Journal 2: Join the Flock

(NETS-T 3, 4, and 5)

Ferguson, H. (2010). Join the flock. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2011.aspx

     In the article, "Join the Flock", Hadley Ferguson discusses the use of Twitter as a way to start your own Personal Learning Network.She acknowledges that it can be intimidating at first and that it took her some time to get used to it. However, the benefits outweigh the difficulty. Developing a personal learning network is a great way to let information come to you, and then allow you to share it with other people who have the same interests as you. Rather than simply researching things on your own, there is a collaboration between people sharing resources that can help us become better educators. While there is the option to just sit back and read other people's tweets (called Lurking), it is recommended to post your own tweets, comment on other tweets, and retweet (which is reposting a tweet from someone you follow). She recommends getting a twitter organizer such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to make the process simpler, and therefore allow more time to be spent using the great program, rather than being confused trying to get it to work. Lastly, she stresses the importance of committing time to Twitter. The more time spent using it, the more benefits.

QUESTION 1: How will I use Twitter professionally?
I will follow fellow educators, and read what they have to say. I will retweet posts that I find particularly interesting, so that people following me can benefit from them, as well. I will follow the hashtags related to my work. For example, #edtech, #teachers, #web20 will all be something that I look into.

QUESTION 2: What is a Personal Learning Network?
Ferguson gives a great explanation. She writes, "A PLN is a community of individuals around the world who are learning together. They can start as strangers, people you couldn't pick out in a crowded room. But Twitter helps these strangers come together to create a community built on communication and collaboration dedicated to make learning and education the best it can be" (Ferguson, 2010).