Certified Innovator: Twitter for Educators

Why would educators use Twitter?

a) Share resources with other educators.

b) Participate in real-time online Professional Development.

c) Get updates from other educational organizations.

d) Communicate with parents.

1st. Focusing on personal interest gives us the following reasons why Twitter is a great tool among educators.

Teachers can follow leading educationalists and professors to gather information about teaching techniques.
It will enable them to stay updated about on goings of the world and developments in their field and elsewhere.
Study material can be availed by following eminent personalities.
Self-learning and education can be done for improving the quality of teaching.

2nd. It is a great help for planning

Collaborating with other teachers , parents, students. If one finds similar interests with other academic, Twitter can be used to work together on research ideas, classroom solutions, and other topics.
Twitter can be used to review lessons and remind students what is going to be covered in class that day or the next. Teachers say tweeting a few quick review questions and some good Web sites add depth to their lessons. In turn, students can tweet their own questions and observations.
Collaborating with other classrooms in the same school, district, or another country. Why work alone when you can connect with other college classrooms? That’s just what many college classes are doing these days.
Sharing some of your lesson plans. Educators and academics can come together to share and collaborate on lesson plans quite easily using Twitter.
One can create their own classroom hash tag. One way to keep classroom tweets organized is by having a shared hash tag that all students use. (Visit this List of Twitter Hashtags in Education)

3rd. Teachers can help their students benefit a lot by using Twitter

Twitter is a great way to keep your students thinking after class. A quick provocative question about a social studies lesson, for example, that will keep their brains active.
Twitter helps students crystallize thoughts, focus attention, and make connections that weren’t possible a few years ago.
Teachers can help their students to connect to a wider audience by linking students of other countries. Employing Twitter to facilitate discussion and collaboration between students in their classrooms and their counterparts in different countries can be beneficial in several ways. (You may want to refer our article on Twitter Uses in Elementary classroom. )
Teachers can share their experiences with students in a more friendly way of teaching and learning.
Host reading discussions. Holding a reading discussion over Twitter gives everyone a chance to chime in, even shy students who might not otherwise speak up.
Without sharing phone numbers teachers can Tweet links to additional reading material, announcements and reminders.
Twitter allows for personalization of learning according to the student’s ability and interest.
Teachers can quickly provide students with multimedia source links (YouTube, Pinterest) through tweets.
Teachers can help students in exploring their knowledge. Twitter helps students improve their research skills.