Twitter in Review – Week 3
What did I learn this week? Was the learning of any value? Is it worth continuing with Twitter?
Three weeks ago when I began this challenge – Twitter for a month – I was not to sure that Twitter had any real value to be honest. I have had my epiphany!
Twitter in Review:
I challenged myself to increase my tweets. This was difficult, but I’m up to 48! Still feels like butting into a conversation. Stuck to safe topics: the weather, offered to send boxcars of snow to others. Silly, safe. No educational value at all. There are many technical tweets that I cannot follow as my technology skills are still at the “twit” level, but then …
Of value: Here’s what I learned on Twitter this week.
From mscofino I discovered TweetDeck. I think I really like TweetDeck better than Whirl although I have not switched yet.
From bookminder a research paper on assessment for and as http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Publications/TeacherInquirer/archive/2008-09/2008-10/Moore-Maps%20for%20Improvement-edited.pdf as well as this great site from Africa which has live video stream 24 hours a day from the African bush http://www.wildearth.tv/home – hmm won’t link. Sorry about that.
I just happen to be taking a course from Knowschools called 5 Days of Google and from Bryan Hughes:http://mashable.com/2008/12/07/how-to-use-google-reader/
From Coolcatteacher a teacher group at twittgroup. That was really great and I found a few more people to follow.
From Dean Shareski the video of your students was wonderful. It made me wish that TLITE had been structured in a similar manner. Keeping the mustache growing suggestion on the back burner! Glad you went to Twilight! Now you need to read the series! I have a Facebook account for that very reason! 
There were various pictures posted that people shared of family and that was really nice as you begin to know these people and begin to feel connected to them.
Finally, datruss had a blog post on the eddie nominations and from that I discovered some amazing library blogs, teacher blogs, and voted for my favorites. If I hadn’t found this I would not have known who was nominated or would have voted. Congratulations to the people I have run into either in Twitter or blogging on their nominations: datruss, michelle martin, sue waters, dan meyers, and jan smith. You can see all the nominees and vote here. Good luck to you all!
The epiphany? This PLN community I have been building has provided amazing and unexpected support. I can post a tweet about a new blog post and some people on my Twitter PLN will actually read it. But more importantly they will leave a comment. Through those comments they share their ideas, opinions and thoughts. It does not matter if they agree with my ideas, reflections, opinions or thoughts. What matters is that they have taken the time to share. I appreciate and value those comments immensely as I continue on my technology journey of discovery and learning. Thank you.
Is it worth continuing on Twitter? Definitely, YES.
December 7th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Yes, we do follow your tweets and check out what you link to! Instead of reading report cards, I’m responding to you here and on Twitter… thanks for allowing me to procrastinate:-)
Of all the tools I’ve played with, blogging and Twitter have been the things that I get the most out of. I reflect on my blog and I learn from others on Twitter… and I appreciate the insight others share in their comments.
Thanks for the well wishes, I’m honoured to have been nominated for an eddie, but really the voting is secondary to the opportunity to be exposed to more wonderful educators. Be sure to share the new gems you find with us here… your PLN is looking forward to it!
December 8th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Glad you have found twitter worthwhile. As David says a lot of people are following links from tweets to find posts worth reading (and using Google Reader less). Me? I followed your pingback because my twitter network is too big to make following links easy.
While it is an honor to be nominated I use the Edublogs Awards as an opportunity to check out other people’s blogs and find new ones that I would like to read. If you check out this post on my personal blog you will see who I nominated and why. Would love to have nominated more people per category. PS David’s posts on blogging with student’s really are inspiring and definitely worth reading.
@David hope your back is feeling better.
December 8th, 2008 at 3:00 am
Hi Cindy,
David nails it: “I learn from others on Twitter”. Your examples of the kinds of links that are shared speak to the serendipity of that learning: it’s often just what I need when I need it.
You also mention the silliness–I just love the revealing of personality (I think the idea is Will Richardson’s) that comes through the tweets, even more than through blogging. I think someone else called it “the virtual water-cooler”.
What ever else it is, Twitter is the anchor in my PLN.
(Just ignore the time stamp on this–I’m sure it’s wrong.)
December 8th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
hello,
its funny to find somebody on the similar way. i started with my twitter challenge nearly 2 weeks ago. and it becomes more and more funny. well, i like monitter.com most.
bests
maike
December 8th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Glad to hear that your experiment with Twitter is working out so well. It really is a wonderful tool!
December 8th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
@Jan – I never thought of it as the “virtual water cooler” but it is a great way to look at it. I guess that is what I enjoyed about the pics that people post on Twitter.
@ Maike – Glad to find another new “twit” in the crowd
@Sue – I think the links to other blogs, finding new ones to read and stretching my mind to new dimensions is the best part of this Twitter challenge. Then add in the water cooler aspect where you get to know some of the bloggers in a more personal way and Twitter is a very powerful tool indeed. It has definitely proven to be a hugely beneficial to my own learning about my teaching and the direction in which I want it to go and grow.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
[...] Vote Twitter in Review – Week 3 [...]
December 10th, 2008 at 4:46 am
TweetDeck has been absolutely fabulous at helping me make my personal learning network more personal. Having groups to organize all your twitter friends really makes it easy to feel like you are all standing around that virtual water cooler
I’m glad to see your experiment is working out well and providing valuable learning for you. I have to admit, I still use my Reader for keeping up with posts, but whenever I follow a link on Twitter, I’m always glad I did 