Building a PLN with Twitter
I am one of those educators who swore off social media. I didn't like my personal life blending with my professional life. I didn't like it when my former students attempted to add me as a friend. I wasn't fond of the parents of my students adding me as a friend either. The whole situation felt icky. To remove myself from all the weirdness, I deleted all of my social media accounts in my second or third year as a teacher. I felt a huge sense of relief after removing myself from social media, but... I also felt disconnected. Being disconnected can be a good thing, don't get me wrong, but by deleting all social media I was disconnecting myself from people that could help me grow in my career. I didn't want to lose all of those contacts and opportunities, but it was the right choice for me at the time.
Fast forward a decade later and social media has transformed from a place to share pics of your children and newest favorite frappucino to a place where educators come together and learn from one another. In one of my graduate school classes at the University of Montevallo, I was required to create a professional Twitter/X account. A professional social media account... what does that even mean? Can you actually use a social media account to learn and grow? This was a foreign thought to me, but I reluctantly gave it a chance. I am so glad that I did. In January, I began building my own Professional Learning Network. I began by searching on Twitter for people and ed tech tools that I already knew. I searched for authors of some of my favorite books and for companies that created my favorite educational apps and websites. Within a few weeks, I had a list of 40+ people and companies that I was following and interacting with. As Merrill, J., Merrill, K., and Miller, C. (2020) states in The Interactive Class, "If you want to become an interACTIVE teacher, you need to surround yourself with other interACTIVE teachers." And I do want to be an interactive teacher, so I began surrounding myself, on Twitter, with other engaging and interactive educators. I also started to post at least twice per week, as instructed by my professor, to put myself out there and interact with other people, and to build my PLN.
Another requirement for my class was to take part in a Twitter Chat. I had of course heard of Twitter, but I had never heard of a Twitter Chat. Since I am working toward my Ed. S. in Instructional Technology, I needed to choose a Twitter Chat that had to do with educational technology and/or leadership. Luckily, this is a very popular topic on Twitter and there are several weekly chats that I was able to join. This seemed a little weird at first, talking to people from all over the world about ed tech topics, but it quickly became normal. Reaching out and conversing in these discussions was eye-opening and a wonderful way to get to know other educators. Hearing from fellow leaders, educators, and ed tech enthusiasts was exactly what had been missing. In an article showing the benefits of Twitter chats, Taylor, M. P. (2023) shows that, "Twitter chats can form the foundation of a community-building process and therefore hold strategic value for amplifying key messages, mobilizing supporters, and facilitating engagement that can lead to offline engagement."
I may be late to the party, but now I know the value of having social media accounts. Twitter is the only account I have created so far, and I mainly use it to build my PLN. I have found that using Twitter is the easiest and most efficient way to build my PLN with people who are masters of their craft. Without Twitter, I would not be able to build relationships with and learn from some of the top minds in the education field. If you are an educator questioning whether you should dip your foot back into social media, I'd highly recommend starting with a professional Twitter account. Take your time, build your network, and keep yourself updated on the things that are most important to you.
Here are a couple social media infographics I have found helpful in my quest to get connected:
References:
Merrill, J., Merrill, K., & Miller, C. (2020). The interactive class: Using technology to make learning more relevant and engaging in the elementary class. ElevateBooksEdu.
Taylor, M. P. (2023). All Talk and No Action? A Comparative Analysis of Nonprofit Twitter Chats. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 35(1), 65–80. https://doi-org.ezproxy.montevallo.edu/10.1080/10495142.2021.1953668
Building a PLN using Twitter was new to me. However, using Twitter allows educators to share and support each other (Trust, et al., 2021). I have so enjoyed creating and building relationships with other colleagues from around the globe with similar interests. The networking opportunities from the Twitter chats were awesome to attend. Furthermore, just following the experts on Twitter keeps me updated on latest trends and news. PLN are the heart of digital leadership and they are an invaluable tool to learn from (Sheninger, 2019).
ReplyDeleteSheninger, E. (2019). Digital Leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Trust, Torrey and Sarah Prestridge. 2021. “The Interplay of Five Elements of Influence on Educators’ PLN actions.” Teaching and Teacher Education 97: 1-12. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X2031386X?via%3Dihub
Tomeka Jones
While I was still teaching in the classroom, I found Twitter a powerful tool in developing my PLN. I started using Twitter when I noticed that many of the presenters I would meet at the NCTM national conferences were sharing ideas through Twitter. Much like Sheninger (2019) described how teachers in Millville PSD used Twitter to find and share information that helped their classes, I used the information these leaders were sharing to enhance the instruction in my class. The added benefit of Twitter was that other teachers could share how they utilized and adapted certain activities to fit the needs of their students. This sharing and reflection helped me as I planned how I might use certain activities. Sadly, many of the people I followed in education have left Twitter for Mastadon after Musk took over.
ReplyDeleteCarpenter et al. (2022) describe how digital tools, such as Twitter, provide opportunities for educators to enhance their PLNs based on their evolving needs and preferences. Twitter also offers opportunities for engagement with a wide range of perspectives. This, of course, only works if teachers are critically engaged within the platform. I can also relate to this as I was more of an observer and consumer of what other shared on the platform when I originally joined Twitter. It was not until this graduate course at U of M that I started interacting more critically with the content being shared. I can tell I am getting more out of using Twitter now that I am engaging and reflecting more, especially with the Twitter chats.
References
Carpenter, J. P., Krutka, D. G., & Trust, T. (2022). Continuity and change in educators’ professional learning networks. Journal of Educational Change, 23(1), 85-113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-020-09411-1
Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times (2nd ed.). Corwin; International Center for Leadership in Education.