MACUL Twitterers?

[Steve Dickie]

Hey, I started using twitter (inspired by Steve Dembo). I'm still looking for good educators to follow and I thought the MACULSpace group would be a good group to follow on twitter. It seems I need some more distractions in my life :-)

So, if you wouldn't mind, who out there twitters and what is your address?

I'm at:
https://twitter.com/falconphysics

[Kevin J. Galbraith]

You can find me @ https://twitter.com/KevG

[Pam Shoemaker]

Great idea. I love Twitter! My Twitter ID = shoemap
http://twitter.com/shoemap

[Michael Barbour]

I'm at https://twitter.com/mkbwsu.

[Sue Davidson]

Ok Twittering's new to me. I went and looked at your sites and tried to follow a conversation or thread, but didn't get very far. I only saw the person's replies to others' conversations. When I went to the other person's link, there was only one statement from them with a background that looks like they choose. Can you fill me in with a short reply of what it is and the basic of how it works?

[Kevin J. Galbraith]

Sure Sue, except I can't give short replies ;-)

Twitter (like Pounce (twitter with file-sharing), Jaiku (recently purchased by Google), Tumblr (seems to me more like a blog, but very scrapbook-like too), and a few others) is most ofter referred to as a micro-blogging service. I once read it described as a form of lifecasting, which appeals to me.

I started Twittering as a way to send brief updates to my wife and family (if I recall, this one of the original reasons Twitter was developed,) but when I realized few of them were following my 'tweets', I moth-balled my use until I read that more people were using the service as a way to keep in touch with colleagues, friends, and others. For example, during the primaries and caucuses most of the major campaigns used Twitter as a way to quickly get information about their candidates to their supporters.

Today, I use Twitter as a way of sharing new information with others in the Ed Tech community, as well as family & friends. Twitter supports my IM client, so it's not something that I do in addition to everything else. I generally keep Pidgin open whenever I'm online, so I can monitor my GroupWise Messenger (work), AIM, and Google Talk accounts.

If you're still interested, I can add some tips for being a successful member of the twitterverse.

[Michael Barbour]

Sue,

I use Twitter and have seen it used in a variety of ways. I post links to my blog entries when I update them to let people know there's something new there (to increase traffic to my blog). I post updates of what I am doing just to let people know my activities (and usually my frustrations when I'm not as productive as I want to be). I use it to have quick conversations with people that I consider colleagues, but who are at institutions all over th US. I use it to share resources that I find that I think others will be interested in. I use it to find resources (i.e., I could Twitter something like, "I need a good example of a K-12 classroom wiki.") and those who follow me if they know of some are likely to post links in their Twitter. Last night I used it to find out that a tornado had hit the Georgia Dome and the SEC Basketball Tournament - as a colleague of mine from Memphis (who went to UGA like me) was watching the game on television when it happened.

However, my original intention of use when I first signed up was to post updates of what I was doing throughout the day and how much time I was spending on things to give my doctoral students who are interested in careers in the academy what types of things they will be doing in four to five year and how much time those things require. Granted, I haven't done much of this and, to date, none of my doctoral students have been told about my Twitter account yet (as I'd like to spend at least one week where that actually worked before I get them following it).

Hope this helps... BTW, I'll send your question out over my Twitter and see what kind of response I get.

[Michael Barbour]

Sue,

I posted your comment to my Twitter (took four Tweets to get it all there), but here is the only response I have received to date:

u have to build a netwk b4 Twitter gets really useful. But think about having ur own personal learning netwk--qna, inspiration, etc

If I get more, I'll post them here.

Also, a couple of blog entries from that colleague of mine in Memphis about Twitter.

• More on Twitter
• Twitter in Education

Hope these are useful.

[Kevin J. Galbraith]

FWIW, there was a brief discussion regarding Twitter, in the Teacher's Lounge back in 11/07.

[Michael Partridge]

Ok. I'm not sure if this is the place, but here goes...
I don't get it. I understand how it works, and I can see the personal benefits, but is anyone using this for teaching and learning? I don't have a problem with people using technology that is about "personal productivity" - there is value in that. But DOES this have a classroom application? Am I missing it?
:-)

[Kevin J. Galbraith]

Some people seem to think so.

[Michael Barbour]

And here too.

[Ben Rimes]

Michael, although I've twittered for a few weeks off and on, I'm still firmly in the camp of Twitter is a great instant messaging service, and I have yet to find an educational use. That's not to say that it couldn't be used as such. I could imagine pretending to be a literary character or prominent deceased author and holding an online discussion with my students in a question/answer period, or possibly let them pretend to be a person that we're studying in history, science, or politics to see how well they know the content.