to follow as well as other ESL/EDtech related twitter accounts. I also want to check in on some live chats, maybe to just view and not participate on my personal account. I think that the live chats keep educators current in the field. It made me feel like a part of the current education world which is important for an aspiring teacher.

Here is a link to my professional twitter account.