1. Twitter
In my experience following Josh Stumpenhorst, I began to see a real use for Twitter in
education. It makes it very easy to search for common thoughts or ideas with its use of hashtags (#). If
you are looking up a specific topic you can search that topic and anything someone has tweeted with
the specific hashtag will appear in your feed. One of the common hashtags used among various
educators is #edchat (as seen in the first snapshot below). Some of these have links to articles or blogs
while other tweets are questions to ponder. This brings up another great thing about Twitter: the ability
to share other sources of media. Everywhere you see links to other people’s Twitter profiles, news
articles, pictures, other social media, videos, and blogs. Josh Stumpenhorst seems to have many thought
provoking links posted quite often. Two that have some real relevance were “What Happened to the
Spirit of Teaching” and “22 Things Education Does That Will Embarrass Us in 25 Years.” Aside from this
professional side of Twitter Mr. Stumpenhorst also has some personal tweets about his life where he is
posting pictures or asking questions and holding conversations with other people.

2. Through following D Martin, I have been exposed to many thoughts about the problems with
standardized testing. Most of these I agree with whole-heartedly. Some of the resources provided in
Mr. Martin’s tweets gave me ideas about how to assess students in math so that it is personalized and
helpful to them and not a stressful “measuring stick” that creates a negative association with math in
the minds of students. Aside from standardized testing, technology use is addressed when he states
that it must be ensured that students learn the outcome and not just how to use technology to get the
outcome. Mr. Martin also makes the point that students may know how to do something, but they may
not know why (pictured in the first snapshot below). This ties in directly with critical thinking. Students
cannot be taught just to memorize any longer, but must learn to ask questions and discover the why and
how of everything.

4. Tom Altepeter is passionate about social relationships and how they affect individuals. Many of
his tweets deal with racism, stereotypes, and inequality. This topic is very important in the world of
education because of the diversity of classrooms. Mr. Altepeter has shared many videos, articles, and
pictures that promote consideration of the differences between people and cultures. Much of what I
read from his postings made me think of character education and how educators can use videos or
pictures to engage students in considering what they say and do and how it affects their peers. Looking
at how what we say and how we act in a manner that puts it in perspective in the relevance to the real
world makes a greater impact. This is done very well in a simple tweet of a news article or video. Tom
Altepeter’s Twitter does not have education “plastered” across it but it is very educational because it is
thought provoking and personal.

6. George Couros tweets about anything and everything. He has many tweets of articles ranging
from news articles about sports to a girl who makes cardboard masks and posts pictures on Instagram.
Some of these tweets are fun and light hearted while other will make you cringe at the world and
wonder why people are the way they are. Overall his Twitter feed is encompassing of all issues facing
education. From reasons why not to use Internet Explorer to empowering students, every tweet has
something desperately important to consider whether you are inside or outside a classroom. This is
how educators should approach teaching – make it applicable to life not just to passing a class to move
on to what is next. The way Mr. Couros covers such a broad range makes me believe Twitter, or other
social media, would be an excellent way to initiate class discussion that would bring forth ideas from
differing subjects and content.

7. In following the CI350 class twitter, I found that many ways for utilizing social media in the
classroom exist. Ideas for how teachers can use sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs are found in
countless articles. Articles about this topic also include warnings and guidelines teachers, or really
anyone, should follow when on a social network. One thing I have noticed about Twitter through
following the CI350 class is that when tweets have the same idea or message, Twitter works well for
molding someone’s ideas. So it is quite clear that Twitter can be used for advertising or campaigning
effectively.