Weekly Report & Reflection #5

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Setting up a Twitter account is something that everyone should do to develop his or her digital footprint. Twitter opens a new world of communication between individuals from all over the world. You receive 140 characters to write whatever you would like. A tool used frequently on twitter is the use of hashtags. A hashtag allows you to connect your tweet to a particular topic. You can search hashtags and find other tweets involving the same tag. For instance, on Superbowl Sunday a commonly tweeted tag would have been #SuperbowlSunday. Another example from my personal account I was able to use and incorporate the hashtag #ADED1P32 which lead me to be able to view people’s tweets from my class!

Twitter absolutely adds to my personal learning environment (PLE). Looking back to my PLE diagram from week 2 I already incorporated Twitter under communication/social networks. However, I recently deleted my original Twitter account. I realized there were many tweets that did not add to my positive digital footprint. This course has now given me the opportunity to create a new account focused on educational purposes. My goal with this twitter account is to post purposeful tweets that my classmates can learn from and be interested in reading. Typically, my previous interactions with twitter involved following celebrities and communicating with my close friends. This course has made me realize all the other purposes twitter has. I never really used the hashtags to search related topics but now I realize what a useful tool they can be.

It’s so important to learn about how a social media site like Twitter works because the reach of your tweets, unless you choose to be private are worldwide. As digital citizens we must choose appropriate content to share! For some help with this, a great article from the online module was the TwitterHandbook for Teachers. This is an awesome document that shares tips on how to grow your PLN using twitter. Check it out for some great suggestions and tips! Also feel free to follow me on twitter: @brookemp_.

In addition to this weeks online module and activities I found an interesting blog from my Feedly read. Have you ever heard of the golden rule of time management? This blog attracted my attention because I have been focused on time management lately with school assignments and midterms happening. This blog introduced me to a great new time management technique called the 8/8/8 Rule! This rule splits your day into three, eight hour segments.

This week taught me a lot about the depth of social networks and the many uses of them that most people don't even realize. In relation to digital literacy, I think many individuals who use these networks don't take the time to really get to know the full aspects of them. Personally, I just skimmed the surface of twitter and would use it for personal use rather than use it to its full potential and make use of hashtags, and following people who post relevant things. I am excited to look at Twitter in a brand new way!