Are you using Twitter?

I've just re-discovered Twitter, a social network that asks "What are you doing?" The cool thing is, in the Ed Tech world you can create a network of people who are there to help you, and give you support and suggestions at a moments notice.

Looking for a resource? Just send out a tweet and someone will know the answer. Dealing with technology resistance? My twitter network reminds me that there are people in the world who are as passionate about this stuff as I am. I write a blog post every Tuesday called "Two for Tuesday" where I share two interesting technology links - this week my links are all thanks to my Twitter network. (Thanks Twitter network).

Recently, I increased the number of people I'm following from 70 to 170. I've discovered that more is actually better in Twitter, it increases the odds of someone being there for you. I also downloaded Snitter an application that pops up to let me know about new tweets. You can follow me on twitter - look for lizbdavis, then check out the people I'm following and follow them too.

Kevin Honeycutt is creating a Vodcast that answers the question "What is Twitter good for?" You can follow him on Twitter too.

Are you using Twitter? What do you like about it? Still confused? Ask your questions here.

Tags: social-networking, twitter

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Permalink Reply by kolson on December 27, 2007 at 6:39am

Who are you on twitter? I'll follow you :-)

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Permalink Reply by Rashmi Kathuria on December 27, 2007 at 6:49am

rashkath

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Permalink Reply by Rashmi Kathuria on December 27, 2007 at 7:21am

I have followed you kolson29 and lizbdavis. I am rashkath on Twitter. Help me to give more ideas to use it with my students.
Cheers!

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Permalink Reply by kolson on December 27, 2007 at 7:34am

Hmmm, no ideas for using WITH students, since we wouldn't be allowed to in my schools, but I think it's great for networking and idea sharing

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Permalink Reply by Rashmi Kathuria on December 27, 2007 at 8:07am

Thanks Kolson, its interesting to know you and learn from you.
Keep in touch!

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Permalink Reply by Simon Brown on December 27, 2007 at 1:24pm

I started using Twitter with my trade skills students (ages 15-25yrs) lately this year in an experiment with online literacy. I wanted them to expand their online media interaction, so arranged their email, ning and twitter capabilities. We operate outside the student network so that when they return to work (it's a block release program for apprentices) we continue to communicate.

Because I didn't want my students overwhelmed with my normal skytrystsjoy postings, I arranged username brownsd for them.

I used the classroom computer and data projector to get each student signed up so that they could both see and demonstrate to each other. Each day I would finish the morning session 15 minutes before lunch and tell them that they had that time to go to the campus library, log in to their twitter account and update their recent activity.

This fits with their normal tasks at the start of the day, which is recording what they are planning and achieving, so I'm just extending their private tasks to a communal activity. Some students have sent web addresses to the group - mostly their employer's website - and I'm hoping that they will continue to share other work related websites.

Of course their fascination for girls and cars is reflected in their friends lists, but I use this activity to discuss appropriate online behaviour.

Some students have continued to use twitter (and Ning) after their return to work, and I'm planning to continue when training sessions resume in late January.

I've added rashkath as my twitter friend - looking forward to reading your updates.

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Permalink Reply by Rashmi Kathuria on December 28, 2007 at 12:21am

Thanks for sharing this idea.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Christopherson on December 28, 2007 at 2:47pm

Rashmi, at this point it would seem that Twitter has a limited use in public education because of the very setup of our schools. We don't encourage students to communicate with the technologies they have, cellphones, so trying to bring something like twitter into the mix is very difficult. As I have seen in the pat few months, the real power of twitter is in the network. Now, for students at school, once we break the barrier of focusing on in-school educational modes, I think twitter will have a greater place and will become essential for students and teachers to network with others as the boundaries of schools expand to include both those in the school and those with whom we network.

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Permalink Reply by Rashmi Kathuria on December 29, 2007 at 12:52am

Kelly, I was thinking thinking of giving collaborative projects to my students. These kinds of projects are for a duration of say 1 month. So, I was planning to create their twitter accounts ,so that they communicate with each other regarding the progress of each others work. Atleast they will be able to relate and have a record of what everyone has done. What do you suggest ? Will it work? Actually, I am planning these things for coming session students.
Regards
Rashmi

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Permalink Reply by Simon Brown on December 29, 2007 at 2:41am

Rashmi, forgive me for forwarding my opinion, but I think that Twitter works best in conjunction with other sites such as iGoogle, Ning, Protopage or Pageflakes. Students can develop their own work in their own spaces and then share links via Twitter.

Perhaps a simpler way would be establishing a class blog to which each student contributes a page (I haven't yet tried this).

Sam McCoy has a beauty at http://www.pageflakes.com/n2teaching

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Christopherson on December 29, 2007 at 11:34am

The pageflakes or netvibes page would work as would a wiki, which I use all the time for my classes. I am thinking of using Pownce for our staff to share ideas. Our staff also uses a wiki for sharing ideas, keeping up with upcoming events, scheduling meetings and other events that involve staff and students. As an administrator I use Airset for keeping track of both my personal and work schedules. I coordinate my Palm and my ical using Airset also importing the staff calendar from the staff wiki. I use both pageflakes and netvibes. I'm not sure which one I like better. This is my Pageflake setup and my netvibes. I have to work more with this. I am looking at using Zoho business with my staff to share documents and such. We'll see how this works.