Twitter as a learning tool for teachers

This article shows how Twitter can be a valuable tool in helping teachers build their professional learning networks.

By Bill Ferriter

Learn more

• Tweeting 101: A Twitter cheat sheet From WebWorkerDaily, a simple explanation of how to make the most of your Twitter experience, including how to make your tweets "retweetable" and how to use hashtags.

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• Building and maintaining an online professional learning community: Many schools have moved away from one-time workshops and toward the more sustained approach of professional learning communities. But finding the time for all PLC members to collaborate can be difficult. This article offers suggestions for using online tools to make PLCs run more smoothly and effectively.
• Real-world learning in a virtual environment: Want to try project-based learning to get your students involved in real-world issues? A former North Carolina Technology & Learning Teacher of the Year talks about how she worked with the North Carolina Zoo to get students excited about learning.
• Asynchronous conversation matters: Part I: Tap into your students' ease for using digital communities by structuring meaningful online conversations using free tools for asynchronous discussion that center around classroom learning.

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• Learn more about Twitter, communication, continuous improvement, professional learning communities, and technology integration.

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Few tools have changed the nature of learning — or left teachers more baffled — than Twitter. Part of a group of services officially known as microblogs, Twitter makes two simple tasks possible: 1) Users can post short, 140-character messages — known as tweets — to the Web. 2) Users can automatically follow the messages being posted by others.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “How can anyone share anything valuable for the ongoing professional development of teachers in 140 characters or less? Isn’t that even shorter than text messages and complete sentences?” And if you’ve seen any mass media coverage of Twitter, you’re likely to be even more skeptical, knowing little more than which celebrities — Kirstie Alley, Larry Johnson, John Mayer, Oprah, Ellen, Shaquille O’Neil — are using Twitter to connect with viewers, insult their bosses, mock their ex-girlfriends, or make racial slurs.

With a bit of digital dabbling, however, you are likely to find that the simple, quick nature of the communication that happens in Twitter makes it the perfect tool for building networks of peers engaged in anytime, anyplace communication. To get a better sense for what this “conversation” looks like in action, take some time to explore this Twitterstream, organized by Liz Davis to track messages posted by teachers interested in educational technology.

What you’ll notice first is a list of short posts preceded by an image and a boldfaced blue name or pseudonym. The image and boldfaced blue name indicates the user who added each message to Twitter — either by logging on to the Internet or by using an application on their cell phone. If you skim carefully, you’ll realize that the range of contributions to this Twitterstream is incredibly diverse. Members are posting links to new resources, asking and answering questions, making observations, drawing conclusions, and sharing exciting news as it happens.

Sometimes the content they’re sharing is playful — an important step towards building community and lending personality to impersonal digital forums — but generally, the messages are professional and designed to point other users to interesting resources related to educational technology. The list of messages automatically updates itself each time that a member adds a new tweet, but the messages being shared are not a part of one seamless, ongoing conversation. In fact, many of the contributors to this Twitterstream don’t even seem to be aware of the messages being shared by others. While that can be distracting to novice Twitter users, it is not uncommon by any means.

You’ll also notice three symbols being used over and over again: RT, @ and #. Messages that begin with RT are known as “retweets.” They are posts made by users that were considered important enough to be shared again by someone else. They might include links to really valuable websites, particularly provocative questions, or ideas that resonate. Retweeting a message — a one-click process in Twitter — allows users to quickly spread the ideas of their peers.

Messages that begin with the @ symbol are called replies. Whenever a Twitter user wants to respond or give credit directly to a peer, they begin their message with @twitterusername. For example, if I wanted to interact with Dean Shareski — one of my favorite instructional technologists — my message would start with @shareski, Dean’s Twitter username. While my message would be public and could be seen by anyone following my Twitterstream, it would also be easily found by Dean. His replies to me would start with @plugusin, my Twitter username.

# is the final symbol that you’ll find frequently in Twitter messages. # symbols are known as “hashtags,” and they make it possible for Twitter posts to be easily categorized and searched. For example, if I wanted every message that could be valuable to the other teachers on my professional learning team at Salem Middle School to be found easily, I could add #salemmiddle to the end of each message. Then, my peers could search Twitter and get an instant list of any message that included the #salemmiddle hashtag. While most tweets won’t include a hashtag because they count against your 140 character quota, they can facilitate the targeted use of Twitter by small groups studying specific topics.

Tips for getting started with Twitter

Once you become comfortable with the unique nature of Twitter conversations — a process that can take anywhere from one to three months — you’ll find that Twitter can be an amazing source of information that improves who you are as a teacher and a learner. Capitalizing on the idea of collective intelligence — that groups can sort through and identify valuable ideas more efficiently than individuals — Twitter makes it possible to look inside the minds of hundreds of motivated educators.

Becoming comfortable with the unique nature of Twitter conversations, however, requires that you follow a few basic steps. They include:

Join Twitter with colleagues you know in real life.

Twitter is a pretty remarkable tool because it allows you to easily follow the thoughts of teachers from around the world, whether you know them or not! Some of my favorite Twitter users are people I’ve never met because they live in locations that I’ll never be able to visit. We’re connected electronically, though — and we learn from each other every day.

The tricky part of following the thoughts of teachers you’ll never meet is that your participation in Twitter may feel impersonal or cold. The friendly banter that you share with the teachers on your hallway is important for building relationships, but it’s difficult to pull off with people that you don’t really know. What’s more, people that you share strong relationships with are more likely to offer you just-in-time help when you need it because they know and care about you.

That’s why it is always best for novice users to sign up for Twitter with groups of people that they know in real life. Seeing friendly faces in your Twitterstream can be encouraging, giving your digital forum personality. When you have a question to ask or are looking for a resource, you’ll know that someone in your Twitter network cares enough about you to answer. You’ll also be able to share your own Twitter tips and tricks with one another. Like any new skill, learning from Twitter — a tool that is unlike anything that most teachers have experienced — is far less intimidating when you’ve got peers to rely on.

Find like-minded peers to follow in Twitter.

The key to finding value in Twitterstreams is to carefully decide whose messages you are going to follow. Choosing digital peers who share the same interests — subject areas, grade levels, hobbies, after-school activities, career paths — increases the chances that the time you spend poking through tweets will result in resources and/or ideas that can improve your teaching and learning. The Twitter users that I follow tend to fall into four main categories — middle school teachers, teachers interested in technology, social studies teachers, educators interested in school leadership — simply because those are my professional passions.

To find Twitter users that share your interests, visit warehouses like the Twitter for Teachers wiki where extensive lists of usernames sorted by grade level and content area can be found. You can also poke through the education lists available on the Twibes website or through the lists of people that your peers have chosen to follow. Whatever source that you use to track down likeminded peers, be methodical. Good choices now equal successful interactions and experiences later.

Unfollow peers whose contributions are unproductive.

No matter how careful you are when selecting Twitter users to follow, you’re going to make a few bad choices! You’ll inevitably pick one or two people who post way too many pointless personal messages — “I’m having tacos for dinner!” “Living La Vida Loca, baby. Wish you were here!” — or messages with language that you find offensive. You might also end up following people who share resources that you think are outdated or inappropriate for the grade level and subject areas that you’re teaching.

Unfollow these kinds of people — a process described in this help post from the Twitter website — fast! While it may seem rude to “stop listening” to someone after you’ve added them to your collection of Twitter friends, never forget that Twitter is a tool for learning. Unproductive messages in your Twitterstream will do nothing more than distract you from the kinds of resources and ideas that can make you a better teacher.

Never attempt to read and/or respond to every message in Twitter.

Many novice Twitter users assume — based on the nature of polite conversations — that they have to read and/or respond to every message posted by the Twitter users that they are following. To overlook a message, they think, is to ignore the messenger — and ignoring a messenger is rude. While this approach to conversations may be important in face-to-face situations, it can become completely overwhelming when you’re electronically following hundreds of teachers.

Managing your participation in Twitter starts and ends with being realistic about how many messages you can consume during the course of an average day. Instead of trying to read everything in your Twitterstream, set aside two times a day when you can stop by — before school, in between classes, just before heading home — and skim the most recent contributions by your peers. Click on a few links, read a few articles, share a few thoughts and then sign off without feeling guilty!

Use applications to quickly sort through Twitter content.

As your comfort level with Twitter grows, you are sure to find yourself following the messages posted by more people, interested in organizing the ideas in your Twitterstream more methodically, and wanting to participate more frequently. Fortunately, because of Twitter’s popularity, there are literally hundreds of companies who are developing applications that make Twitter users more efficient.

For me, TweetDeck is the single most important tool in my Twitter kit. It is a desktop application that allows me to easily create groups of Twitter users — middle school teachers, social studies teachers, principals, science teachers, language arts teachers — and to follow all of their updates separately. Using TweetDeck this way allows me to quickly sort messages into the broad categories that I’m interested in. TweetDeck also allows me to search Twitter easily — by hashtag or term — so if I want to learn more about poverty or Bolivia, TweetDeck will automatically find tweets using those terms for me.

I’m also a big fan of an application called Open Break — a tool that allows me to post, read, and respond to Twitter messages through my cell phone. Using Open Break has allowed me to stay connected to my Twitter network from anywhere. Whether I’m stuck at a red light, sitting in an airport, or waiting for my daughter to be done with dance class, I can learn from my peers. It’s a beautiful thing!

Finding Twitter applications that are right for you is simple. Consider poking through the collection being organized at sites like Twitdom. Also, once you’ve built a network of peers in Twitter, ask them what applications they just couldn’t live without!

Using Twitter may be a brave new step for you because it facilitates a quick, impersonal conversation style that we’re naturally uncomfortable with. Building a network of co-learners through Twitter, though, guarantees that your own professional learning will be focused on the topics that you find the most motivating. In the end, that individualization is worth taking a few risks to learn how to use a new tool, isn’t it?