Activity 2: Creating a Network (1 hour)
While all the tools above allow you to grow your network by interacting with different people, you also need to actively grow your network. Twitter, for example, allows you to both ‘follow’ and be followed. It’s a good idea to follow one or two education icons to see what they are doing. This is relatively easy to do as you subscribe to their username. For example, the British educationist, John Davitt, can be followed by linking to his Twitter username, @johndavitt. It makes sense, however, to follow someone you have heard at a conference or a lecturer whose perspective you enjoy. Start collecting some twitter accounts.

1. Go online to http://twitter.com and create an account, if you have not already in the previous activity. Log in.
2. Click on the ‘Who to Follow’ tab from the menu at the top of the screen.
3. In the ‘Who to Follow’ search field, insert a phrase like ‘Teaching history’ that reflects your interest.
4. A set of search results appears where numerous users are listed. Select one and their profile appears in the right hand panel. Look for the Tweet summary where you can see how many people that person is following and how many are following him or her. (Tip: People who have more ‘followers’ than they are ‘following’ tend to be more interesting… however, this is hardly a golden rule).