What type of technological socialite are you? Are you a wallflower? Or are you a social butterfly? If you haven't spread those wings yet, well, it is just about that time. Most of us, one step at a time--or should I say one flap & flutter--, have had to learn to spread our wings and fly whether we went willingly as curious little birds do or maybe you went the other route...maybe you were pushed from the nest and forced to fly.
TWITTER: Twitter is like BLOGGING on speed! The 140 character messaging constraint forces you to say what you need to say and move on! Twitter is not only a way to stay connected but a way to glean information from any and all aspects of life. You might want to know the latest news on your favorite basketball team; you may want to learn a new hobby; you may want to connect with other educators. Twitter has it ALL!
BE A FOLLOWER! & a leader at the same time!
BE A FOLLOWER! & a leader at the same time!
It really is pretty simple. All you really have to do is get an account and start following people. It is a “network at your fingertips.” It is such an easy way to ask questions and get answers; get advice; give advice, etc.
You can find new people to follow--according to your profession or your passions--by looking in directories (see resource list below).
Suggestions on how to get people to follow you:
- Get your friends to help you out; start with your friends to build your foundation and then venture out into virtual friendships
- Use the @ sign; you can “communicate” with someone even if they don’t follow you just by using the @ symbol
- Share your knowledge!
The more you use it the more followers you will get and the more you will get out of it. So, participate!
How are schools using it??
--Communicating with parents
--Communicating with community members
--Daily notices
--Links to student work
--Live presentations
--Sharing relative articles with parents/students
--Using the cell phone feature could give you instant feedback on a formative- assessment type question
--“Public Notepad” for inspiration
There are, as it is with any tool, risks that come with using Twitter in an educational setting. An alternative resource to look into is Edmodo.com. It does almost everything that Twitter is doing and more and it is a free service specifically for educators (More info HERE).
The 140 character takeaway:
“Think about Twitter for yourself first. It’s a great place to connect and learn
with others who share your passions.”
--“InnerTwitter” at Innertwitter.com
--Author of our book: twitter.com/willrich45
--Directory of Learning Professionals (& Others) on Twitter (tinyurl.com/adcdtn)
--“Twitter for Teachers” wiki (tinyurl.com/dmhgvh)
--Search.Twitter.com
--Good school example of usage is Westlake High School in Austin, TX: twitter.com/whschaps
--Alternative to Twitter?? Edmodo.com
--“Twitter in Academia” post on AcademicHack blog (tinyurl.com/25u2cx) gives suggestions on how to use Twitter in the classroom
--Teacher who is using Twitter in the classroom (twitter.com/teachpaperless)
Chapter 6
ReplyDeleteThe title alone made me excited about this chapter: the social web! Something I thought I would finally be familiar with. I did find myself familiar with what he was describing but I was not aware of their full capabilities. This really excited me. Twitter takes a whole new meaning the global conversations: it is the definition of what a global conversation can look like. The chapter goes on to describe what all twitter can be used for. I love the hash tags and the ability to connect with people through the @ symbol of who you do not even know and will never come face to face contact with. Then it goes on to talk about Diigo which blows my mind. I have always hated going to a computer lab and not having my laptop simply because the browser does not have my bookmarks. With Diigo it all changes! Not only can you bookmark your favorite site or new ones that come your way, but you are able to group them together, write a little description to remind yourself, and connect with other people and websites! Again, mind is blown! I have already found myself going to my Diigo library on my own laptop instead of my bookmarks just because I think that is that cool. The book did a really good job explaining this social web sources but the best way for my to grasp my head around it is to twitter and diigo myself. I know that I will use the diigo source for if my students ever need to do research papers, or if we are reading a difficult story and they can group together a list of sites that help explain the old Shakespeare stories to them!
I really enjoyed Jenny's take on Twitter! Loved the idea of using twitter as a fun free writing component for students. It is not hard to come up with a 120 character post and it would be fun to see where the students could take it!
Chapter 6 Social web: Here are some "takeaway points" I got from reading the chapter, for myself personally and for my classroom.
ReplyDeleteTwitter: Microblogging.
Have to be careful with students (can move away from education quickly).
Good things: can link outside sources/articles/etc and give people current and easy access. As an educator/personally: can expand my knowledge base (learning what other people know about the same topic in real-time). I think with proper guidance, twitter can be used in the classroom, to make writing fun and to connect with others.
Social Bookmarking: This is the one I REALLY find useful now, and can see using later as a teacher, and ALSO later, in teaching my students to use it as a research tool.
Organize/categorize articles/things I find on the web (diigo), and share your finds with others, and find others that have bookmarked them as well. You can create little blurbs about what the article is about, to be able to remember what it's about, when looking @ your diigo later. You can connect with others with similar interests. You can login and get your bookmarks from any computer (which is SO useful! Much like google docs/google drive- which we all know I love). Students can use diigo as they research (putting findings under a category made for their project, and share with others). This is the MAIN thing that I love most about diigo. It works much like main brain does, when I am looking for research on a topic. Normally, I have a word doc open, and as I find websites, I copy/paste them into the word doc and write a little blurb under it, to remember later as I am really focusing on what sites I want to use. Kind of like my own version of a mini Annotated Bibliography, which makes diigo a VERY useful tool for me. I think from this whole course, diigo is what I have loved learning about the most, because I know I will use it for research moving forward, as it is a more organized/more easily accessible version of what I already do. We all know I love organization!
I know we have shared our diigos, but here is the link to mine, for reference/example (work in progress!):
My diigo
I am the type of person that did not see the benefit of having a MySpace when that was popular, or a Facebook, and nonetheless a Twitter account for my personal or professional use. As I begin to explore more about technology through this course I can see the benefits of why a Twitter account could be beneficial to use as an educator and how a simple tool such as Diigo, could be the main source of organizing different resources available online.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter (6) and Jenny’s presentation focused on the benefits of using Twitter in the classroom as a tool for writing. It is very common for students to have their own twitter account, having students transfer the background knowledge into the classroom is great way to engage students through their common interest. I think that as educators we can provide students with opportunities where they can see the benefits of these tools from their educational/learning perspective.
Diigo is a great tool that can help you organize anything and everything you find on the web. Diigo allows for the user to highlight on the text, create sticky note annotations, snapshot a website if worried that it will not be available, and all of the information can be access from different devices (IPad, IPhone, tablet) on the “My Library” from the users personal Diigo account. As an educator I see this as a great tool for students to learn how to organize and annotate information they find online, to later use that information to write an essay. The information the user gathers can be share with others as a way to collaborate, if students were working together in a group project this tool could help students share their ideas and information.
Groups
https://groups.diigo.com/group/educ-420-multi_subject
This group was created as a resource for other teacher to gather ideas as to how to incorporate Diigo into their classroom curriculum.
YouTube Web Cam Response
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgK72vQYgsVh8mz1LkM2rHQ This is my active youtube channel where I able to view, share, and post videos pertaining to educational material. When It comes to teaching, students can take advantage of comfortable learning(at their own pace) and a structured and well prepared presentation.
https://www.edmodo.com/home#/profile/40783285 This is Edmodo, an online social media web interface that gives teacher ultimate control, and allows students and other classrooms alike to be involved in similar exercises, and learn in a way that is comfortable to them!
Twitter.com @SnivelyR This is my professional twitter page, where I can guide students to learn on a social media platform, in addition to fostering a learning by doing, or in this case: being a part of the real conversation!
https://www.diigo.com/user/rsnivel2
After reading the chapter and exploring some of the tools, I was glad to see that Twitter isn’t just used as a narcissistic social tool to share trivial personal philosophies and experiences. Before the class, twitter was a bit of a mystery and all I knew of it was from media stories which focused on celebrities retracting controversial messages which they had posted in the heat of the moment. The text chapter helped me understand the true potential of the app, but I still feel like it would be one of my last choices as an educational tool. There is too much opportunity to run into inappropriate material when following hashtagged material. The best material (in my opinion) covered during this week has been Diigo and Ron’s great presentation on Edmodo. As the author stated in the text; Diigo isn’t just great because you are able to create your own libraries of researched sites. It is also great because you are able to borrow the research of other like minded people and you are able to join groups of people who are continuously researching similar topics to your own. Edmodo also looks to be a tool that could organize a classroom with great effectiveness. By setting up a site which lays out all of the expectations, organizes tests and assignments, provides forums for discussion and questioning, and provides a portal for parents, Edmodo could potentially be the sole tool in building your class structure.
ReplyDelete