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

Tweetdeck to the Rescue!

The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what make it so powerful. --Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard Law Professor and internet expert

Blogs and tweets. Tweets and blogs. Strange that these little words have become regular terms in our lexicon, and stranger still that we need some skills to manage the sheer volume of tweets and blogs coming our way. What Google Reader is to blogs, Tweetdeck is to Twitter.

What I like about Tweetdeck is the way it simplifies the Twitterverse and shows you want you want to see all at once. It comes with three designated columns (All Friends, Mentions and Direct Messages), but then the rest is up to you. I have set up one column to follow #EDES501, one to follow #edchat, and one that I alternate between #tldl, #edtech and #engchat. But hey, with the blink of an eye, I could sacrifice my quest for higher knowledge and dedicate a column to yoga or chocolate.

As far as jumping into the Twitter stream, I also like the way Tweetdeck manages your tweets by shortening URLs, shrinking your tweets if the need arises, and providing you with a list of recent hashtags. It's like having a personal assistant at your side.

It took me awhile to get comfortable with the icons and I'm still trying to figure out how to use Tweetdeck to see who is following me and who I'm following (help, anyone?), but as far as keeping up with goings-on in Twitterland, I highly recommend this tool.

In case you happen to be searching for a 'how-to' for Tweetdeck, I found this great post on Learn It In 5.

References

Barnes, M. (n.d.). Tweetdeck. Learn it in 5: how-to videos for the technology classroom. Retrieved from http://learnitin5.com/Tweetdeck

Current Events #7: Can China Hold Back the Tide?

You have not converted a man because you have silenced him. --John Morley

I found an interesting article in The Guardian this week about how the government in China, worried about political crises in the Middle East and the Occupy movement in North America, is stepping up censorship of social media.

To provide some background regarding the rising popularity of social networking in China, here is a short video about Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter:



The Chinese government's negative reaction to the power of social media provides stark contrast to our own approach.

Considering the rising education levels of the people in China, I wonder: Can the Chinese government hold back the tide?

References

Branigan, Tania. (2011, October 26). China to step up social media censorship. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/26/china-social-media-censorship

TheCorpCont. (2011, July 21). Charles in charge (of China's social media)-- the Mark Zuckerberg of China [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo5_px2m8qk

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/