The Reason Why Every Educator Should Be On Twitter « brianpaulhill A post I read today by Eric Sheninger on the NASSP website got me thinking. The post is here. He talks about the importance of leaders in education to be connected and the need for a PLN (Personal Learning Network). I couldn’t agree more. As a first year public school administrator, I am always looking for new information on the topics of education, educational leadership, and social justice. But, in the process of deleting my facebook profile (which never really goes away) I signed up for a social networking site that was new to me…twitter. Over time though I started figuring this whole twitter thing out and began to follow people that actually had something to say…and what they were saying was really good! So, I discovered another site that has now become my best friend…instapaper. This, along with many other reasons, is why I think it’s important for anyone working in education to have a twitter account.
Twitter for Researchers guide At my institution we’re really stepping up our support for researchers, and I’ve been doing a lot of stuff around the Web 2.0 end of the spectrum. I’m running a suit of workshops called Becoming a Networked Researcher, and I’ve been into departments to give taster presentations like this one: We’ve also finally completed a guide to using Twitter for Researchers. The guide took a surprisingly long time to do – the difference between knowing stuff and actually writing an ideal version of it down in a document never ceases to disappoint me… Adding examples took a while too. Anyhow, here it is – feel free to use stuff from it, with attribution:
Twitter: How to archive event hashtags and create an interactive visualization of the conversation JISC CETIS MASHe The use of Twitter to collecting tweets around an event hashtag allowing participants to share and contribute continues to grow and has even become part of mass media events, various TV shows now having and publicising their own tag. This resource is often lost in time, only tiny snippets being captured in blog posts or summaries using tools like Storify, which often loose the richness of individual conversations between participants. It doesn’t have to be this way. Using a combination of Google Spreadsheets as a data source and a simple web interface to add interactivity it’s possible to let users explorer your entire event hashtag and replay any of conversations. View example conversation replay Try out a LIVE version Update: If you are still struggling to understand the concept Radical Punch have done a overview of this tool Here's how to archive event hashtags and create an interactive visualization of the conversation (written instructions below): Capturing the tweets
How Twitter has made me a New Teacher « Dukelyer TwitterThe other day I managed to pass a couple of Twitter milestones, 500 followers and 3000 tweets, and I made me really stop and think about how this thing that many of us use named Twitter has affected my life and my passion for teaching . I teach at a steadily growing, but really still small, country school in the lower middle of the South Island of New Zealand. Then I grabbed an opportunity to travel to an EXPO in Dunedin where I met up with a teacher who I had met the past year and he was Tweeting. It lay dormant for a few months and it took me many tries to even remember the password and username, but after seeing two passionate, knowledgeable and enthusiastic teachers mention Twitter and a PLN as part of their success I new that I had to give it a go and have not looked back since. For the first time in my 10 years of teaching I am really connected and my passion for teaching and more importantly learning has been rekindled. Thank you Twitter Like this: Like Loading...
6 Twitter Analytics Tools to Improve Your Marketing Do you know if your Twitter marketing is working? Monitoring and analyzing your Twitter projects can be challenging. With the right metrics, you can improve and tailor your Twitter campaigns for better results. Luckily, third-party Twitter tools provide these metrics, but there are MANY tools to choose from out there. So here I’ll share some of the best Twitter analytics tools to help you improve your Twitter marketing. #1: SocialBro: Explore Your Community I consider SocialBro one of the top three most effective marketing tools for businesses. SocialBro comes with excellent analytics that give great insights not only about your marketing campaign, but also about your Twitter account and followers. Here are the analytics tools available with SocialBro. Real-time Analytics Real-time Analytics gives you details of the people who are active users and have tweeted in the last 10 minutes in real time. It’s a quick way to know when you should be tweeting. Insights About Your Account You can see: Summary
Twitter For Learning: 7 Ideas For Using Hashtags In The Classroom By Anibal Pacheco, TeachThought intern Twitter For Learning: 7 Ideas For Using Hashtags In The Classroom If you are an Educator looking to use Twitter in the classroom you might have noticed most tweets include a #Hashtag. The use of the # sign with a word attached to it makes up one. Hashtags trace their history to IRC (Internet Relay Chat) networks where they are used to label groups and topics. When Twitter came into the social media scene users quickly adopted hashtags as a way to group Twitter messages based on a particular subject or topic. I would recommend you search hashtag directory services like tagdef.com, twubs.com and hashtags.org to see if somebody is using the one you want. When you visit one of these services you can enter a hashtag, view what it means and register yours using Twitter’s app authentication system. Here are some examples for Hashtag usage in the classroom. 1. Have your students engage in class discussion through the use of Twitter. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
The 17 Best Twitter Hashtags for Education (2012 ) Talking about Twitter brings to mind the power of hashtags. According to Twitter Help Center the symbol #, called hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages. Below is a list of the Edublog Award finalistsfor the best Twitter hashtag for education in 2012 This is a hashtag dedicated to the use of mobile technologies in education8-# ntchat ( new Teacher chat )This chat was created to provide weekly mentoring and focus on the needs of new, new to the profession and pre-service teachers.9- # pedagoofridayThis is another great hashtag for teachers and educators. #mathchat : Mathematics#scichat : Science#engchat: English#artsed : The Arts in education#musedchat: Music#eltchat : English Language teachers#SSChat : Social Studies chat#HistoryTeacher : History#GeographyTeacher: Geography#PhysicsEd : Physics Cybraryman has also compiled a great comprehensive list of educational hashtags more than 60.
How to Use Twitter to Grow Your PLN For many people, Twitter conjures up the worst of the internet: disjointed, meaningless phrases, unrecognizable abbreviations, and endless drivel about where someone's getting their double mocha today. So, Why Tweet?!?! For the inquisitive educator, there are some jewels herein that can lead to stimulating discussions, new resources, and an ongoing supportive network. You just have to know where to look. To that end, here is a list of educationally focused chats that we recommend (listed by day): Chat for educators teaching 4th grade #4thchat Mondays 8pm ET/5pm PT/7pm CT Chat for educators teaching social studies #sschat Mondays 7pm ET/4pm PT/6pm CT Chat for music educators #musedchat Mondays 8pm ET/5pm PT Chat for ELL educators #ellchat Mondays 9pm ET/6pm PT Kindergarten Chat #kinderchat Mondays 9pm ET/6pm PT General education chat #edchat Tuesdays 12 noon ET/ 9am PT 7pm ET/4pm PT Chat for science educators #scichat Tuesdays 9pm ET/6pm PT Chat for arts educators #artsed Thursdays 7pm ET/4pm PT
Why Tweet? “Why should I be on Twitter? No one cares what I’m doing and I don’t care what they are doing.” This is the most common answer for people who aren’t currently using the social media platform when asked about it. That’s the easy answer, but let’s dig a little deeper into why people give that answer. “Why should I be on Twitter?” – “I don’t really understand how it works and why it matters.” It’s the best way to stay up to date on current events. A few other reasons to be on Twitter… interaction with your favorite brandsnetworkingstaying abreast of the latest trends in your fieldkeeping up-to-date on your interests and hobbiesfollowing your favorite sports teamsfinding out about Twitter-only promotions (sometimes companies give away free stuff)following hashtags during events to follow the live “backchannel” chatter “No one cares what I’m doing and I don’t care what they are doing.” – “I already update Facebook, can’t people just look there?” Your opinion matters and companies are listening.
Mom This is How Twitter Works