Tweeting for Teachers

     Recently, I read two interesting articles about Twitter in the classroom. One deals with nine great reasons why teachers should tweet (an article by Laura Walker a director of E-learning in the UK), and the other offers tips and advice for using twitter to teach modern foreign languages (brought to you by Joe Dale, a passionate language teacher).

      In the first article, Walker pretty much states that twitter is a great tool especially with those who do not have time, comparing educational systems globally, self reflection, idea workshopping, news updates, professional developing, info searching, communication and staying up to date. Joe Dale gives a run down on how to use twitter and how it is good for professional development. He provides nice videos to help with the tweeting process.

     These articles provided a good insight on how I could use microblogging for my own professional development. Twitter is great for accessing a wealth of resources instantly. Ideas, opinions and links can all by found from global professionals with a single click. It is also great for sharing ideas and talking about techniques to improve your teaching daily. What's great about twitter is that you can receive constant feedback from anyone around the world, within seconds if needed. Twitter is also a great way to stay current with news, healthy debating and just communication in general. It is easy to search for topics or people that might interest you in your field. This is good for professional development because you an contact those who can give you good advice or search for information that will improve your educational and teaching mindset.

     Overall, if you like to stay up to date and enjoy technology, I highly recommend microblogging or twitter to help you in professional development. It is a great way to stay connected to a network of great minds, countless amounts of information and topics about almost anything.

A learner is like......

     While reading an article on connectivism and watching a video on the impact of social software on learning, I wasn't quite sure how to describe a learner. So, I took a break and watched some TV. My favorite movie so happened to be on- Forrest Gump. The line "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get" immediately grabbed my attention. This is when I thought, "You know? A learner today is like a box of chocolates, because you never know what you are going to get from a learner."
     Learners today have so many options, resources and ways of obtaining knowledge. With those resources, comes a vast amount of opinions and thoughts. As a teacher, you truly never know what you are going to get from a learner. They can be misinformed one day, then come in the next and know everything about a topic. The article on connectivism stated that, "learning rests in the diversity of opinions, its a process of connecting information sources, and it may reside on non human sources." Connectivism also focuses on currency and up to date information. I believe this coincides with what learners are like today. They obtain info in a manner very differently then back in the "old days". Back in the day, there was really only one way to obtain information and that was through books. Now, you never know what you are going to get from a learner because through technology, there are so many ways of obtaining information. Through computers, internet, networking- there are a plethora of ways to obtain information.
     A great example from the youtube video was when he stated that "a programmer does not live in isolation, he needs to connect with other programmers so he/she can stay current". The video also describes blogs and social networking as a positive impact on learning. Learners use social networking sites these days almost everyday. They are constantly sharing knowledge with each other and all over the world to stay current on info. You truly never know where a learner gets their information these days whether it be from a website, book or social networking. Learners are unpredictable in their ways of obtaining information and sharing information. They have so many options in doing it these days.
     So when I say a learner is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get from them, internally and externally it is shown daily. From a teacher standpoint, a learner can surprise you with information at any given time. From a student standpoint, you can obtain all the world's knowledge with the touch of a button. Its just up to you to do it; therefore, you never know what you are going to get.