How to Rock Professional Development Using Social Media [Principal’s Tip]

Computers are Now Mobile

PC Magazine reports that web surfing on mobile devices will surpass PCs by 2015. Mobile is where I personally access about 75% of my social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

School principals should capitalize on this trend by tweeting professional development articles to their staff on a daily or weekly basis. It could be a great way to tweet interesting articles relating to school initiatives you or your district has put in place.

Graphic by www.searchenginewatch.com

Setup a Professional Twitter Account

All this will require is that your principal and staff setup a professional Twitter account (many will already have this setup) to access and read the tweets. Not only will this save trees, but it will allow teachers to have a professional development database to access articles at any time without using their personal hard drive or cloud account.

 

Your School's Cloud PD Database

Your school could even create a dedicated Twitter account using your school name and the letters PD at the end (eg. @ThompsonElementaryPD). This account can be used for the sole purpose to Tweet an article a day that relates to your school’s professional development initiative or your school’s problem of practice.

Teachers and staff can read the tweeted articles at their leisure on their favorite mobile device or favorite the tweet to archive for later use. (<---Read my previous post)

Bonus Tip to Increase Engagement

An extra bonus would be to hold a Twitter Chat with your staff to discuss the article. What a great way to mix social media and professional development. you can find out more about Twitter Chats by following the link below.

Twitter Chats: How to Create a Successful Tweet Chat by Social Media Examiner

Have fun and Tweet on.

*PD - Professional Development