Teachers and administrators in rural areas can use technology to expand their Professional Learning Network (PLN) to make the most of their professional development time. The presenter will share the strategies one such teacher used to expand his PLN via the use of Social Networking and Twitter plus the benefits of such strategies.

1. Growing my Friends-List Twitter and Social Networking for Educators

2. About Me

3. Please share Name Current Position Why did you choose my presentation?

4. When was the last time you… Discussed educational research? Discussed pedagogy? Shared ideas or advice? Argued over your curriculum? Suggested readings or read someone else’s? Left your classroom for ideas?

5. The problem with teaching in South Dakota? Isolation Never leave your room Never go into someone else’s Only one teaching subject

6. The problem with teaching in South Dakota? Professional Development Expensive Limited Local Options

7. The Solution Expand your PLN!?!

8. What is a PLN/PLP/PLE? Whatever you call it, it is the people and tools that help you learn new information. Personal Learning Network Professional Learning Network Personal Learning Plan Personal Learning Environment

9. Five Reasons Why Educators Should Network Adapted from Tanya Roscorla’s Post of the same name. To learn with others To serve your students To access a dynamic resource To extend your learning base To stay engaged in education

10. Map of My PLN before August 2009 Grand total 42 People

11. Map of my PLN Today Over 3,540 Members of EduPLN Over 2,800 members of the AP-Chem List-serv Over 2,200 members of the AP-Physics List-serv Over 350 people connected to me on Twitter OVER 8,000 Unique Friends

12. Tools Del.icio.us Distributed Lists Twitter Ning

13. Del.icio.us Just one of many social bookmarking sites, Digg, StumbleUpon, Mixx, Use tags to mark websites See who else has marked that website See what other sites they have marked http://delicious.com/Mr.Haugen

14. Mail Distribution Lists Get to know your mail options. Using Rules to pre-sort Sort by thread College Board Discussions Teachers.net Google for Educators

16. Conversational

18. Too Fast

19. Too many conversations

20. A lot of ‘junk’

21. You miss things when you aren’t onlinehttp://www.twitter.com/JR_Haugen

22. Tips for Using Twitter Adapted from David Hopkins’s blog Don’t Waste Your Time Work out what you want to get out of Twitter Make sure you put some relevant and interesting information in your Twitter profile Share and share alike. Look at the people who follow someone in your network. Don’t be afraid to ‘block’ people who you don’t think you want following you. Don’t worry about numbers

23. More Basic Tips Re-Tweet the ideas of others @<username> - respond to others, have conversations Use Hashtags #followfriday(#ff)– suggest people to follow #teacher, #principal #tie10 – hashtag for this conference #edchat – Video Use groups Skip the celebrities…

24. More Advanced Tips Use What the Hashtag? – find out what the abbreviations mean Use Twitcleaner – Use URL Shortening services Tiny URL Use Desktop applications to manage Twitter Tweetdeck

25. Who to follow? The founders of #edchat @ShellTerrell @tomwhitby @web20classroom @bhsprincipal @MrR0g3rs @irasocol @TeachPaperless Many more by subject at http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/

27. More moderated

28. Persistent

30. Imagine… Having someone there for you when you need it… at any time, any where. You had access to inexpensive, but powerful professional development

31. Closing Thought The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what (awards) he is capable of receiving. The most important motive … in life is the pleasure of working and thereby obtaining results which will serve the community. ~Albert Einstein

32. References Cassinelli, Colette. "What is a PLN and Why do I need one?" edtech VISION. Colette Cassinelli, 15 Feb 2010. Web. 14 Apr 2010. Hopkins, David. "Twitter Tips: for Teachers & Educators." eLearning Blog Don't Waste Your Time. David Hopkins, 09 MAY 2009. Web. 13 Apr 2010. Roscorla, Tanya. "5 Reasons Why Educators Should Network." Converge Magazine. e.Republic Inc, 22 Jan 2010. Web. 17 Apr 2010.

33. Attributions – All images used under a Creative Commons License Slide #1- “Growing A Rope” by Tinkerbradhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/tinkerszone/3959793932/ Slide #3 –”Young Tree” by aaron_languagehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/33444346@N05/3976282759/ Slide #19 – ‘holding hands’ by JonathanCohenhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathancohen/4084485753/ Slide # 25 – ‘alpacas’ by lamazone, http://www.flickr.com/photos/lamazone/2567782401/

34. Alpacas