Ashley Cross: Twitter for Educators

Unknowingly, Christiana and I both participated in Ashley Cross' #globaled2013 presentation on how to use Twitter. I had always viewed it as a social networking for pre-teens to stay up to date on the latest celebrity gossip - after all, it's how I initially used it. Cross was quick to correct my thinking and shared that Twitter is NOT a social networking site for your vacation photos, an email or news platform. Instead, Twitter is a platform to communicate information in a concise manner and that for educators should be viewed as a collaboration network.

To collaborate appropriately, one first needs to become comfortable with hashtags. Those weird abbreviated words with the pound sign in front are vital resources for tracking down knowledge and making connections with other like-minded individuals. Twitter allows users to follow each other but unfortunately is not enabled to follow specific hastags, which is where sites like TweetDeck come into play. This app allows the user to follow any hashtag, like #elmchat or #edtech.

Cross also positively warns that Twitter should be used every day for at least 10-15 minutes because connections happen quickly. We should be encouraged to take advantage of the global network it provides and utilize its many resources.

Check out Cross' audio recording of the presentation here.

For other #globaled2013 see the links below.
The Global Classroom Project Blog
Global Ed Con News Site

I also found this enlightening infographic from Edudemic. Cross' should probably add this to her next presentation!