I have had a short article about using Twitter and your Personal Learning Network (PLN) published in the most recent edition of IB World.  You can read the article below – it’s only short, what I submitted was a little longer, but it great to see Twitter and PLNs being mentioned in more traditional media.

Want to develop your peer support network? It’s time to tweet, says Richard Allaway, a humanities teacher at the International School of Geneva, Switzerland. Richard has been teaching geography for eight years and since 2008 he’s been keeping in touch with geographers around the world using online messaging service Twitter.

“Working in a small department in an international school, opportunities for face-to-face professional development can be difficult to access due to the distances involved, the time commitment and the cost.

I was first introduced to Twitter (www.twitter.com) through mentions in blogs I read produced by fellow geographers and people involved in education technology. Everyone’s talking about it at the moment. It’s got around six million registered users, so it’s hard to miss. Users send and read ‘tweets’ – text-based updates that are limited to 140 characters and therefore very focused.

Once you’ve joined, you can build up a network by ‘following’ other users. My Personal Learning Network (PLN) is global, including clusters in Europe, North America and South-East Asia. It includes other geography teachers and educators, people who tweet about topics that interest me and that I am involved in through my teaching.

I tweet to share links to good-quality resources, or something that’s worked well in my classroom that day. I often let people know of any updates I’ve made to my website. Sometimes I tweet for help – a plea for a fresh idea or a link to something I know is out there but just can’t find. I will start teaching the new Diploma Programme geography syllabus this year and I know Twitter will be a definite help.

To find other IB teachers and let them find you, there’s a wiki site where you can enter your details at ib-teachers-using-twitter.wikispaces.com. Any questions, just send me a tweet – my username is @richardallaway.”

SourceSimilar Posts:

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The aim of this post is to outline how Google Documents could be used to easily collect information from participants before a workshop.  The aim is not to give step by step instructions – but to just outline what can be done so that you may want to go and have a look for yourself.

Google Documents is an online word processor and spreadsheet service – that Google provides for free.  It is possible to use Google Documents to create an online form.  You can then email a link to the online form to participants.  If the participant clicks the link – they are taken to the online form for them to complete.  All the completed responses are automatically collated into an online spreadsheet – which can be viewed online or downloaded and opened in a program such as Excel.

An example of one such online form can be seen here.

To produce such an online form and to view the collated responses you need a Google Account – if you use gmail you already have a google account.

Go to Google Documents.    Click New > Form.  You can now design your online form.  There are six different styles of question – Text, Paragraph Text, Multiple Choice, Check-boxes, Choose from a list and Scale.  Once you are happy with the design you can email the form to the participants.  The responses can be viewed from within Google Documents.  It is also possible to set up Google to email you when somebody completes the form.

Google Forms are a versatile tool.  I have used Google Forms in the classroom to collect feedback on student’s presentations and as a tool for a class to collaborate on a data collection task.  It is also used for various tasks on my Online Geography and Humanities Website – geographyalltheway.com.  Any questions – just ask!Similar Posts:

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It’s time for a summer break – so I will be taking four or five weeks off from working on geogaphyalltheway.com.  With the aim of having a rest, spending time with the new addition to my family and to moving to Geneva.

I will still be checking email, moderating comments and tweeting – the wonders of an iPhone Similar Posts:

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I have been tagged – by Alan Parkinson.  It’s a bit like the chain letters of old but without the nasty side.  The idea is to present 7 facts about yourself that others might not know.

Here we go …

1.  I lived in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery for 6 months.  It was part of my gap year before university.  I applied to go to China to teach airhostesses English but ended up in a Buddhist monastery in India instead!

2.  I recently sold my beautiful VW Campervan to buy a ’sensible’ family car.

3.  I used to climb a lot and intend to climb a lot again in the future – oh for the time!

4.  I once did a three performance stint as Carmen Miranda at a school Cabaret evening.  Sorry – no photos available.

5.  I did my first ‘Mile High’ Nappy Change yesterday.

6.  The name ‘geographyalltheway.com‘ was invented by my wife, as we brainstormed possible website addresses, while driving round a roundabout on the M60.

7. I am an International Mountain Leader – having passed my Summer Mountain Leader Assessment, completed my Winter Mountain Leader Training and built up an extensive logbook of walking experience.

Who should I ‘tag’ – I would have tagged the person that tagged me and others that have already been tagged.  I’ll add to the mix:

Rob Micallef – IB Geography BlogSimilar Posts:

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