Twitter:
@Lbhammond
Twitter, I am WAY too old for this stuff...or so I thought. I created my twitter account on a whim, my students were all tweeting (whatever that was) and asked me to create one too. I figured why not, I can always delete it later. I've had my Twitter account since early 2011, but haven't really used the it since it's creation. My account has been a private account up until this week. I have used it more as a mechanism to communicate with former students or to follow issues of interest. I would sporadically check Twitter, sometimes going months at a time without checking the app. Prior to my involvement in the UVM technology series I would have never considered using Twitter to learn more about educational trends or to build a personal learning network. (I didn't even know what a PLN was). This week I have really pushed beyond my comfort zone, technologically speaking, and I'm loving it! I downloaded TweetDeck, it makes Twitter so much easier to understand and see in "real time." I even participated in my first Twitter Chat. Man, that thing moved fast! I was struggling to read all the information, much less respond to the questions that were proposed. Despite the fast pace, and early hour (7:30am Saturday!) I loved it. I participated in the educational forum #satchat. It was amazing to hear all the ideas from educators around the country as we discussed various reading strategies. I discovered some great information and found some amazing minds to follow. I'm really looking forward to participating in another chat in the future. I would say to anyone who it hesitant, but interested in Twitter Chats, is you need a program like TweetDeck and a willingness to try. It is going to be fast, and overwhelming but it's also a great opportunity to gather a vast amount of information in a relatively short amount of time.
I love research, so Twitter has become this amazing resource I never knew existed. Prior to this week I had viewed Twitter as more of a superficial mechanism celebrities used for self-promotion. Now I see it is a valuable tool, for research, collaboration, networking.... I am excited to use Twitter to help build my PLN, my personal learning network. I hope to move beyond just following individuals or organizations such as @TEDTalks, to having personal interactions, and conversations with people through Twitter.
I"m glad you had a new experience that worked for you. Sometimes its all about readiness. The tool may have matured since you first tried it, or you may be more ready for what it has to offer. Or perhaps it was introduced in a new context.
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