7-2 Twitter as a Professional Learning Network
Have you ever participated in a Twitter chat? Used Twitter to follow trending topics? The use of Twitter in education is growing by leaps and bounds by teachers to stay connected with other professionals in the field. Many teachers are using Twitter to follow other educators whose experience they can use to get ideas for lessons. Twitter can be used as a professional learning network for both novice and experienced teachers to share ideas, successes, and failures. There are Twitter chats available to join that are facilitated by other educators that are facing the same issues and can offer encouragement. But is this professional learning network worth your time? Let’s look at the pros and cons of using Twitter as a Professional Learning Network.
Pros of Using Twitter as a Professional Learning Network
- Brainstorming: Twitter is a place to find ideas and inspiration to aid you in the classroom. You can learn and share stories about your success in the classroom.
- Connection: Twitter allows you to connect with educators across the globe. You can set up a #MysterySkype chat with another school to collaborate with others.
- Fast Connection: Networking is fast. Responses to questions can be answered quickly and efficiently.
- Self-Directed: You can search for information that you want to know to stay informed about current trends.
- Self-Reflection: Twitter can help in self-reflection and guide you to find ways to improve your teaching practice.
Cons of Using Twitter as a Professional Learning Network
- Time-consuming: Social media is addicting and is very time consuming. You can waste a lot of time searching and managing your account.
- Fake News: Tweets can be very opinioned and readers need to realize that not all posts are based on factual information.
- Safety concern: User privacy and online safety is a concern when using social media. Users need to be aware that their privacy could be exposed by using Twitter.
- Response Limit: Twitter has a limit to the amount of characters that you can type in a response. With the limited amount of characters, messages may not be properly conveyed.
- Post Frequency-Posting infrequently can result in your audience not seeing your posts compared to other tweets. Posting frequently can jam up feeds making you lose followers.
So, is Twitter a good Professional Learning Network for educators? That’s a decision you will have to make on your own after examining the pros and cons of using Twitter. If you are thinking about using Twitter either for yourself or in your classroom you may want to read The Twitter Guide for Teachers by Christopher Pappas to see if this tool will work for you.
4 thoughts on “7-2 Twitter as a Professional Learning Network”
This is a very fair and balanced take on Twitter for teachers, KH. You mentioned a couple ideas that I really like, such as using Twitter to connect with others afar for purposes like a mystery Skype activity. Your cons are very well-considered, too, such as safety concerns. On the other hand, I like the response-length-limit and wish Twitter has preserved the original 140 character limit. I don’t Tweet enough to be relevant in the edu-twitter-sphere, but in light of your pros-and-cons, I’ll keep at it!
Hi, Kristy! I had never considered the challenge that is post frequency on Twitter. There is a definite balance that needs to occur between posting too much and posting too little — both of those can result in a loss of followers and lost networking opportunities. You actually reminded me that it’s probably time to post a little more from my school account. :O Thank you!
Kristy –
Thank you for the link! It may be very helpful for someone who is considering using Twitter for their classroom.
Chris
Most people understand that Twitter is a great way to help people from all walks get and stay connected. I am glad you included the speed of the connection to be a major contributing factor to its use in networking. Most people almost always have their phones within reach and notifications turned on. This allows for real time communication between users.
The inclusion of biased opinions instead of all research supported fact makes Twitter a potentially dangerous place as well. No matter what side of the aisle you sit, misinformation is real and it is harmful. This needs to be taken into consideration when looking to Twitter for news and information.
Great post to compare the strengths and weaknesses of an extremely popular networking site.