Journal #2 - "Join The Flock" and "Enhance Your Twitter Experience" By Handley Ferguson

Ferguson, H. (2010). Join the flock. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(8), 12-15. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/20100607?pg=14&pm=2&fs=1#pg14

Join The Flock

Summary: The author of  Join the Flock, Hadley Ferguson is not only a user of Twitter, but is obviously a huge advocate of this Internet tool as well. Ferguson explains in her article how useful this tool can be. By simply signing up and following people interested in the same things as you, you are able to create your own Personal Leaning Network (PLN). By using "hash tags" one can easily find people who are interested in the same things and follow them! How does this virtual community help you ask? Well, by tweeting ideas, articles, links, and helpful tools you can help others to expose themselves to new things, and they can do the same for you. Learning from others is an irreplaceable tool. Even though I was very apprehensive about using twitter in general, Ferguson has nudged me into a more accepting state of mind. As a future teacher, to be able to instantly access a community that ultimately has the same goal as yourself. Being able to communicate ideas, problems and gain support from people just like yourself is quite amazing. Ferguson places great emphasis on the importance of setting aside time to grow your twitter community, contribute and explore. After all there is no other way to grow virtual relationships but to give them your time and attention.

Enhance Your Twitter Experience

Summary: In the article Enhance Your Twitter Experience, Hadley Ferguson continues to praise Twitter and shares with us tools to improve and organize your Twitter account. Ferguson introduces to us the idea of TweetDeck. This is a download-able Twitter organizer. I must admit that I was slightly apprehensive (very apprehensive really) about downloading this. Instead of shying away from the Twitter experience, I took Ferguson's advice and decided to dive in. I must admit, TweetDeck is a very cool tool. Not only can you sign in and organize your Twitter account, but you can sign in with Facebook, Buzz, Linkedln, Foursquare and Myspace as well! What a great way to stay organized in the virtual community! 

Question #1:

How is a PLN helpful?

Using Twitter to build virtual relationships with people who have similar interests and goals will allow you to learn from others' experiences and allow you to benefit from others' research and ideas as well. Don't forget that contributing to your Twitter community is important. The more you make yourself seen, the larger your community can grow. 

Question #2:

How can I be helpful to my PLN?

Spend a good amount of time every day or week contributing to your PLN. This can be as simple as sharing what worked or didn't work in your classroom that day or week. Sharing articles, web tools or lesson ideas with your PLN is a great was to contribute to the learning experience of others as well.