26 Effective Ways to use Twitter for Teachers and Educators Infographic

26 Effective Ways to use Twitter for Teachers and Educators Infographic

Teachers and educators in the present fast-paced, ever evolving world of communication are presented with a plethora of options which might sometimes be overwhelming. To reduce the efforts of teachers in learning a new form of communication, we give you some of the most effective ways of using the most modern form of communication, Twitter. The 26 Effective Ways to use Twitter for Teachers and Educators Infographic is aimed at educators interested in utilizing Twitter as a communication and collaborative tool, for educators who like telling a story and effectively reaching out to an audience who they normally can't! Check out the 26 effective ways to do that.

1. Account

Your account or as the twitter-verse would call it, your handle, is what defines you on twitter. Many Teachers use Twitter for professional reasons. To help you get started on your mobile devices, try Plume for android and Ubersocial for iOS or you could download the native app as well.

2. Big No nos

Twitter isn‘t about you. Don't SPAM. Don't take credit for other's intellectual property or any property that isn't yours. If you aren't getting followers, improve the content you share, don‘t buy your followers.

3. Collaborate

Some of the easiest ways of collaborating on twitter is to co-author blogs, share your ideas, practice, resources.

4. DM

Direct Messages help in reaching out to you’re a followers or your influencers in a very private and personal way to build relationships online.

5. EdChat - #edchat

One of the first educational chats and most popular. #edchat is held on Tuesdays from 12 to 1 and 7 to 8 pm EST, #edtechchat takes place on Mondays from 8 to 9 pm EST. What are you waiting for, Join the conversation!

6. Favorite

Favorite-ing a tweet helps you archive tweets which share information or links you might be interested in or you might just simply like what they say.

7. Grammarly

Twitter allows you to share your magic with only 140 characters and while adhering to that rule, your grammar might really get tested. Try installing the Grammarly Plugin on your web browser to help keep your language on point.

8. HashTags

Themes, common words, trending topics are often covered in just a few or single words. Some of the most used HashTags among Teachers are #EdChat, #EdTech, #Elearning, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). These should help you get in on the conversation.

9. Images

Add flavor to your stories and conversations by adding vibrant, informative Images (Like this Infographic!) to engage your followers at a visual level.

10. Journal

Use twitter as your personal micro journal, for your classroom adventures, experiments. Use your account to share stories.

11. Knowledge

Knowledge is Power. Practice it by sharing it with the world. Learn from other Teachers & Educators, develop a PLN - Personal Learning Network.

12. Lists

One of the most underused tools of Twitter and yet one of the most useful ones. Use lists to group and sort people/handles based on your customized filters.

13. Muted Accounts

Helpful when you want to avoid handles and users who are a nuisance to conversations and learning. Just head over to your settings, enter the Handle and enjoy twitter without ever hearing from them again.

14. Notifications

The notifications tab is a good way to keep track of how well you are doing with your followers and influencers. It lets you know who followed you, favorite-ed your tweet, retweeted you. Keep an eye out maybe someone famous follows you!

15. One Hundred and Forty

Twitter only allows you to type in 140 characters. Be smart, concise and creative.

16. Protected Accounts/ Private Accounts

These are accounts of people who would like to approve who can see their content. These accounts are privacy protected and you will have to ask for permission to follow them.

17. Quotes

Sometimes users like to quote other tweets in their tweets rather than retweeting them directly. This is mostly done  to comment along with the tweet, try quoting to see how it helps you engage in a conversation or maybe even start one! Quote one of our Tweets!

18. Retweet

Retweeting is as essential as tweeting on Twitter. It shows the kind of articles people you follow like to read. Retweets also help in giving authorship to intellectual properties which don’t belong to you.

19. Story

Craft an interesting story for your followers. Use Storify to craft a creative story using a series of tweets and keep your followers engaged!

20. Tweet

A tweet helps you interact with your PLN, your followers, your influencers and with the web in general. So keep tweeting as much as you can.

21. Unlearn

As an educator and teacher, you have embarked on a journey of learning and teaching. But sometimes, to learn something new, you have to unlearn what you know to get the best out of what's new!

22. Verified Accounts

The identities of these accounts have been verified by Twitter personally. Mostly companies and Celebrities get it done, so take caution while engaging with verified accounts.

23. Wikispaces

Missed out on one of the EdChat or EdtechChat, no worries, edtechchat.wikispaces.com archives all the chats and even has a podcast which discusses all the topics from the week.

24. Xavier!

Sometimes it helps making pop culture references to your conversations to connect with people, like we just did here, X- Men fan anyone?

25. Yes

Start by saying yes to all the ideas and conversation which make you feel uncomfortable, decide only after you have practiced or taken part in an in-depth discussion with the user(s).

26. Zest

Tweet with all the zest you can, talk to other teachers and pump up your PLN with all the zest you can muster. It's important that your influencers and followers know how dedicated you are to teaching!