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he job of teaching * Join in the discussion reddit this Comments (1) Wendy Berliner Guardian Professional, Monday 3 October 2011 18.30 BST Article history Teacher Daniel Hartley from Chulmleigh Community College, Devon. Photograph: Apex Back in the summer we decided here at GTN HQ that, with our membership rocketing, it was the right time to mark our first six months in operation with a survey to find out what members thought about teaching today. There were questions across a wide spectrum of topics and, at the end, we left a free text box for teachers to add any comments they wanted to share. It was the dying days of the summer holiday - August 25 - when it went out just after lunch. We knew the survey would take ten or 15 minutes to complete so we weren't quite expecting what happened next, but within those first few hours after its release, we realised you had started something big. By 10.30pm that night we'd had several hundred questionnaires back, which in itself was impressive with many teachers perhaps still away on holiday or back but busy preparing for the new term. The most impressive thing of all was the content of those text boxes. There was just so much of it. Some people wrote several hundred words at a time, speaking clearly from the heart and arguing cogently against the things they felt were going wrong in education. A love of teaching and vocational pleasure felt working with children and young people emerged but it was emerging from a fog caused by far less pleasant aspects of the job - disrespect from society and governments, bullying by senior management, other teachers, parents and students, despair at the parenting skills of some homes and despair with government targets and league tables that were funnelling education into an ever thinner tube feeding stuff that improved Sats and exam results rather than nourishing a lifelong love of learning. One former solicitor questioning the sense of the switch into teaching said: " M

This offers some research-based evidence about how Twitter can be useful to educators. "In order to convince teachers of the possible benefits of using a new technology, such as Twitter, we decided to look for evidence of its qualities. What in particular, does Twitter offer educators? Is it worth getting involved?" 30 leading educators (with an interest in educational technology) were identified. They were the ones who were currently using Twitter. The study analysed samples of their tweets in order to determine their purpose and the possible benefits of the tweets to their followers. Also examined were a sample of tweets from the twitter streams of two popular educational hashtags: #edchat and #edtech, in order to determine what 'followers' may gain."

"Twitter seems to be here to stay. As one of the most popular ways for teachers, students, and the general public to communicate, it's becoming a must-have tool in almost every teacher's toolbox. However, numerous recent studies have shown that education in general has been slow to adopt social media. In an effort to speed up this adoption process, below you'll find a boatload of resources on the past, present, and future of Twitter in education as well as some helpful guides to using the tool in the classroom. This guide is by no means exhaustive and is meant to be added to on a regular basis. To do that, Edudemic needs your help. Just share your favorite resource(s) on the Edudemic Facebook page and it'll get added to this Ultimate Guide."

"Educators like to tweet! Out of the 1/2 billion tweets that post every day, 4.2 million are related to education, according to Brett Baker, an account executive at Twitter.com. To put this in perspective, while you read this past sentence, over 3,000 edu-related tweets have flown across the Twitterverse."

These days, Twitter is a powerhouse for marketing, communication, business, and even education, letting people from around the world work together, share ideas, and gain exposure. It has become a staple at many online colleges and campuses as well, leaving many academics wondering just how and if they should be using Twitter both in the classroom and in their professional lives. So we've revised our our original 2009 list to get you started or up to date.

Educators have always needed to master the understanding of at least two fields of endeavor to be successful. First, they needed to master their content field. They are required to be experts of content. Second, they needed to master the field of education with a clear understanding of the latest and greatest methodology and pedagogy available. The 21st Century has now further complicated the teaching profession by requiring an additional third area of mastery, digital literacy. This is required to accomplish many of the necessary tasks in the space occupied by our nation in a computer-driven world. It is the mastery of this third element that educators struggle with today. It is this third element that also directly affecting the evolution of content and education.

Twitter is however a fantastic mechanism for measuring "the pulse" on any subject, event or person. People follow others with like minded interests and Twitter accounts with large followings therefore reflect opinions that have highly regarded value. So it occurred to me recently; Which Twitter accounts attract the greatest amounts of followers?

A decidedly low tech device, the humble pencil, is providing some tongue-in-cheek insight into current education debates via Twitter. In the past 24 hours, educators have tweeted the hashtag #pencilchat thousands of times. The tweets are undeniably witty, but they also reflect the frustration teachers feel over everything from schools' technophobia to budget cuts, which may make #pencilchat the best-and most clever-education allegory ever.

"From connecting via Twitter as an educator to Twitter in the classroom and connecting your class globally." This Slideshare from Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano looks at Twitter from a classroom prespective.

"I am still amazed at the amount of educators, who believe that Twitter holds NO VALUE for their professional learning. Many hold on to the belief that Twitter is a waste of time, used to follow celebrities, listen to gossip and bad hair day complaints. If YOU were able to get past that initial Twitter reputation, diving into the Twittersphere can be scary, OVERWHELMING and participating in this global conversation platform does not necessarily come naturally to everybody."

Sue Waters list of educators based in Australia who are on Twitter

After consideration by district technology coordinator John Haubner and other administrators, and @MessnerEnglish became our class Twitter account. It's essential that the teacher emphasize responsible use by students. Probably the most important piece is close monitoring of students by the teacher.

Good case for securing permission to access Twitter in the classroom with some notes how it should be used.

"The internet is awash with exciting and innovative tools, and your students have grown up immersed in this world - get in on the act. The digital revolution has given us instant communication and easy global connectedness, with mobile technology in particular growing at warp speed: in 2013, there are almost as many mobile phone contracts as there are people in the world. This digital transformation has produced some extraordinary online tools for flexible education, which enhance students' learning and promise innovative pedagogy for teachers. However, they can also be daunting and challenging for educators. It is clear that teachers cannot ignore these tools, which go far beyond just Facebook and Twitter. Educators are now dealing with Generation Z - students born after 1995 who have hardly known a world without social media and have always lived a life measured in bits and bytes. Most have access to iPads and smartphones as well as textbooks and, therefore, the massive resource of the internet."

Excellent resource for using Twitter in education

So how can you use twitter in the classroom?

eLearning Programs is a Department of Education  curriculum service which offers schools a variety of online K-10 courses and programs which can complement, augment or extend local provision and provide students with access to educational experiences and opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable.  It includes options for students identified as highly able or gifted (CELO Online), and some online VET courses for students in years 11-12.  The courses students undertake are usually delivered by  an online delivery teacher with the support and supervision of the students' own school. eLearning programs vary in length and nature; for example some are full year subjects while others are term by term opportunities.

"This year, our K-6 staff began learning in a new virtual way using Twitter. After a couple staff in-service trainings and after school workshops, parents and teachers ventured into this new educational Twitterverse. As we enter the final week of school, I'd like to share it's initial impact on teaching and learning from my principal's lens."

A fantastic list of apps for iPads in edu. On this page, we are showcasing Apple Apps which can help educators with teaching and learning activities, as recommended by various educators within the #UKEdchat forum. You can easily sort the columns by clicking the arrows by each heading. Are we missing an iPad app which you use a lot in school? Please let us know in the comments box at the foot of the page, or via @UKEdchat on twitter, facebook, or Google+.

Why should educators get involved with Twitter? Here are nine reasons 1. Together we're better 2. Global or local: you choose 3. Self-awareness and reflective practice 4. Ideas workshop and sounding board 5. Newsroom and innovation showcase 6. Professional development and critical friends 7. Quality-assured searching 8. Communicate, communicate, communicate 9. Getting with the times has never been so easy!

A fantastic how-to for Twitter, a great introduction for those who are too afraid to dip in.