For some time now I have been suggesting to teachers the need to get connected. Through the use of twitter we can access a pool of experience, skill, ideas and talents which bt (before twitter) would have been impossible, using this pool to improve or maybe evolve our own teaching practice. As a teacher I can spend just a few minutes each day searching for ideas which I can use within my teaching practice, or I can spend a longer period of time when I have the time. This is very much different from how it used to be where I had to wait for the next professional development ( or Professional Learning) session which was often held at the end of the day when I was at my most tired having spent all day teaching. In addition these PD sessions were often expensive for the school as they involved paying someone to deliver the session.
Recently I read a blog post entitled “Why teacher should connect” which echoes my feelings. I also saw the below post on twitter (surprise, surprise) which sums up the reasoning behind why teachers should make use of social media such as twitter:
Another post I saw referred to the need for communication.
We are preparing students for a a globalised world where more and more people are migrating to work away from where they were born and grew up. As such do we not need to start considering a globalised approach to education? If we are going to consider such a globalised approach there is a need for discussion across the world and surely social media such as twitter provides just the tool needed to facilitate such discussion.
So, if you haven’t already, Get Connected!!
Technology and Learning