The Teacher's Guide To Twitter Twitter has proven itself to be an indispensable tool for educators around the globe. Whatever skill level you may be, Twitter is downright fun and worth your time. So here’s a useful guide that we curated from Edudemic’s archives in an effort to put something together that was a bit easier to read than random blog posts. We hope you enjoy and will be regularly adding to this guide so feel free to leave your ideas down in the comments or by, what else, tweeting us @edudemic anytime! Our Biggest Twitter Tips For Teachers For many teachers making a foray into the edtech world, Twitter is an excellent tool for consuming and learning. Many are also harnessing Twitter as a part of their PLN (personal learning network) to connect, share, and network. Check out our biggest Twitter tips for teachers below! Create, Don’t Just Consume The best way to get the most out of Twitter is to use it. Connect and Network Share Your Resources Keep At It Guide To Education-Oriented Twitter Hashtags Search Rule #1
Crestwood students tweet their way into history North York Mirror Other kids may be lounging around on March Break, but students from North York’s Crestwood Preparatory College are spending part of their vacation participating in a “first-of-its-kind” cross-Canada social media initiative. Called the Twitter Book Club, the project will see Crestwood students join with students from Barrie, Ontario, Lloydminster, Alberta, Warren, Manitoba and Gander, Newfoundland. The grades 10, 11 and 12 students will read a book called Survival Kit, written by North York Holocaust survivor Zuzana Sermer, and, along the way, tweet their thoughts and observations as part of a real-time conversation. Teachers can pose questions for students to ponder and tweet about as they read and can follow the students’ comments. “I told them it’s like doing a book report one tweet at a time,” said Scott Masters, the head of social studies at Crestwood, near York Mills Road and the Don Valley Parkway. “I think it’s an experimental idea.
Can Twitter open up a new space for learning, teaching and thinking? | Higher Education Network | Guardian Professional At the end of 2011, a few geeks in Sweden set up the Swedish Twitter University, which brought lectures in a series of tweets to a class of around 500 followers. It may have been the first time Twitter was used to deliver higher education, and given recent debate about massive open online courses (MOOCs), it seems apt that we reflect on what Twitter might do to transform the classroom and open up a new space for public education? Last month we put together an experiment that tested these limits, using a bespoke hashtag to bring together all of the content. Is there something to gain by being 'alone together', as MIT's Sherry Turkle would say? Did it work? Three pros: • The Twitter seminar gave students the rare opportunity to ask questions and post comments to Andy through tweets and receive individual replies. • Students experienced public pedagogy first hand and were also given their own sense of working within the public domain. Three cons:
Social media: like the staffroom, but without all the negativity | Teacher Network | Guardian Professional I once heard someone describe Twitter as, "like the staffroom but without all the negativity". This resonated with me. Teaching is one of those professions where everyone has an opinion on how it should be done; teachers are often harangued for short working hours and long summer holidays, and whenever things go wrong in schools it makes national headlines. But very rarely do you see good practice being celebrated. This negativity – and the pressures of the job – quickly seep into the staffroom and it can be difficult to stay motivated. I once heard Dr. Her advice was to get out of a school if this was the situation, but this isn't an option for most teachers. I came to teaching later in my working life – I was 30 years old when I started. Social media has become a lifeline for me. Through these platforms I have built up a network of connections for help, advice, information and products. Many schools frown upon teachers using some, if not all, social media sites.
7 tools to present a Twitter stream at your event For a number of reasons, Twitter and events are a good match: Before the event, it is a great tool to spread the word about the contents of your event (speakers, topics etc.), to engage and to connect with potential attendees.During the event, it is perfect to add a virtual component to your conference or meeting, by linking the real life audience with the tweeps out there.It is also great to collect feedback, questions, do polls during the event.After the event, it allows you to refer back to useful content like slides, videos, blog summaries etc. You can also track and analyze who took part in the discussions, what the sentiment was, what you can improve and what was particularly appreciated.It is a perfect foundation to create a post-conference review, using Storify. Check out this example from the Emerge Conference 2011 in Oxford. Twitterfountain.com This tool can be customized regarding backgrounds, colors, pictures, speed of display. Visibletweets.com Tweetwally.com Twitterfall Refynr
Twitter and my Self Directed PD As I reflect upon the completion of my 11th year as an educational professional, I can't think of a better or more powerful PD tool than Twitter. Yes, you read that accurately, Twitter. When I tell my friends and colleagues this fact, they look at me in a way that makes me feel as though all my professional credibility is being stripped away. Nevertheless, I am leveraging Twitter to facilitate professional development (mine and others) and I am really enjoying doing so. I have established a professional learning network and I am connecting with educators around the world everyday. Here is an example of a conversation where one of the educators I follow tweeted about her blog, I read her blog post and included another individual in my reply, and was then tweeted back: Both of the above mentioned individuals (K.
Expanded tweets: Tweets are about to get a whole lot longer. Hooray! Photograph by Brian Harkin/Getty Images. Almost a year ago, I proposed that Twitter double its character limit from 140 to 280. The microblogging site long ago outgrew its original purpose as a platform for simple status updates. Now people use Twitter for news, jokes, conversations, and ferocious arguments—and 140 characters is too cramped for all of these things. That’s why people often resort to hacks like multipart tweets, ugly textese, and TwitLonger to express their expansive thoughts. Though it would be a bad idea to drop the character limit entirely, allowing up to 280 characters would let people add more heft to their tweets while ensuring they wouldn’t drone on. Farhad Manjoo is a technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the author of True Enough. Follow Everyone thought I was nuts. Imagine my surprise, then, when I read last week that Twitter is beginning to push past the sacrosanct 140. How many characters is all that? But I kid.
Twitter Questions and Tips I'm prepping for a workshop on Twitter for Professional Learning that I will be facilitating at the TCEA 2012 convention in a couple of weeks. Today, as I was discussing my agenda with a colleague, she offered up a suggestion for something I should include. It was an awesome suggestion, and it made me realize that there are probably a lot more suggestions out there in my PLN! So, here I am, asking you for input on what important info you think I should include. The workshop is aimed at folks who are brand new to Twitter. With that in mind, here are my questions for you: If you are new to Twitter, or can remember when you were, what questions do/did you have about how the Twitterverse works? If you'll take a couple of minutes to answer one or both of these questions, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you in advance!
Teachers take to Twitter to improve craft and commiserate After her first year teaching history in a public high school in the District, Jamie Josephson was exhausted and plagued by self-doubt. Teaching had been more grueling than she ever expected. Law school began to sound appealing. Then she stumbled onto Twitter. “Twitter essentially prepared me to go into my second year and not give up,” said Josephson, now in her third year at Woodrow Wilson High in Northwest Washington. Josephson (known to fellow tweeters by her handle, @dontworryteach) is one of a small but growing number of teachers who are delving into the world of hashtags and retweets, using Twitter to improve their craft by reaching beyond the boundaries of their schools to connect with colleagues across the country and around the world. Images show excerpts from Twitter discussions among teachers who share tips and other information. Tweeting tips At first there were about a hundred participants, according to co-founder Shelly Terrell. ‘Better than just Googling’
46 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed Get ready, because it's time for another weekly serving of features. This week, we got ready for CES. Not making the trip out to Vegas? Don't worry, we'll keep you covered here. In the political sphere, social media is playing a different role than we've seen before in the presidential campaign, and we're keeping up with the digital trends. It's still the beginning of the new year, so we have a few more tech and social media predictions for you too. Enjoy your weekend, relax and catch up on all of our social media resources here. Editor's Picks 7 Social Media Predictions for 2012YouTube in the living room, celebs investing in startups and mobile security threats are among the social media trends that will shape 2012.CES 2012: What to ExpectIs this the end of CES? Social Media 5 Fitness Brands Kicking Butt on Social MediaTrying to get fit in the new year?
Map your Twitter Followers Big Brands Sponsor College Classes to get Social-Media Help So you want to tweet with kindergarten... Welcome! Please visit the updated version of this post here: So, based on the response I have had to my recent media exposure, it seems that another how-to post is in order. Many people have asked me how to get started tweeting with young students, and honestly, the responsibility of guiding you through this is sort of daunting. To simply tell you: "Set up an account and go!" is woefully inadequate, and possibly negligent. **An opening sidebar: The process below is meant for teachers who are looking to tweet with multiple other classes, using connections they have made for themselves. Step 1 - Get on Twitter yourself. (And, all of this aside: even if you do not want to or cannot tweet with your class, get yourself on Twitter. 2 - Think through the logistics and reality of tweeting with your class: When will you do it? 3 - Figure out your curriculum connections. 4 - Talk to your administrators.