7-2: Twitter as a Professional Learning Network

Professional Learning Networks are communities of individuals with similar professional goals that work together to challenge one another, share ideas, and grow in their professional practices. Teachers need professional learning networks on which to lean and collaborate. Twitter can be used a platform for a professional learning network when teachers create private, professional accounts and follow colleagues, community members, and other teachers with similar positions or goals. Here, users can share ideas, ask for guidance, create and share resources, and garner feedback on their creations. As with any social media, its usage in the professional world has a series of pros and cons.

Pros
-Endlessly customizable–I was able to choose my interests and twitter automatically recommended people and organizations to follow.
-Robust community — It was a breeze to follow great teachers, scientists, and thinkers who are actively sharing their thoughts.
-Idea exchange — Members of my learning community can quickly and easily share lesson ideas, classroom management strategies, resources, links, and other ideas. I can save or retweet their ideas and give them a try in my practice.
-Search tweets by hashtag — If I’m looking for tweets about the new science standards in PA, or inquiry based lesson activities, or classroom management strategies, I can search hashtags and quickly find relevant information.
-Twitter Chats allow for live conversations–rather than asynchronous back and forth conversations like on other social media accounts, live twitter chats (with relevant topics that you sign up for) allow for real time discussion about topics that matter to you.

Cons
-Twitter is blocked by my district’s (and many districts’) filter.
-Twitter is not strictly a professional resource, so users could become distracted by personal social connections, news, or humor.
-As with all social media accounts, everything that you share or say can be saved or shared by others. It can be easy to engage in a debate, or share something controversial and end up in hot water.
-Twitter is not censored and millions of people participate everyday. There will be inappropriate content, trolls, and spam that does not aid in professional growth and is not appropriate for students.
-Twitter can be time consuming. Although it is packed full of professionals and endless ideas, there can be a lot of information to wade through on the “micro-blogging” site, and other online collaborative resources may be more direct and less time consuming.