{"id":69,"date":"2016-09-21T18:47:28","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T18:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/techtools\/?p=69"},"modified":"2017-02-11T17:45:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-11T17:45:01","slug":"twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/techtools\/twitter\/","title":{"rendered":"Twitter for your Personal Learning Network"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Twitter<\/p>\n

We have asked you to create a personal learning network (PLN) based in Twitter<\/a>. Many of you probably already have an account on Twitter that you use\u00a0for personal reasons. \u00a0To begin building your PLN, we suggest that you create a new account with a professional profile that better showcases\u00a0your learning interests and segregates your professional persona from your personal life.<\/p>\n

If you have never used Twitter or need to create another account, please go to Twitter.com<\/a>\u00a0and click the Sign Up button.<\/p>\n

\"Twitter<\/p>\n

Below\u00a0is the Twitter Sign up. Use your MHC email rather than your phone number. This will identify you as an educational user. Please think carefully about the personal information you are willing to provide to Twitter, e.g your phone number. Much of the personal information they request is not required to create an account and may be more than you are comfortable sharing.<\/p>\n

\"Signup\"<\/p>\n

Once you have created an account, build\u00a0your profile to emphasize\u00a0your interests in teaching and learning. This will also help identify you as a member of the educational community on Twitter and help you get followers.\u00a0\"Twitter<\/p>\n

Welcome to Twitter!<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a typical twitter home page. This is where tweets from\u00a0those you are following will appear. If you want to see your own tweets, click on your profile in the drop down menu under your icon in the upper left corner.\u00a0\"twitter-home\"<\/p>\n

On Twitter, topics are categorized with Hashtags using the # symbol to designate a topic. Our class has its own hashtag (#mhced250 <\/strong> for Spring 2017 Edust-250LT). If you search for that hashtag, you will find that there are already a group of tweets directed to our class. There is a great blog post which lists and categorizes hashtags for educators on the teachthought<\/strong> blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To build your PLN, you will first want to\u00a0search\u00a0these hashtags to\u00a0find educators and watch some of their tweeting. \u00a0After you have identified some interesting educators, follow about 5 to 8\u00a0people who tweet regularly. You may also want to also follow some people in education that\u00a0you know and admire.<\/p>\n

Since tweets are currently restricted to 140 characters, tweeting is a great exercise in improving your writing. You will have to create succinct messages\u00a0that clearly deliver your meaning.<\/p>\n

Once you have become comfortable with the educational community on Twitter, you can start liking and retweeting some of the tweets you find particularly useful.\u00a0You can build\u00a0your own tweets by tweeting links and commentary from your readings and mail lists. Please remember to use our hashtag to share your\u00a0tweets and retweets\u00a0with the class.<\/p>\n

Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n