Twitter

Twitter is a powerful tool for educators. Twitter is a powerful tool for students. Twitter is real-time learning.



Twitter is a communication tool that allows participants to provide updates in 140 characters or less. 10,000s of educators from across the world use Twitter. Every week discussions occur in real-time on a variety of topics. Users follow the discussions using hashtags. A hashtag is identified by the "#" sign.

There are numerous hashtags that may interest you. Here are just a few:
 * 1) edchat - A weekly discussion (2x on Tuesday) on a participant chosen topic
 * 2) edtech - A hashtag used by educational technology enthusiasts
 * 3) EduIT - A hashtag for Educational IT specialists
 * 4) BlackEd - A weekly conversation about serving the underrepresented and overcoming the opportunity gap
 * 5) newlit - A hashtag used by educators discussing issues in new literacies

**You can follow this conference using #CITC11.**
Activity: 1. Create a Twitter Account. 2. Choose an #edchat [|transcript] to quickly read. 3. Send a tweet using the #CITC11 describing the professional development you see during #edchat.



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A professional learning network (PLN) is a group of educators spread across the globe. Twitter is a great way to build your PLN.

There are many ways to build your PLN.
 * 1) Follow a conference. You cannot attend. Many people include links to their session materials. There is always a classroom discussion going on. For example follow #ISTE10.
 * 2) Follow other educators. Spend 20% of your time describing your work. Spend 80% of time sharing work of others.
 * 3) Retweet posts from the blogs you read.
 * 4) Have Fun.



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There are many benefits to using social media such as Twitter in the classroom: 1. Increase student engagement. 2. Create an easy to assess digital archive. 3. Model what good readers/writers do. 4. Prepare students for 21st century collaborative communication.



[|TweetDeck] - A program that helps you aggregate tweets. It makes Twitter more effective and easier to use [|Educatonal HashTags] - A list of weekly Twitter chats for educators [|Educators PLN] - A Ning social network for educators around the world. Includes an #edchat group [|25 Ways to Use Twitter in School] - A Great list full of activities [|Defining #edchat] - An article on TEFL.net intervieng an #edchat founder [|Twitter and Engagement] - A great post on mashable [|10 Useful Resources] - A great post from Jayne Knight [|Top Twitter Tools for Educators]
 * Interesting Links**

[|Twitter Resources] [|Twitter in the classroom]
 * Tutorials**