Which EdTech Personalities Should You Follow On Twitter?
by Kristin Marino, onlineschools.com
When you’re deeply involved with your students in the classroom, the last thing you may feel like doing is picking up your mobile device and engaging in social media.
Understandable, but carving out a few minutes a day to keep up with social media can actually help you in the classroom. While there’s no doubt that social media can be a colossal time drain, if you’re choosy about where you engage and whom you engage with, social media can enrich your teaching experience in ways you may not have imagined.
Here are a few social media accounts you should be following–14 for twitter, and one for instagram and linkedin thrown in for good measure.
Who To Follow On Twitter: 15 #edtech Personalities
Twitter is great for a time-pressed education professional because each tweet is limited to 140 characters.
1. @edutopia: A pioneer in project-based learning, and champion of sharing the very best resources in education.
2. @teachthought: A blog that focuses on how people learn, how technology is changing the world, and how education–especially teachers–can adjust.
3. @audreywaters: A self-proclaimed recovering academic, Audrey isn’t afraid to give her opinion on some of the “crap that passes for edtech.” (Swoon!) Whether or not you agree with some of her positions, she is a fierce proponent of improving what we call education. This makes her worth following.
4. @cybraryman1: Curator of his own digital library, Jerry Blumengarten is a busy, prolific, and helpful Twitter educator with over 87,000 tweets under his belt. He taught in the New York City School System for 32 years and is currently an #edchat moderator.
5. @coolcatteacher: Vicki Davis is a full time classroom teacher and creator or more than 15 global projects. She’s author of The upcoming book Reinventing Writing and coauthor of Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds.
6. @web20classroom: Educator, speaker, blogger and #edchat co-creator Steven W. Anderson was named one of the “Top 50 Innovators in Education” and a “Twitterer of the Year.”
7. @angelamaiers A long-time twitter user and education catalyst interested in promoted passion-driven learning.
8. @erinklein
9. @ShellTerrell: With over 46,000 followers, teacher educator and author Shelly S. Terrell is a Twitter powerhouse. She is an #edchat founder who not only imparts her own wisdom to followers, but also directs them to other important and useful articles and information for teachers.
10. @angelawatson
11. @drsolis: Not all Twitter feeds worth following need to have thousands of followers. Dr. Solis is a gem of a feed from an instructional designer at Baylor University who also blogs at k12techcorner.blogspot.com.
12. @justintarte
13. @teachingwithsoul: Yes, we are focused on educational technology and teaching in the 21st century, but we can’t forget our roots and why we are all really in the classroom in the first place — the students. Lisa Dabbs believes teaching, at its core, is about connecting, and her Twitter feed supports that idea.
14. @edtechchic: You’ll want to follow some Twitterers who are in the trenches every day. Jessica Johnston is an instructional technology specialist for the Brenham Independent School District in Texas. Give her a follow for a slightly different perspective.
15. @thenerdyteacher
If you’re an Instagram fan, you may think at first glance that it may not mesh well with edtech. There are some good fledgling edtech accounts on there, though.
15. @DavidLeeedtech: There aren’t a ton of followers of this Instagram account, but there are nearly 300 posts from David Lee, who is an EdTech Specialist at KoreaInternational School. He’s also got Twitter (@davidleeedtech), but he offers some compelling edtech content on his instagram account, including some great classroom videos, including one featuring a robot made from a softdrink container by a second grader.
Not just a vehicle for job searchers, LinkedIn is also a way for professionals to connect with others in their field.
16. International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has an active community on LinkedIn with over 41,000 members and offers lively discussions you can participate in if you join the group. You can connect with other education professionals by joining in the conversation or starting your own.
For those seeking a job in education technology, you can look at job postings and connect with possible employers. Recent discussions include “Assessing Credibility of Online Resources” and “What is 21st Century Education?”
If you only have a few minutes a day for social media, a few minutes is enough, especially if you follow these social media accounts. They may also lead you to other valuable edtech social media accounts.
Kristin Marino writes about education, technology, careers and social media. She is a contributor to several websites, including OnlineSchools.com; Who To Follow On Twitter: 15 #edtech Personalities