Tweeting in Schools
In
2011, I wrote an article for the American Association of School
Administrators about how I was using Twitter in Cadott. Technology has
continued to change since then, and the use of social media has become
more common in schools. Despite its growing popularity, Twitter is only
one of the many ways that the school district communicates with
stakeholders in our school district. Below is an updated excerpt of the
information included in my article.
Those
not familiar with the uses of Twitter may think that the social
networking tool is mostly used for finding out where the latest
celebrity is going out for the night, when a famous athlete will be
arriving at the stadium, or when a high school-aged student is going to
bed. It can be concerning to a school board, staff, parents and
community members when they hear that the local school district has
started communicating via Twitter. The use of Twitter has taken off this
year in the Menomonie Area School District, and nearly 350 people are
now following the school district’s Twitter account.
Twitter as a Communication Tool - Who follows you?
Twitter
provides a quick and easy way for people to share information. With a
few taps on a smart phone or keystrokes on a computer, a school
administrator is able to inform followers when inclement weather has
required the cancellation of school. When a reminder for the upcoming
parent/teacher conferences is desired, a simple tweet is quite
effective. When a teacher would like to inform students and parents
about an upcoming test and share a link to a review document, using
Twitter can be a great option.
Although
Twitter limits user posts to 140 characters, those who have mastered
the art of tweeting have figured out how easy and effective it is to
simply tweet a link to other digital content such as a blog, podcast,
picture, video clip, or some other piece of web content. It is much
easier for community members to receive a tweet that contains a link to
the newest edition of the school district’s online newsletter than it is
for them to remember to check the school district’s website and
navigate to the link.
Retweeting
is a very efficient way to pass on useful information to the user's
followers. When a user comes across a tweet, and desires to share it
with the people who follow them, a simple click of the retweet button
will post that tweet on that user’s Twitter feed.
Twitter as a Resource Tool - Who do you follow?
As more organizations use Twitter, the number of people who are
tweeting and the amount of information available continues to grow
exponentially. The real challenge for Twitter and other web applications
is how all of this available information is organized and available.
Twitter allows users to execute a global search for particular people,
subjects and trends, but the real usefulness of Twitter is that, once
the account is set up, information can be found without searching.
By
allowing users to decide which accounts to follow, Twitter gives users
the opportunity to filter information to only that of a particular
interest. Other than some promoted tweets, only information the accounts
that are followed will be listed in that individual’s twitter feed. As a
school administrator, I find it beneficial to follow local news
outlets, experts in the field of education, professional educational
organizations, and other educators. It is simple to follow and unfollow
particular users, so managing the information that one sees on a regular
basis can be easy.
Twitter
has additional features that allow for further organization of the
information. Depending on the purpose for acquiring information, a user
could either view the entire feed of accounts being followed, or just a
specific group of accounts that have been set up in a list. Users can
have multiple lists, which allows someone to categorize specific
accounts. A school administrator could have one list strictly for news
outlets, one list for curriculum issues, one for politics, one for
personal interests (like the Packers), etc.
Twitter as a Resource Tool - What do you follow?
Aside
from following particular lists, Twitter users use tags that allow
anyone to follow specific subjects. (In Twitter a subject can be tagged
by preceding the subject with the pound symbol (#).) This is helpful for
situations when information about a subject is desired. By following
particular threads that have been #hashtaged, a user can follow or
participate in a type of open forum on the issue. This can be an easy
way to pose a question to a potentially large group of people interested
in the same subject matter, which can be an excellent resource for
educators. Examples of some potentially useful hashtags related to
education are: #education, #edtech, and #wischat.
Twitter as a Resource Tool - How do you access Twitter?
It is imperative that educational leaders stay current with news and
trends, communicate well with the public, and develop a network of
colleagues to collaborate with and have as resources. Using Twitter is
one way to accomplish these goals both efficiently and effectively.
Twitter has the potential to be a terrific resource tool for
administrators, teachers, students, parents and community members.
Should
school stakeholders have any questions about our school district, I
invite you to visit the ASC or contact me at 715-232-1642. More
information about our schools can be found on the school district
website (www.sdmaonline.com) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/sdmaonline). My personal Twitter account can be found at: www.twitter.com/joezydowsky .