Five Steps to Building Your Personal Learning Network (PLN) via Twitter

1. Sign up for Twitter

To sign up for Twitter, simply go to www.twitter.com and create a username. Don’t make your username too long and make it something that identifies you, like your name, rather than a complex nickname.

Compete your bio so people know who you are, what you do and don’t forget to add an image of yourself. The “egg” is given to all new registrants so update it to avoid others thinking you are spam.

2. Follow Others

There are thousands of teachers around the world on Twitter, you just have to know where to find them! Start with @npsd @npedtech @CurtDietrich @dianeholben @Deb_Mckay_NPSD @bakerbg @coachyetter @joe_mazza @nwelementary @gnelementary @cybraryman1 @larryferlazzo @nmhs_principal @gcouros @web20classroom @thomascmurray @edutopia @tomwhitby @toddwhitaker @bamradionetwork @arneduncan etc

Once you have a few people to follow, look at who they are following and start to build up your PLN.

3. “Lurk”

You’ll need to spend some time checking out the stream of tweets and getting the hang of tweeting, retweeting, direct messaging and hashtags. Many people say Twitter isn’t as intuitive as other web tools but it doesn’t take long for it to make sense.

Most people who use Twitter don’t actually use the Twitter website. There are a lot of more user-friendly Twitter clients out there. Try Tweetdeck or Tweetchat on a laptop and Tweetbot on an iPad/iPhone.

5. Contribute

Remember, the more you put in, the more you get out. Don’t be afraid to start replying to people, retweeting tweets, asking questions and striking up conversations. Most educators on Twitter are very friendly and always happy to help newbies find their feet!

Stick with it! Sticking with it is very important. Make yourself check into Twitter daily for a month before you make any decisions about whether it is for you. It takes time to build rapports with people. When you do, you’ll find your professional world will be so enlightened and your students will be better for it!

Building a PLN

NPSD’s Educator’s Guide to Twitter What is Twitter?Twitter is a free service that lets you keep in touch with the entire world through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: “What are you doing?” Twitter is a free tool for reading and engaging in multiple conversations in real-time. You can follow individuals, news, organizations, businesses and more for valuable educational resources and articles.

Following North Penn S.D. at www.twitter.com/npsd

Key TermsTWEET - A 140 character statement. This can include @mentions, #hashtags, RT retweets and links to websites.

@MENTION - When you reply to someone else’s tweet or mention another Twitter user, put the @ symbol in front of their username. For example, “I’m excited to conference with my child’s teacher today.” Using the @symbol is a way of linking to another Twitter user.

FOLLOWERS - The list of Twitter users who follow your tweets.

RETWEET - When you re-post a tweet from another user because you want your followers to see it too. For example,

“RT @NPSD: NPHS receives a National Gold Council of Excellence Award from the National Association of Student Council. Details tinyurl.com/nphsscaward”

#HASHTAG - A topic with the # symbol in front of it such as #edchat or #cpchat. Hashtags make it easy to follow specific topics, events, or trends. By clicking on a hashtag, you see all the tweets public users are sharing about that specific topic.

There are many educational hashtag chats occurring each week on Twitter. Think of them as television channels. Parent-Teacher Chat or #PTchat is a hashtag chat designed especially for parents and teachers around the world. The goal of the weekly chat is encourage a transparent and collaborative dialogue between parents and teachers on a variety of topics.

Join the #PTchat conversation on Wednesday nights at 9PM EDT by typing “#ptchat” into the Twitter search bar. Web tools like Tweetdeck, Tweetchat or Twitterfall are also helpful for chats.

Some Hashtags for Educators

To Start With

Some Hashtags for Educators

To Start With

Some Hashtags for Educators

To Start With

#edchat #elemchat #cpchat

#suptchat #k12 #edtech

#digcit #gifted #ptchat

#kinderchat #1stchat #2ndchat

#edtechchat #4thchat #5thchat

#6thchat #mschat #autism

#eslchat #paedchat #ellchat

#spedchat #sbgchat #mathchat

#edpolicy #edreform #scichat

#nped = North Penn Educators Hashtag#nped = North Penn Educators Hashtag#nped = North Penn Educators Hashtag