Social Media - Using Twitter

I've recently started using Twitter and have found that I'm really enjoying it! Previously, I have been sceptical about its value in education but I have changed my opinion somewhat over recent months. In my experience, educators use Twitter to share their ideas, and critique and comment on different issues; it happens quickly and this is what I like about it (it feels as if I am sitting around a table bouncing ideas off others). It's a good way to keep up-to-date with things that you're interested in - and also to learn about other people's opinions. For me, it enables me to reshape the way I think about things; sometimes my thoughts and opinions are reinforced and this feels good! The links that people post enable me to explore different avenues and perspectives in a way that I probably wouldn't have been able to before (the time it takes to search for things) - with Twitter, everything is there and it's almost like a menu of items that you can choose to ignore or engage with. Using Twitter in a classroom situation could create the same learning potential. Students could exchange ideas with others about things they were interested in or a topic you were teaching. Ater half term I am teaching a lesson on 'promoting learner independence'. After teaching the lesson, the students can continue to share ideas with each other via Twitter to deepend their learning. Alternatively, I could set them a pre-lesson task of finding out what other educators think about the subject and they can bring their ideas to the lesson. They can share interesting links they find with other. I think this approach could work effectively with some of the learners but I do think that some of them might just think "what's the point of this?" "it's time-consuming" "I can read about this on the internet". I really like teacher's toolkit! There are some great posts and links to further reading and clips. I don't think there are any real barriers to using Twitter apart from having the technical skills to set up an account. I think there are more issues relating to maximising its potential. For example, to make the best use of it, I think you need to find a 'voice' rather than just follow other people....by this I mean contribute your own thoughts and opinions. I think there is a danger of thinking "I haven't got anything interesting to say" but there's probably always going to be someone who thinks you do! Another issue is thinking that you have to read every tweet and follow every link; I think you need to accept that there isn't time for this and be selective about what you do decide to engage with. Overall, Twitter has been a revelation for me and I want to make more use of it in my classroom.