Using Twitter as a Personal Learning Network (PLN)

Education and Technology: New Experiences

  

   Hello there, my name is Matt Marusarz and I am studying Physical Education at Trinity Christian College. In this Fall semester, my goal is to use Twitter to communicate and learn more about how technology and education can go hand in hand. With that being said we have been using Twitter as a Personal Learning Network and great experiences have come along with it. It all starts with who you follow and what grabs your attention. Since I will be going into Physical Education I have been following a lot of educators that give great ideas when it comes to new ways of educating students. Some of these accounts include @TeachMrReed @JakeMillerTech @MrHamiltonPE @rsnoeyink and the list goes on! There are many different accounts that provide educational value and opportunities' that I really enjoyed participating in. 

    Something that I have not done before was participate in a Live Twitter Chat about educational topics. The first Live chat that I had joined in was one about Paraeducators. This was hosted by Ashleigh K Higgins (@Higgins4Pe) who was amazing at helping out with answer questions beforehand as well. She even helped me when it came to running my own Live chat. She gave me great advice on how to run one and get many people outside of my EDUC 209 (Technology In Education) course to participate. The questions that were asked were directed towards educators who are currently working. With me being a student she made an exception and allowed me to participate despite me still attending school and not being an educator yet. 

  

  This led to me hosting my own Live Chat about "Classroom Management". I was fortunate enough to hear from other educators from outside of the classroom as well as some of my classmates. This was amazing to see that so many people were interested in participating in the Live Chat. It was a successful Live Chat and I hope that this inspires others to host their own chats too!  

       This experience was definitely a little odd at first. I have personal social media, but it was never to post things that were on my mind. My personal social media was more of keeping up to date with what my favorite musicians or athletes were up to. It was something that I chose to use just to pass the time; however, using Twitter to further my education is a huge plus to using social media. Since starting my Personal Learning Network I have read many different articles that have to do with education. Many articles included tips and experiences that teachers have gone through or it would be the complete opposite and would inform me about how educators do not have a lot of funding or how much of a struggle online learning is. Online learning is very tough because there are many classes that cannot be done over a computer screen. As a college student and future teacher, I give a lot of praise and recognition to teachers who are making sure their students get the best possible experience. It's an extremely tough time and using a PLN such as Twitter allows educators to get their voices heard. 

    So far, I've had a great time using Twitter to further my education on current issues surrounding educators, as well as, using it as a Personal Learning Network. Using Twitter as a way to learn instead of hearing about what someone said or how cruel and scary the world is right now is a great change and makes me hopeful for my future as an educator. I enjoy working with students, whether that is the tennis players I coach or the kids I work with in the summers for camp. I am very excited for my future as an educator and love that I can use different sources to teach when worse comes to worse. 

All the best, 

Matt Marusarz