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edtechnology.co.uk | T: @Educ_Technology SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS | NASEN | 43
THE VALUE OF TWITTER
nasen's communications manager, Sean Stockdale, explains how to get the most out of the increasingly popular social networking site
N
asen's first learning event saw us finally break the 2,000 followers barrier so this seemed like the ideal time to take a look at how you might tap into the power of Twiter. Unfortunately I wasn't one of
the initial investors who bought shares in the recent stock market float, but you only need look at Twiter's $24bn stock market debut (the company has yet to turn a profit) to have some idea of the potential the platform is seen to have.
Why Twiter? Put simply, those of us who regularly use it often try to persuade our more reluctant friends and colleagues that they are missing out on a world of support, professional development opportunities and networking quite separate from the celebrity world that initially brought Twiter to the fore.
Harness the energy of Twiter I'm lucky that in my day-to-day nasen job I get to visit a number of outstanding schools which amongst other things have one thing in common, the entire staff team is passionate about improving provision for all children. The power of surrounding yourself by positive people has been well documented and is a key strength of outstanding schools. Twiter enables you to build your own virtual staffroom of people who you can draw on at a moment's notice to help you. Your work colleagues can also be part of the process so while extending your network outside your seting you can also strengthen internal links within your organisation.
Networking with Twiter A recent event nasen atended illustrated how useful Twiter is for today's education professionals. Speaking at the event was Jo Grace (@jo_grace) who creates delightful sensory stories. I was forwarded Jo's details via @Martin_Litler, I checked her Twiter feed to see examples of her work and commissioned an article, all via Twiter. The fact that Jo lives in Germany and Martin spends much of his time in Gerona has no impact on the networking. We were all professionals interested in a particular aspect of SEN drawn together via the power of social media. nasen ran out of Code of Practice summaries on the first day
(apparently 500 wasn't enough for one day). Not a problem – I posted the link on Twiter and all those unable to atend on Saturday were able to access an electronic copy.
Everyday Twiter Using Twiter doesn't just make sense at mass participation events like exhibitions or teachmeets, it can also work wonders for the teacher in the classroom. A practical application of networking with Twiter is that it can help inform and reinvigorate your planning. Rather than siting
there staring at an empty sheet vainly hoping for the words to appear magically before Downton Abbey or Top Gear starts, you can put a call out via Twiter. If you have invested some time in following colleagues who are sharing their resources via social media you'll soon find that people are only too willing to help. This is
also your opportunity to refine resources that you currently use and doesn't exclude your colleagues who can also join in. I was asked by a colleague to help them plan their lesson
observation for a job interview. Their first step was to put the call out via Twiter and they were immediately rewarded with a number of ideas, offers of resources and helpful hints that instantly felt like one of those rare meetings where everyone is 'on message'. Indeed for this article I put a tweet out asking for comments on the value of Twiter and here are some of the responses:
@inclusion4all: @Seanismax @nasen_org Use twiter to get easy CPD, blogs and reports on new ideas and research from all over the world. Broadens horizons.
@phillengthorn: @Seanismax Ideas, ideas and more great ideas to use in the classroom!
@JulieRevels: @Seanismax Very useful for immediate connection with like-minded professionals.
Finally, you don’t need to be limited by the education sector. Once you start casting your Twiter net a litle further afield, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the range of resources you can access with a litle searching. ET
A quick guide to Twiter terms
# Hashtag Use hashtags to indicate the topic of your tweet and help other users find the information.
@ The @ sign is used to call out usernames in tweets, like this: Hello @Twitter! When a username is preceded by the @ sign, it becomes a link to a Twitter profile.
FF #FF stands for 'Follow Friday. Twitter users often suggest who
others should follow on Fridays by tweeting with the hashtag #FF.
Mention Mentioning another user in your tweet by including the @ sign followed directly by their username is called a ‘mention’. Also refers to tweets in which your username was included.
Retweet To retweet, retweeting, retweeted. The act of forwarding another user's tweet to all of your followers.
Sean Stockdale is a former AST for ICT and English, author of Max the Champion
who currently works for nasen @nasen_org, he also tweets under the name @seanismax. For more information about nasen visit:
www.nasen.org.uk
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