Visitors, time zone changes, vacation, Master’s program… Unless you are a Twitteraholic you probably miss several great tweets within the week. Here are a few of my favorite tweets that have engaged me or helped me find a useful link! Moreover, I hope this weekly series shows you how to engage others with your tweets, develop a Personal Learning Network (PLN), cause change, or add to your professional development. Twitter is a tool with several uses. Hopefully, these tweets provide you with different ways to use Twitter. If you enjoy these tweets, I encourage you to follow these people. These tweets are listed in order of occurrence with the first tweet being the earliest tweet in the week.
Tweeting for a Cause
Twitter is being revered for its ability to incite awareness for causes among a massive audience. Probably, the most notable was the situation in Iran; however, tweeters often choose to support various causes. Shonah Kennedy’s tweet is a perfect example of challenging twitterers to take action to save the environment! Several critics have discredited Twitter as a channel for real change. Perhaps, changing the color of my avatar is not enough, but I do believe tweets like this can cause real change.
Extending the Conversation
Some people I have thought-provoking conversations with are not teachers! According to Chris Harrington‘s bio, he was in the navy and a marketer. Now, he is an acoustic ambient musician, occasional translater, and blogger living in Japan. I have read Chris’ blog, which talks about real life issues. Below is just a snippet of the discussion we had on if most students are digital natives. People do not have to agree all the time on Twitter. The important part is to involve yourself in a thought-provoking discussion every once in awhile to solidify your beliefs.
Warnings
Often tweets from my PLN will warn others of spammers, scams, and so forth! One tweet I received this week warned me that someone might be stealing my content. Unfortunately, a wonderful English language teacher, web designer, and curriculum writer, Jason Renshaw (English Raven), had a person republish his material on the web without permission. Jason, through his English Raven web site, provides English language teachers with a lot of support and materials. The person had over 5000 documents listed so his warnings were very real! I am happy the company took his document down.
Copyright Concerns
A few hours after Jason’s tweet, Jo Hart, started a discussion on copyright concerns with her tweet. Below is a snippet of the discussion that several more individuals joined. Sue Lyon-Jones continued to add to the conversation with advice, tips, and thoughts on showing teachers and students the importance of respecting copyright. On Twitter, please feel free to join conversations and add your experiences or tips. Doing this ensures that those you follow get to know you. When others know you, this makes collaborating on various projects much easier! Heike Philp provided a useful link for searching for Creative Common images, which are free to use for educational purposes. However, you must check the rules regarding the author’s choice for you to attribute the work appropriately.
Follow Their Tweets!
The best way to enjoy “what they tweeted” daily is to add these engaging people as friends on Twitter. Do this easily by clicking on their profiles.
- Shonah Kennedy (@MissShonah)
- Chris Harrington (@charringtonjp)
- Jason Renshaw (@EnglishRaven)
- Jo Hart (@JoHart)
- Sue Lyon-Jones (@esolcourses)
- Heike Philp (@heikephilp )
Have you missed my previous favorite tweets of the week? Just click here for the posts!
Want to explore how to use Twitter for discussions? Join Tom Whitby and I for our weekly #edchat discussions!
Challenge:
Engage in a thought-provoking discussion with a person you follow!
Would you like to recommend a favorite tweet for next week? Please contact me to share your favorite Tweet! Please mark the tweet as a favorite so that I can find the tweet!
