Twitter For Education: Is It Worth Your Time?

-
I started Twitter back in 2015 because my boss told me I needed to join a Twitter chat. Shortly after, I stopped using Twitter because I had so many things on my plate. I was at a new school, the state standards for science just changed, I needed to get to know my students, I needed to get to know my colleagues, and I needed to develop my curriculum. Needless to say, I had a lot going on, and I didn't need Twitter on my plate. Although this was the case 5 years ago, I have recently started using Twitter again, and I love it now. Through using Twitter, I have found some awesome resources and ideas for my class. Twitter offers a world of great ideas if you have the time to find information that is useful for you. So... Is it worth the time? Yes and No. Twitter can be a great tool for you to use to find resources and ideas, but you need to make sure to follow the right people. You will want to choose people that post quality material, such as @melshep34, @MrsParkShine, @GTeacherPodcase, @Catlin_Tucker, @GoogleForEdu and @teacher2teacher. When you find someone you may want to follow, look over their Twitter feed and see if they post personal things, or if they strictly post educational resources. If they post personal things, ask yourself, "Do I have the time to scroll through the personal material?" If yes, you can learn a lot about someone and build connections. If no, skip over them and go to someone else. This will save you time in the long run. Next, look at the description for the person. Does their description match what you are looking for regarding resources? For example, if you are looking for science ideas that can be used in the classroom, you may want to pass on the person who is an English teacher, and provides resources for only English teachers. When searching Twitter, it is necessary to find people that will post material that is relevant to you.
Next, you can search for topics and people that fit what you are looking for. You can search different hashtags then you can go through the "Top" and/or "Latest" posts. Also, you can look at the "People" that fit the search description. This is a great way to start finding people to follow.
Finally, as you dive into the world of Twitter, you will find a variety of chats that occur. Typically, these chats have a set day and time where a variety of people are on Twitter at the same time talking about a specific topic. For example, I am a science teacher, so I follow #NGSSChat. On Thursdays at 7 PM, they give multiple questions for people to answer. As you participate in the chat, you meet people who have some great ideas, and you share some great ideas that you have.

Overall, Twitter is a great source to use for education, but you need to make sure you are finding quality people to follow, so you can save time and gain a wide range of resources and ideas.

Reference

(n.d.). In Twitter. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/home

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Science Resources

-
Image
  Finding helpful tools for teaching a science course online can be difficult. Here you will find NGSS resources, virtual simulations and additional resources for your science course. To view the resource, click on the links below. NGSS Resources Bozeman Science : This website shares some great resources, such as graphic organizers made for NGSS. NGSS Website:  This link will take you to the NGSS official website. NSTA Website:  This website can be used to clarify your understanding of NGSS. Phenomena for NGSS:  This website has several different phenomena that you can use in your course to start the learning process for your students. Physical Science : This link goes through the physical science lessons that you could use in your classroom. Project Phenomena:  This website gives different phenomena that you can use in your class. Also, they give resources that can be used for the phenomena. The Phenomenon Master List:  This list gives phenomenon for every...
Read more

Virtual Teaching: Interactive Whiteboard

-
Image
Interacting with your students in a virtual class can be difficult if you do not have the right tools. In fact, this is a common complaint I see among teachers. For example, Zoom is a great resource to meet with students, but you can only share a screen, use the polling tool, and use the chat. The Zoom resources are meant for webinars not teaching a class. Also, there are resources, such as Blackboard Collaborate, which allow you to use whiteboard tools, polling tools, chat, app sharing, etc..., but great options like this cost money. What do you do when you want to interact with your students for free? Also, how do you interact with your students using platforms, such as Zoom? One option that you could use is  https://www.whiteboard.chat/ . In this platform, you have access to the following: Polling Tools: You can ask students practice questions. This allows you quickly check how students are doing with the material. Do you need to spend more time on a certain topic before moving ...
Read more

Vocaroo: Educational Podcasting

-
Image
What Can  Vocaroo  Be Used For?   Vocaroo ( https://vocaroo.com/ ) is a tool that can be used to create podcasts. To begin, a podcast is a digital audio file that can be sent to your audience. So, why do you want to consider using podcasting for instruction? To begin, you are very busy. Imagine if you can reduce the number of emails you need to send, or imagine if you can reduce the number of times you need to repeat instructions. A podcast can be used to give instructions about an assignment, or a process that you want the learners to know about. All you need to do is copy the link into your learning management system, or in the chat box of your virtual classroom. Your learners will have the instructions at their fingertips that they can pause, rewind and replay as needed. This frees you up to focus on areas of your instruction that can really help students, such as teaching a student how to do something. Next, you can use podcasting to send announcements to yo...
Read more