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Twitter Power: For Literacy Educators & Activists

2011 IDA Legislative Call to Action: Access to Literacy for All (Photo Credit: Dislecksia: The Movie)

TWITTER POWER : This document supplements “Twitter Power: For Literacy Educators & Activists,” a small-screen/online presentation developed for the 2011 International Dyslexia Association conference session, “Legislative Call to Action: Access to Literacy for All.” Presentation posted at http://www.slideshare.net/carolyndcowen. (Open most recent draft!)

TARGET AUDIENCE : Educators/IDA members working to change the teaching-learning landscape for children at-risk for reading failure—struggling readers, English language learners, economically disadvantaged youth, and students with dyslexia or specific learning difficulties. For those who want to understand and leverage Twitter’s power, the presentation combined with this companion document covers Twitter’s basic whys and hows.

TWITTER TUTORIAL: HOW-TO LINKS : This companion document (also posted at http://www.slideshare.net/carolyndcowen), provides detailed “how-to information” via links to online material targeted to educators new to Twitter. The list is not exhaustive and merely reflects resources I have come across and found useful. Not every article is beautifully written. Nor do I agree with every point. But all the material provides interesting perspectives or useful information for those new to Twitter and social media. Inclusion on this list does not constitute endorsement; omission does not signify the opposite. Check back periodically for updates.

Cowen: 12/8/11 twitter.com/#!/cdcowen; paper.li/cdcowen; slideshare.net/carolyndcowen 1

Why Educators Should Tweet

http://adaptivelearnin.edu.glogster.com/why-teachers-should-join-twitter#.Tq6N9gc8Wvg.twitterA Twitter newbie created an infographic with links on why teachers should join Twitter.

http://edudemic.com/2011/09/twitter-in-education/Advertised as the “Ultimate Guide to Using Twitter in Education,” it covers lots of whys and hows.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2011/11/why_educators_should_join_twitter.htmlAn Education Week blog from an educator (who recently joined Twitter) on why educators should tweet.

http://www.edsocialmedia.com/2011/11/4-reasons-you-want-multiple-twitter-accounts-at-your-school/Four reasons why schools should have multiple Twitter accounts.

http://k12edubuzz.com/promoting-effective-digital-citizenship/Promoting responsible digital citizenship among educators—interesting perspective.

Twitter Orientations

http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/A complete collection of resources for mastering Twitter.

http://davidwees.com/content/eight-videos-help-teachers-get-started-using-twitter8 short and to-the-point videos to help teachers get started on Twitter

http://www.teachertechvids.com/tools-for-advanced-users#!__tools-for-advanced-users/vstc3=twitter3 videos covering Twitter basics and beyond for teachers

http://www.slideshare.net/oreillymedia/the-twitter-book-a-sneak-previewThis one is a few years old, but still provides good introductory information.

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/teachers-teaching-teachers-on-twitter-q-and-a-on-edchats/

Cowen: 12/8/11 twitter.com/#!/cdcowen; paper.li/cdcowen; slideshare.net/carolyndcowen 2

NY Times article “Teachers Teaching Teachers on Twitter: A nice overview for educators with valuable links to related Twitter topics. Consider following the people mentioned.

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/05/18/the-best-resources-for-beginning-to-learn-what-twitter-is-all-about/A comprehensive list of Twitter resources/links covering EVERYTHING from hastags to who to follow to dos and don’ts. It is a few years old, so a bit dated. But it reflects the perspective of someone just getting on Twitter—especially helpful for newbies. Eventually, links take you to more current links.

Twitter Edchats & Ed-Related Hastags

http://www.cybraryman.com/chats.htmlThis pretty much covers EVERYTHING about Twitter education hashtgs and chats.

Klout Score Pros/Cautions Plus Some Info on Who to Follow(One of the best ways to decide who to follow is to follow the individuals people you like and respect follow.)

http://coolcatteacher.visibli.com/share/moxXBfIt’s a good idea to have some sense of Klout Scores and their value … or lack thereof. This offers great perspective for educators. I recommend following her.

http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2011/07/lesson-learned-influence-is-personal.htmlMore perspective on influence and Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). I recommend following him, too.

http://www.businessesgrow.com/2011/07/20/the-making-of-a-social-media-slut/More insights into the Klout trend—disturbing, but worth understanding and following.

http://educationnext.org/all-a-twitter-about-education/And, here is the article from Education Next tmentioned in the first two blog posts above. I wanted you to insights into pros/cons before you review this list. That said, I recommend following many of these Tweeters. I follow all of them, but you probably want to be more selective. Remember, it’s OK to unfollow—in fact, you should. The people you follow should evolve over time as your interests do. Be careful not to follow just people with whom you agree!

http://www.specialeducationadvisor.com/50-essential-special-education-twitter-feeds-to-follow/50 Essential sped feeds to follow. (Wouldn’t it be great to see a similar list for literacy!)

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2058946,00.htmlNot sure which non-educators to follow? Check out this list from Time.

Social Media-Facilitated Professional Development

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/26/09edtech-social.h31.html?tkn=LLRF8EAoDiC236zaT9a%2Fq5BaqS6Gfs3%2Fno3L&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2

Cowen: 12/8/11 twitter.com/#!/cdcowen; paper.li/cdcowen; slideshare.net/carolyndcowen 3

http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/e-learning-2011-professionaldevelopment/index.html?cmp=ENL-CC-NEWS1Ed Weeks’ comprehensive report on how a digital and freewheeling approach to professional development is trending in education. Be sure to check out the fourth article, which includes info about using Twitter in PD. (Note: You probably need to subscribe to Ed Week to get into this one.)

http://h30411.www3.hp.com/discussions/68996?mcid=TwitterOver a year old, but the basic concepts still are relevant. Addresses how one teacher found Twitter to be a useful tool in his own professional learning. Also offers good info in how to harness hashtags.

http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol7/704-bedell.aspxUsing Twitter to start your personal learning network (PLN).

Misc. Ed-Tech Resources

http://h30411.www3.hp.com/sessions/48376-Guided_tour_of_web_2_0_tools?mcid=TwitterA guided tour of web 2.0 for educators.

http://jeffthomastech.com/blog/?p=11269Regular postings on various ed-tech resources.

http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2011/12/using-technology-to-organize-your.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+teachpaperless+%28TeachPaperless%29I recommend following the posts on TeachPaperless—a collaboratively written blog dedicated to conversation and commentary about the intertwined worlds of digital technology, new media, and education. This particular post exemplifies the content-rich posts often found on this site.

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29111/7-Reasons-You-re-Not-Generating-Leads-From-Social-Media.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+HubSpot+%28HubSpot%29This is for people at intermediate level who are building websites and beginning to advance into topics like leveraging social media for inbound marketing, content promotion, and lead generation.

Twitter Tools(A sampling that caught my eye or have proven useful—most are free!)

https://bitly.com/So, you’ve composed a great tweet with targeted hashtags and a link to important content, but your tweet is longer than 140 characters. What do you do? Shorten the link. Go here to shorten the URL address. Paste in the long one—poof—it is shortened. Cut and paste into your tweet. You are good to go.

http://twitpic.com/Post photos or videos on Twitter in real time. Haven’t done this myself …. yet! Looks interesting.

Cowen: 12/8/11 twitter.com/#!/cdcowen; paper.li/cdcowen; slideshare.net/carolyndcowen 4

http://paper.li/I turned to paper.li when I became overwhelmed trying to keep up with tweets, which happens as you follow more people. Paper.li organized my twitter feed into a newspaper format—much easier for a non-digital native to scan and digest at the end of the day! It also turns you into a curator of content as you begin acquiring subscribers to your paper.li. Finally, it makes it easy to re-tweet content, which you can do directly from your own paper.li or from others to whom you subscribe. I haven’t learned yet how to be more selective about the content that gets published in my paper.li, but I have noticed that others have figured this out. Probably it is just a matter of spending the time to learn. I think this tool has potential for being very powerful.

www.scoop.it/Haven’t gotten very deeply into this one yet, but looks promising—a way to curate content across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. and to publish in a digital magazine format. I think controlled curation may be easier with this tool than with paper.li, but I’m still in the early learning stages of learning, so not sure.

www. hootsuite .com A social media dashboard that allows you to post and monitor Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more—making everything much more manageable. It also provides Klout scores and various analytics. But the reason I especially like HootSuite is that I can schedule a series of thoughtful “evergreen tweets” well in advance, and then weave in new tweets on current topics. Hootsuite also has a built-in link shortener.

A Word About the Pitfalls

PHISHING/HACKING: The various orientations above cover these points, but they are worth emphasizing. It is a good idea to change your password periodically and don't click on every link someone wants to bring to your attention. As you build your audience, the phishing scammers will find you. They're not hard to spot—people you don't know who want to give you something or have you look at something. When in doubt, don’t click on a link! If it's important and legitimate, that person will find another way to communicate with you. But don't let this scare you away from Twitter. Use the tool, like all tools, wisely, safely.

Pay it forward!

As you come across great material you think will help other literacy leaders learn about various aspects of Twitter, pop me a tweet (twitter.com/#!/cdcowen)!

Cheers!

Carolyn D. Cowen

Cowen: 12/8/11 twitter.com/#!/cdcowen; paper.li/cdcowen; slideshare.net/carolyndcowen 5