Sixty Minutes on Twitter

The secret to making progress is to get started. --Mark Twain

Back when I was designing my inquiry proposal, I came across some research that shows educators are using Twitter for three main purposes: 1) to stay current, 2) to network and 3) to participate in conference backchannel (Gerstein, 2011). For the past six weeks, I've jumped into the Twitter stream to try it out and I've blogged about what I've learned here and here.

This morning I did a little experiment. I loaded up Tweetdeck and gave an hour of my undivided attention to it. I organized Tweetdeck into 6 columns (all that would fit onto my screen): #tldl, #edtech, #sschat, #engchat, #bced, #edchat. What evolved in 60 minutes on Twitter?

To stay current (press the EASY button):

• connected to exciting developments at the Khan Academy
• found a link to an excellent resource on teaching digital citizenship
• discovered a new Web 2.0 tool to create personal magazines
• read an article about how to encourage technophobic teachers
  
• was reminded to get out and vote in the Civic elections today
  

To network (press the MORE DIFFICULT button)

• responded to a science teacher in Texas who blogged about Diigo
• tweeted about a post at Culture of Yes about meaningful integration of technology
  
• retweeted four posts I found useful
  

To backchannel at conferences (press the IMPOSSIBLE AT THE MOMENT button)

I have noticed in the past that traffic to my blog has increased when I tweet about it; however, creating a dialogue / collaborative niche in Twitter has proven somewhat elusive to me. I have chatted back and forth with a few people, but establishing an ongoing network is a work-in-progress.

Curiously, just as I was writing this blog, "timbuckteeth" (a.k.a Steve Wheeler) tweeted out a post to a new model for developing a PLN. This post discusses Joyce Seitzinger's idea that Twitter will not be successful if the "user does not follow or is not followed by enough other subscribers to enable the benefits of the network effect." Bingo! Clearly, the challenge (or opportunity) ahead is to build a broader network of like-minded teachers/PLNers who are ready to jump into the fray with their ideas and questions.

Are you on Twitter? Who do you follow?

References

Barseghian, T. (2011, November 18). The Khan Academy opens its virtual doors - carefully [web log post]. Retrieved from http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/11/the-khan-academy-opens-its-virtual-doors-carefully/

Common Sense Media. (2011). Digital literacy and citizenship curriculum for grades 9-12. Retrieved from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/curriculum/9-12

Gerstein, J. (2011). The use of twitter for professional growth and development. International Journal on ELearning, 10(3), 273-276. Retrieved October 1, 2011, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 2431456601).

Kennedy, C. (2011, November 18). Preparing and supporting teachers to integrate technology in the classroom [web log post]. Retrieved from http://cultureofyes.ca/2011/11/18/preparing-and-supporting-teachers-to-integrate-technology-in-the-classroom/

Kesler, C. (2011, November 19). Diigo is a great tool for teachers [web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.teachersneedtech.com/2011/11/19/diigo-is-a-great-tool-for-teachers/

Stansbury, M. (2011, November 18). Ten way to change the minds of tech-reluctant staff [web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/11/18/10-ways-to-change-the-minds-of-tech-reluctant-staff/

Wheeler, S. (2011, November 19) Tools of the trade [web log post]. Retrieved from http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2011/11/tools-of-trade.html

Using Shortcuts in Google Reader

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --Leonardo da Vinci

Google Reader is an essential tool for decluttering your online workspace. I now have 35 subscriptions in Google Reader, most of which are related to my Masters degree, with a few personal interest blogs thrown in there for good measure.

This post on Gigaom highlights a few ways to get the most out of using Google Reader. I tried out the suggested keyboard shortcuts. These are a few that I like:

Shift+? = a list of shortcuts
j = move to next item
k = move to previous item
space bar = page down
f = full screen mode
v = view original post

Because I am in the habit of saving useful blog posts to Diigo, I haven't been using the star (press s) function. However, I may try it out to highlight posts that need a more careful read.

I also checked out my "Trends" for the first time. Very interesting. Free Technology for Teachers is my "most read" blog, along with the blogs of my classmates. Blue Skunk and Cool Cat Teacher also rate up there. What else is getting my attention? Cute overload. I can't seem to help myself.

References

Foster, D. (2010, September 10). 5 tips for getting the most out of Google reader [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://gigaom.com/collaboration/5-tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-google-reader/

What the Tweet?

Exchange is creation. --Muriel Rukeyser

When I asked my sister what a hashtag was, she said she thought it had something to do with Charlie Sheen. I understand her confusion on the topic; up until a couple months ago, I would have thought it had something to do with breakfast.

My professors in the Teacher-Librarian program strongly encouraged us to use Twitter to build personal learning networks. Will Richardson (2010) writes that Twitter is a "powerful professional development and communications tool" that has become a "running river of conversation and ideas" (p. 86). So, I resurrected my long-ago abandoned Twitter account, downloaded TweetDeck and started learning about Twitter in earnest. At first, I added a short list of recommended people to follow, and this got me up and started. But, it wasn't until I started following hashtags that I really started to understand how Twitter can connect you with a broad base of enthusiastic and tech savvy educators.

A hashtag is basically a way to search and label tweets according to topic. By using hashtags, you don't need to find who to follow first. Instead, you can follow the hashtag stream, and occasionally select tweeters to follow whose interests match your own. Here is an article that I found useful in terms of understanding and finding education hashtags to follow. The hashtags I am regularly checking are: #edchat, #edtech, #engchat and, of course, #tldl and #edes501.

Needless to say, to really get the most out of Twitter, you need to start doing some of your own tweeting, not just following others. In the past few weeks, I have taken the plunge. At first, I tentatively tweeted messages to people in my course, then I added hashtags to my tweets and, this week, I started tweeting out links to my blog posts using hashtags. This morning when I looked in my Direct Mention column in TweetDeck, I saw that my blog link tweets had been retweeted several times by twitter-ites in the twitter-verse. Wow! I'm sharing ideas with teachers all over the world - one retweet even came from Burundi. A new sense of collegiality is forming and it's being powered by Web 2.0.

References

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousands Oaks, CA: Corwin.

The A-Z Dictionary of Educational Twitter Hashtags. Edudemic. Retrieved from http://edudemic.com/2011/10/twitter-hashtag-dictionary/

Web Tool #2: Twitter

A bird does not sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song. --Chinese Proverb

Now that I have started to use this tool in earnest to build my PLN (although I’m still mostly ‘lurking’), I am seeing Twitter in an entirely new light. Hardly a day goes by without me discovering a useful comment or website to bookmark with Diigo. It also works hand in hand with Google Reader. For example, as I add more people to follow and read their tweets and retweets, I discover new blogs to add to RSS.

Research shows that educators are using Twitter for three main purposes: 1) to stay current, 2) to network and 3) to participate in conference backchannel (Gerstein, 2011). Furthermore, Twitter increases in its PLN value with time invested. In this blog, Mark Marshall (2009) discusses how Twitter reaches its full potential once you’ve established a niche and a collaborative dialogue within it.

Throughout this project I will use Twitter to stay current. I'm hoping to dive in, stop "lurking", and start "tweeting".

References:

Gerstein, J. (2011). The use of twitter for professional growth and development. International Journal on ELearning, 10(3), 273-276. Retrieved October 1, 2011, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 2431456601).

Marshall, M. (2009, March 9). Twitter-what is it and why would I use it [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://markmarshall.edublogs.org/2009/03/09/twitter-what-is-it-and-why-would-i-use-it/