The power of Twitter

I recieved a tweet yesterday from Frank Crawford (from HMIe) in Scotland. I met Frank a couple of weeks ago when he was in Sydney. Since then we have "met up" on Twitter. His tweet caused me to reflect on the power of Twitter for me professionally.

I've been using Twitter for a while and have found it a valuable professional tool. As someone who values networking for learning, Twitter has allowed the ongoing connection with others.

It has allowed me to:

• maintain connections with colleagues
• forge new professional connections across all sectors in education and beyond education
• keep up with developments in education and beyond
• be part of conferences when I couldn't physically be there
• share my own thoughts about conferences and forums that I have attended
• put questions out there about professional problems and get instant responses
• access key thinkers that influence my thinking
• put my own thinking out there and get responses.

The power of Twitter and the accessibility it provides has been quite significant for me. Twitter has given me access to people, knowledge and learning in a way that was not possible 5 or so years ago.