Using+Twitter+as+a+Professional+Development+Tool

Using Twitter as a Professional Development Tool
April Scott, NC State University

=**I. Objectives **= ====Forrestal (2011) and Stenhouse Publishers (2011) have recently published information about Twitter and professional development. These documents will be presented, discussed, and applied. Through this process, participants will learn how to use ** Twitter ** to:====
 * increase professional knowledge and
 * develop and/or enhance professional relationships.

=**II. Twitter**=
 * Sources include but may not be limited to those cited.**

Twitter is an **enhanced instant messaging** service (Mashable, n.d .). Forrestal (2011) explains the following about this service:

 * ==== Twitter provides subscribers with personal pages where they can post whatever is on their minds--ideas, questions, links, and photos. ====
 * ==== Subscribers determine whose posts appear on their pages. ====
 * ==== User-friendly features allow subscribers to quickly locate and reply to posts of interests. ====
 * ==== Thus, Twitter makes it easy to collaborate with people near and far. ====

=III. How Twitter Facilitates Professional Development*= **PODCAST** by Authors of //Catching Readers Before They Fall//: Click HERE for podcast and more on professional benefits of Twitter, courtesy of **stenhouse.com**.


 * Information presented here is from Stenhouse Publishers. However, Forrestal (2011) also discusses how Twitter can be used to facilitate professional development.

=IV. Getting Started= media type="custom" key="10043163"



=V. Practice=

Forrestal (2011) wrote an article entitled, "Making Twitter Work: A Guide for the Uninitiated, the Skeptical, and the Pragmatic". She discusses how Twitter can be used professionally to acquire and share information as well as develop and/or enhance relationships. For instance, she discusses how and why to send original tweets, reply to tweets, and tweet information of others, e.g., web pages. Likewise, your task is to tweet about how Twitter could work for you, your grade level, or your school:
 * Send a tweet. //Could Twitter work? How? For whom?//
 * Reply to a tweet.
 * Tweet a web page.
 * Go to the following site for an example of how Edutopia is using Twitter: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/new-teacher-boot-camp.
 * Click the Twitter button located just under the title of the article to tweet it.

=VI. Things to Consider __Before__ Using Twitter=
 * Source: Forrestal (2011)***

1. Which email account will I use? Would it be better to use a personal account rather than my school account? 2. Should I consult with my supervisor, e.g., principal, before inviting other personnel to engage in professional development through Twitter? 3. How will I decide who to follow? How will I decide who I will let follow me? 4. What types of messages will I post? What types of messages should I NOT post? 5. Other...

=VII. Further use=

[|TweetAdder] is a Marketing Tool software for Twitter. It can be very helpful if you want to promote your Twitter account automatically and have more followers quickly.


 * Additional source(s) may have been used.

=**References**= Forrestal, V. (2011). Making Twitter work: A guide for the uninitiated, the skeptical, and the pragmatic. //The Reference Librarian, 52//, 146-151.

Mashable (n.d.) What is Twitter? Retrieved from http://mashable.com/what-is-twitter/

Stenhouse Publishers (2011). Twitter for PD: great ideas from two author-tweeters. //Newslinks,// June 10, 2011.