Hashtags are a great way of searching for tweets in a specific category from the whole of the Twitterverse – search for #ukedchat and you will come up with a huge stream of tweets which have been tagged as interesting to anyone wanting to read about UK education. As well as searching for tagged tweets, you can tag your own tweet to make sure you are talking to an interested audience that extends beyond your followers.
You can tag absolutely any word on Twitter so it can sometimes be difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff. I have read dozens of lists of ‘useful’ hashtags where many of the tags have never been used more than a handful of times. Not useful in my book.
By talking to my followers and noting which hashtags are most often used by the tweeters I follow I have compiled a list of hashtags which I think will all be of interest to UK Teachers though many extend far beyond the UK.
General Education Hashtags
- #ukedchat – UK Education. In my opinion this is the most useful hashtag for UK Teachers.
- #edchat – Education, worldwide (lots of US teachers). A really useful hashtag if you are interested in tweeting with a wide range of educators worldwide.
- #edchatie - Edchat, with an Irish flavour
- #addcym – Welsh language Edchat
- #edsg – For educators in Singapore
- #schools – Massively wide ranging but used far less than #edchat or #ukedchat
- #teaching – This hashtag seems to largely be used for jobseeking so a good place to look if you’re moving on!
- #lrnchat – Learning
- #TT – Teacher Tuesday where educators suggest others to follow
- #kinderchat – hashtag for discussing kindergarten aged children
- #EdChatIE – The educational hashtag for Ireland for all three levels
- #ClavEd – The educational hashtag for French Speakers – Wednesdays at 12h(EST) 13h(ATL) 18h(Paris)
- #GlobalEd – Education with a global dimension
- #Urbaned - For all those involved in urban education
- #Langchat – For all language teachers
Technology
- #edtech – a very wide range of tweets relating to the use of technology in education. This is a great hashtag to follow and tends to be a lot more widely used than the more niche tags. Though they may be worth following if you have a specific interest in that area
- #elearning – eLearning (funnily enough!)
- #mlearning – the use of mobile technologies in education, also #mobilelearning though this is less used
- #edapp – educational apps
- #gbl - games based learning
- #lwf11 – Learning Without Frontiers Conference 2011
- #slide2learn – iDevices and learning
- #vitalcpd – effective use of technology in the classroom
Subject Specific
- #mathchat – mathematics
- #scichat – science
- #engchat – English
- #artsed – the arts in education
- #musedchat – music
- #eltchat – english language teacher
- #STEM – widely used for posts and resources in STEM education
- #SSChat – social studies chat
- #PEGeeks – PE and technology
- #RETeacher – Religious Education
- #HistoryTeacher – History
- #GeographyTeacher – Geography
- #ASEChat – Association of science and education weekly chat Monday 8-9pm GMT
- #PhysicsEd – Physics
- #Ecbusteach – Economics and Business Studies
Specific Areas / Roles
- #pgce – this is a widely used hashtag and is great for anyone in the UK doing their PGCE, a great way to share ideas and support
- #gtchat – for tweets related to gifted and talented education
- #esl – English as a second language, this seemed to have more relevant tweets than #EFL when I checked it
- #Bullying – especially good for finding bullying resources or help and support if bullying is an issue though it is not confined to school bullying
- #cpchat – connected principals, this is mainly used by American principals but I thought it worth including as there were some interesting links shared in the stream and it’s not too spammy
- #ntchat - new teachers, (#nqtchat seems to have lapsed)
- #spedchat – special educational needs. Live chat every Tuesday night at 8:30 EST for special education related topics
- #homeschool – everything related to home schooling, seems to be far more widely used than #hsc
- #playoutdoors – outdoor play and learning ideas
- #TLChat - is the hashtag for Teacher Librarians’ discussions/resources
- #ESDGC - Education for sustainability and global citizenship
I’m sure there are plenty more useful hashtags that could be added here. Please comment or tweet me @CreativeEdu with your suggestions and I will update the post as appropriate.
Would also add #hhl, #mlearning, #gbl, #lwf11
#slide2learn is good for idevices and learning.
#playoutdoors is a must for any educator looking for outdoor play and learning ideas. It’s a warm and friendly hashtag, if that makes sense!
#ece is Early Childhood Education and often used too.
No hashtag but if “outdoor learning” appears in a tweet, I will pick up on it!
How about #vitalcpd the Open University DfE funded Vital Project we tweet about the effective use of technology in the classroom
it’s on the list, great suggestion. thank you!
I’m a member of a ning called we teach. We share a lot on twitter and use #weteach and #ece Most of us are teaching elementary aged children and under.
Don’t forget #spedchat that happens every Tuesday night at 8:30 EST for special education related topics.
Harold
AWEsome post! Adding it to my “Don’t Hate the Hashtag – Social Media” SQWORL Group!
How about #TLChat for Teacher Librarians!? Of course, we love to also connect with all the other subjects – as we are wont to do but we also have lively discussions about the future of school libraries!
Cheers!
~Gwyneth Jones
The Daring Librarian
#TLChat is the hashtag for Teacher Librarians’ discussions/resources. It’s a very active hashtag–great resource.
#STEM is widely used for posts and resources in STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)
Thank you so much for posting this blog I am new to Twitter and this helps!!!!
Thanks Maria – you may also find this post useful. It’s a guide for teachers starting out on Twitter.
Could you also add #edchatie it is the educational # tag for Ireland for all 3 levels.
Hi
Thanks for this list – really helpful. There is also #reteacher #historyteacher and #geographyteacher to add to the subject list!
Thanks,
Paddy
Thanks Paddy I’ll add them now.
You can add #physicsed for physics teachers :)
French teachers can participate in #ClavEd It is a great forum for French speakers!!! Chats are usually on Wednesdays at 11:00 Central
thanks, I’ll add it to the list right away!
There’s also #globaled for global dimension stuff. Haven’t found a hashtag for education for sustainability yet. Any pointers?
Thanks Mike – I’ll see if anyone’s aware of a educationsustainability hashtag – otherwise you could start it up – #EdSust?
Education for sustainability and global citizenship (they’re hard to distinguish) now at #esdgc… Hope it makes it to the list!
If you’re willing to participate in a Twitter chat, I’d recommend looking at the Twitter for PDpost. Also, take a look at scheduled Twitter chatsfor more information.
#ictcurric is a great hashtag for ICT tweeps looking to teach more than just how to use Microsoft Office. It’s mostly KS3 focused, and there’s an associated Moodle and some Google sites with loads of shared resources and schemes of work. It’s fantastic!
You know what, Pooky? I wish Twitter would publish a set of official hashtags, and control it. There are simply too many out there, some of which are mere duplicates, and some refer to conflicting topics. Once, I had a # streaming (I can’t remember which now), and got a lot of religious stuff. Urgh.
By the way, I’m surprised you mentioned #TT, but not #FF (Follow Friday), which has the stronger following, I believe.
Cheers!
I like to use #ipaded as well!
steve.haswell@thecreativeteacher.co.uk
Thanks Paddy, I will add it to my list and keep the list that you provided.
I have just set up a Creative consultancy website:- the creative teacher and I am very new to twitter and facebook. I had not heard of hash tags.
#PBLChat is fairly new and is for Project Based Learning. Tues @ 9pm EST !