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IF YOUR experience of Twitter amounts

to little more than watching the

tweets run across the bottom of your

screen during a television program,

you may perceive Twitter as a trivial

waste of time. However, Twitter can

be an incredibly powerful professional

learning tool that provides tailored

information at the time you need it. It is

used by thousands of educators around

the world to exchange information and

ideas and plays an important role in

their professional learning.

Professional learningnetworks

Professional learning networks (PLNs)

have been variously described as:

A collection of people and resources

that guide learning, point one to

learning opportunities, answer

questions, and give one the benefit

of their knowledge and experience

(Nielsen 2008)

A system of interpersonal connections

and resources that support informal

learning (Trust 2012)

A technology-supported community

of people who help each other

better understand certain events and

concepts in work or life (Koper 2009).

Engaging in a conversation

Exchanges with educators beyond their

immediate group were noted as an

important contributor to professional

learning, with the global nature ofthe connections being valuable. Some

educators reported that they regularly

search Twitter for other educators

with whom to exchange ideas and

collaborate, and once these connections

have been made, the group of educators

involved may move to another online

platform in which they collaborate.

Others keep the conversation on Twitter

and find that the 140-character limit

results in concise discussions.

These conversations are particularly

important for educators who are

geographically remote and who may feel

disconnected. Twitter allows them to be

part of a larger community.

Using hashtags

A common convention on Twitter is to

post on topics of relevance to a particular

group of educators by using a specific

hashtag, for example #tesol or #principal.This then becomes a collection of ideas

and resources that can be accessed by

searching for the specified hashtag.

Hashtags are often used to organise

synchronous chats, often referred to

as meetups, where educators come

together at a pre-determined time to

discuss a pre-determined topic by posting

with a pre-defined hashtag included

in their tweet, for example #edchat.

Another common use for hashtags on

Twitter is when people tweet the ideas

being presented at conferences. This is a

two-fold activity as it acts as a summary

of important points for the person

tweeting, and shares ideas and resources

with educators who were unable to

attend the conference. Most conferences

now have an official hashtag to be used

in this way.

Asking for a resource

Educators find the immediacy of

Twitter ideal for just in time answers

as there is always somebody awake

Building a PLN requires that

you not only seek to learn from

others, but also that you help

others in the network to learn.

In recent years, enabled by digital

technologies and social media toolssuch as Twitter, educators have

started building their own PLNs to

cater for their individual professional

development needs, linking with peers

and experts from around the world.

With its 140-character limit, Twitter

has proved an ideal way for educators

to quickly exchange information and

ideas.

How educators are usingTwitter

The tables set out some findings from

my recent research on how educators

use Twitter as part of their PLN and

the value that they place on Twitter

as a professional learning tool. The

study included teachers, teacher

educators, Principals, university

lecturers and technology support

officers from around the world.

Three activities were noted as

particularly useful in contributing

to professional learning:

TWITTER AS A

PROFESSIONAL

LEARNING TOOLCarol Skyring researches and consults on the use of digital

technologies in education. Here she shares some of the findings from

her doctoral research on how educators are using Twitter, and why.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING CAROL SKYRING

7/27/2019 Twitter as a Professional Learning Tool

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52 INDEPENDENCE VOL 38 NO 2 OCTOBER 2013

in their global network and available

to answer their questions. Whether

they are seeking a teaching resource

or something for their own learning,

Twitter has become a search tool for

educators. Instead of sorting through

a million Google responses, educators

merely ask their trusted PLN for

recommendations to quickly compose a

list of qualified resources.

Challenges

A major challenge in the use of Twitter

is managing information. In order to

make the most of the resources that

are shared, you need an efficient way

of saving them for later use. The most

common and successful way of doing

this is to use a web-based bookmarking

tool like Diigo or Delicious, allied with

a good system of tagging so that it is

easy to retrieve information at a later

date. This can be done on a school-wide

basis, so that all teachers have access to

the many resources collected.

A second challenge is managing

time spent tweeting. Most educatorsfind the constant stream of great

ideas and resources coming at

them through Twitter somewhat

irresistible. It takes some effort to

develop a system of spending only

a limited time per day feeding your

professional learning with tweets.

School support

For those educators regularly using

Twitter, it is a highly valued tool; manyfind that they learn more via Twitter

than any other means. There is every

reason for schools to support their

teachers use of Twitter for professional

learning; however some care is

warranted. Obviously there would need

to be policies around social media use

during work time but, most important,

teachers will need direct support if they

are new to Twitter.

With the limit of 140 characters per postand a seemingly limitless network of

users tweeting by the second, Twitter

can be a difficult tool for new members

to navigate and operate effectively.

Participation in Twitter also requires

a knowledge and understanding of

conventions, and building a network

can be daunting for newcomers.

Twitter offers schools a stream of

professional learning for staff that is

free, available 24/7 and which can

be personalised to specific needs.

It represents tremendous value to

schools. To ensure its effectiveness

as a professional learning tool,

I recommend that teachers are

supported into Twitter and introduced

to networks of educators.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

TOP 10 PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES OF EDUCATORS ON TWITTER

1 Sharing or on-sharing (re-tweeting) a resource eg website, book, video

2 Following a link tweeted by someone in their network

3 Reading activity updates of others in their network

4 Saving a resource tweeted by someone in their network

5 Acting on something they have read in a tweet

6 Engaging in a conversation with someone in their network

7 Going back to a saved resource tweeted by someone in their network

8 Using hashtags (#) to share information on a specific topic or froma conference, workshop or seminar

9 Searching for content

10 Asking for a resource on a specific topic

Carol Skyring has just completed her

doctoral research on the use of Twitter as

a professional learning tool. To explore

Carols technology in education resources

and blog, visit www.learntel.com.au or

follow her on Twitter @carolskyring.

REFERENCES

Koper, R. (2009)Learning network

services for professional development.

Dordrecht, Germany: Springer.

Nielsen, L. (2008) Developing mentors

from your personal learning network. The

Innovative Educator. Retrieved from http://

theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2008/05/

developing-mentors-from-your-personal.html.

Trust, T. (2012) Professional learning networks

designed for teacher learning.Australian

Educational Computing, 27(1), 34-38.

TOP 10 REASONS EDUCATORS USE TWITTER FOR PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

1 To access timely information

2 To make diverse and global connections

3 To access valuable resources, advice and support

4 To access key learnings from conferences, workshops or seminarswithout having to attend

5 To engage in conversations and discussions

6 To access experts

7 To keep up with current trends

8 To extend professional networks beyond their local area

9 Reciprocity

10 Learning