INTO uses Social Media during Congress

It’s good to see leadership in education. An example of this is in the INTO’s use of social media to report on the happenings at their annual congress in Killarney. I have been following the updates from the congress on Twitter and Facebook and both have proved very valuable in keeping up with things. I think it’s also great that Facebook is being used not only to report on the issues being addressed but people are engaging in conversation around them. I’m also impressed by the live streaming of the congress over the Internet and the regular updates on the INTO’s web site.
Even more impressive is the INTO have also added a mobile phone app for the congress. Checking the stats yesterday on the Android Market, over 100 people have downloaded it. The app is available on both the iPhone and Android. The apps give teachers the ability to keep up to date with some of the events going on at the congress – a very clever innovation. While the cost of making an app like this could be around €40,000, the potential for this app is huge. I would be delighted if a Twitter feed was added to it, but I’m probably being greedy!
While there are lots of examples of social media being used by Irish teachers, it’s still not mainstream in classrooms. Organisations like the INTO encourage social media use by pioneering the use of these technologies, despite the risk of very few subscribers initially. This is the second year that I am aware of the INTO using social media for their congress. It would be interesting to see statistics to show how many people subscribed or interacted this year compared to last year.