Journal 2: Twitter. “Join the Flock! & Enhance Your Twitter Experience” NETS-T 1, 2

Ferguson, H. (2010). Join the flock. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from http://iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2010.aspx

Miller, S.M. (2010). Enhance your twitter experience. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(8). Retrieved from http://iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2010.aspx

SUMMARY:

Both articles emphasize the importance of being dedicated in building and enhancing your Professional Learning Network (PLN). One of the greatest tools in developing your PLN is Twitter. Twitter is social messaging tool where you can share your thoughts, ideas using up to 140 characters. It’s a great place to learn, keep people informed and communicate a message quickly. Also, both articles talked about hash tags. Basically you have a topic, put a # after topic and label it. This will give more exposure to your tweets and allows you to search all your tweets containing that hash tag. This is also great way in organizing your tweets. You can meet people with the same interest by looking at their hash tags. Overall, Twitter is a great educational tool. It helps people to come together by communication and collaboration. It’s a great place to get fresh ideas, look for inspiration and learn more information on a particular topic or issue.

QUESTION 1: How can person who is not that social or shy benefit from Twitter?

ANSWER: One great thing about Twitter is that you can follow people without talking to them in person. So even if you’re a shy person you can use Twitter to communicate with others without having that awkward or embarrassed feeling. You can keep reading other peoples’ tweets and keep following them for as long as you like. You decide when your ready to communicate or share ideas back. Also, the article mentioned that if you decide to tweet back, you could only use up to 140 characters. This is great because you are less likely to make a fool of yourself. And if you do, who cares, they are complete strangers.

QUESTION 2: How can an educator utilize Twitter in their classroom?

ANSWER: Now days, most children have cell phones, their own laptops and all the latest technology gadgets. In addition, most of them belong to a social network. So I thing Twitter will be such a great and fun tool for educators to relay important messages like homework assignments or what to bring for next class to their students. Likewise, students can ask questions to their teachers after school hours if they needed help with something. I think both educators and students will enjoy this type of communication.