1. This is a guide for using Twitter, created for people who haven’t used it before, or haven’t used it much. The links are interactive – click to view articles and videos.

2. Twitter is a highly collaborative networking tool that is increasingly being used by educators and like-minded members of the community to connect and share. * http:// Kaplan Andreas M., Haenlein Michael (2011) The early bird catches the news: Nine things you should know about micro-blogging, Business Horizons, 54(2). http:// Kaplan Andreas M., Haenlein Michael (2011) The early bird catches the news: Nine things you should know about micro-blogging, Business Horizons, 54(2). “...allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links“ * “To Tweet or not to Tweet” on YouTubeYouTube

3. Up-to-date commentary from experts Immediate responses “Immediately people started filling out the form from all over the world and sending out the message to others.” The Power of Twitter – blog post

4. Resource sharing Teaching tool Twitter for Teachers - YouTube Twitter in the Classroom - YouTube New Research Develop global networks Mel’s followers on a map. From TweepsMapTweepsMap

5. 1.Go to www.twitter.comwww.twitter.com 2.Complete the ‘sign up’ form using your first name and email address. 3.Create a username. You’ll need something short but memorable. Your username is included in your Tweets. Make sure it relates to you. For example: Jack Smith could be SmithJ or JSmith or J_Smith77

6. You This displays your profile picture, the amount of people that follow you, and that you follow. Recommendations Twitter recommends users for you to follow, based on who you’re already following. Trends Displays a list of the topics that are currently being discussed by large numbers of people. Tweets Displays Tweets from all the people that you follow.

7. Once you’ve joined Twitter, you’ll need to ‘follow’ people. Search for someone you know (or that you’re interested in hearing from) and ‘follow’ them. Once you follow someone, every Tweet they publish is visible in your Tweet stream. You can also check out who they’re following and find people that way. There are a few users in the ACT Education and Training Directorate that are already quite prolific on Twitter. To find these users, type their username into the search box on the Twitter header menu. Search Here @ACTEducation@LTSCanberra@StephenGwilliam @stevegniel@ezka29@scottmpearce @shaunhaidon@buola66@oconnor_em @melliebee@DanBray_@PVC_ACTETD Check out these ACTETD Twitter users!

8. The basic rule of professional Twitter use is: ‘Tweet something meaningful’. The main things that people Tweet are: Website links: blog posts, great websites, news articles Opinions Communication with others: questions, answers, observations Photos and videos Promotion: a new product, a TV episode, a resource “Twitter for Teachers – What do I post?” on YouTubeYouTube

9. Hashtags are a way of organising content within Twitter. When users want to find Tweets on a specific topic, or would like to participate in a conversation with a particular group of people, they can use hashtags to find and organise content. If you include a hashtag on your Tweet, everyone that searches for that hashtag will see your Tweet, even if they aren’t following you. To find a hashtag, type it (including the # symbol) into the search bar on your header menu. “Twitter Hash Tags Explained” on YouTubeYouTube Here’s a list of hash tags to get you started: Search Here #ACTlearnACT Education topics #edchatAll education topics #edtechTechnology in education #auedchatAustralian Education More hashtags in this list: http://bit.ly/VMnR0Hhttp://bit.ly/VMnR0H

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