Journal 2 NETS 5

I read an analyzed an article relating to technology in education, and I provided a summary/response to it, along with proposed questions and answers.

McClintock Miller, S. (2010). Enhance your twitter experience. Learning & Leading with Technology, Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/20100607?pg=14&search_term=join%20the%20flock&search_term=join%20the%20flock#pg16

Ferguson, H. (2010). Join the flock. Learning & Leading with Technology, Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/20100607?pg=14&search_term=join%20the%20flock&search_term=join%20the%20flock#pg14

Reflection:
I'm glad that I had a lecture on Twitter before reading these articles for a couple of reasons. First, I now have a less biased view on Twitter when reading about it; and second, it was easier to understand the material discussed. For example, how to use the hashtag explained by Miller would have been confusing. I honestly never thought Twitter could be used in a professional manner. I've heard a couple of my friends talk about it and it seemed uselsess to me. They were just using it to talk about their day. I like Miller's breakdown on engagement, "70% of Twitter time should be spent sharing other voices, opinions, and tools; 20% of tweets should be directly responding, connecting, collaborating, and co-creating with Twitter colleagues; and 10% is chit-chatting trivial details about your life as a human being" (2010). I think this is a much more productive and less annoying approach to Twitter.

I surprisingly haven't heard of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) before, and can now see some of the benefits of it. I think the sooner I build one the better, because what I learned from these articles is that you can get advise or ideas from peers at any stage of your career. Ferguson states, "I have discovered people who wanted to help me succeed or help me figure out what went wrong" (2010). Sounds like it would be nice to meet people who go the extra step to improve the education of children, as well as a support group for myself. She states that Twitter helps teachers make "learning and education the best it can be" (2010).

Q1: How would I start using Twitter to develop my PLN?

A1: I've learned from Ferguson that I can start out slow, but do need to make a commitment. Now that I have an account, I can look for people to follow. I'd probably follow other students to begin with, who are in my classes. Also, I would look for people in the field of speech pathology. That way I can be knowledgeable and up-to-date with information regarding the field I'm trying to enter. I'd probably wait until I'm very familiar with Twitter before I start posting things myself. Simply visiting the site and following people is a first step to getting used to the site.

Q2: How would building my PLN benefit me?

A2: As a student, I could use a Bookmarklet to share sites with other students. Often when working on group projects, our group will be sending emails back and forth all over the place about what sites we've found or other info. I learned from Miller that I could use the bookmark-let Hootlet. Although this sounds like something from Dr. Seuss, I think it would help my classmates any myself communicate. I would also build relationships with them through my PLN that could benefit me through all of my schooling.
Building my PLN now will also help me in the future. I often have questions about the career of speech pathology, and if I build relationship now, I can find mentors in the field.