Twitter Chats: Jump On In, the Water is Warm

I’m hosting a Twitter chat on Wednesday, May 22nd at 8pm hashtag: #1to1techat. Next week’s topic is “An examination of the paradigm shift taking place in education (students moving from consumer to creator) and how technology is changing the role of the teacher.”

Info on tonight's #1to1techat chat @ 8pm CST http://goo.gl/laIHB  There are some extremely smart and passionate people who participate, and I hope you can join us! See below for helpful tips on participating in a Twitter chat.

According to Search Engine Journal, "A Twitter chat is much like any other online chat, in which online users gather at a specified time to discuss certain topics or issues. The great thing about Twitter chat is it brings users together from all over the world to a platform where they can interact in real time rather than communicate in a delayed manner through traditional social media postings".

To join a Twitter chat, you must know the #hashtag being used. A #hashtag (#1to1techat) is simply a Twitter function to search for the topic being discussed. The best way to follow Twitter chats is to use an application specifically designed for this purpose. The most popular options are TweetChat, TweetGrid, and TweetDeck. The topics of Twitter chats vary greatly, and the opportunities are largely unlimited. This is wonderful because it means you can use the function for everything from discussing books to promoting your latest venture.

Here is the link to search for content on Twitter for those who do not have accounts. https://twitter.com/search-home The site will look like this…

When you come to this page, type in one of the following twitter handles or hashtags to search for feeds.

Twitter Handles i.e. the name a person chooses to represent themselves on Twitter:

@JTHSEdTech 
@NoApp4Pedagogy (My twitter handle) 
@NMHS_Principal 
@grantwiggins 
@Edudemic 

Hashtags i.e. Using hashtags to categorize Tweets by keyword:

• People use the hashtag symbol # before a relevant keyword or phrase (no spaces) in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets and help them show more easily in Twitter Search.
• Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets marked with that keyword.
• Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet – at the beginning, middle, or end.
• Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.

Search for these hashtags:
#edchat 
#edtech 
#engchat (for English techers) 
#sschat (Social Studies) 
#mathchat (Math) 

Here’s a link to a massive list of hashtags in education http://www.cybraryman.com/edhashtags.html



"Search Engine Journal." Search Engine Journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2013.
Twitter Hashtags for Business. Digital image. Media Funnel. N.p., 17 May 2013. Web.
Twitter-handle. Digital image. The JR Experiemnt. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.

A Conversation with Sir Ken Robinson - DEN Blog Network

Don't miss this amazing opportunity sponsored by the Discovery Education Network!
Move your cursor over this interactive image to see additional information.

Is technology the new driving force behind creating lifelong learners?

Today is a 2 for 1 day. There's an introduction to a new tool and a quick thought.  First, hover your cursor over the image and you'll notice that icons appear.  Hover over the icon to obtain more information.  This interactive image was created with a website called Thinglink.

This quote was taken form an article written by Laysha Ward called, "Re-Imagining Learning: Digital and Physical Convergence"  She explores the potential of what some are now calling "blended learning."  The blended model is a step towards differentiated and personalized learning that can take place anywhere, anytime, and at the students own pace.  This model also provides teachers with the opportunity to make the lessons a "more engaging and relevant experience" by allowing students to learn skills through content they are personally interested in, with more potential for creating lifelong learners.  

This article struck a cord with me because we have the ability to provide students with this blended model approach to education thanks to the 1:1 initiative.  The possibilities of designing learning environments that are student centered, meaningful and authentic are endless.  No longer are teachers the person in the room with the most knowledge or information on a topic.  A student can look up those same facts we spent years memorizing in less than 1 second on the internet.  What matters now is what we teach our students do with those facts in terms of analyzing, evaluating, and the creation of new knowledge. The role of the teacher is changing, and that means that ours jobs too require a lifelong commitment to learning.

The author goes on to say, "we know that digital tools are here to stay. Why wouldn't we harness the power of these tools to reimagine learning for a new generation?"  It's a very exciting time to work in education, and the next couple of years are not going to be easy, but we are in a great place to provide our students with the skills that they need to be ready for anything that life throws at them after high school.  While technology may be the driving force for students to be lifelong learners, students are the reason why teachers are committed to learning for a lifetime.  

Click here to read the rest of Laysha Ward's article.   

Ward, Laysha. "Re-Imagining Learning: Digital and Physical Convergence." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

Free PD From METC 2013

Starting to feel anxious about 30 "tech savvy" students with laptops sitting in your classroom next year?  Would you like to attend an education technology conference but the time or money to attend these is not available right now?  Don't sweat it, we went down to St. Louis last month for the Midwest Education Technology Conference (METC) and we have lots to share!

METC is a conference where leaders from various areas of education and technology come together to share ideas and collaborate.  We attended sessions on topics such as the latest "cool tools" in edtech, innovative project based learning, technology in the Common Core and many more.  This year's theme of Motivate, Engage, Transform, and Connect was spot on because the infusion of technology into our district provides amazing opportunities for teachers to do ALL of this and more.

After reflecting on what we learned at the conference, there are some essential ideas and concepts that we would benefit from if they became the topic of conversation for our district going forward.  This "video mash-encompasses the themes of METC 2013 and is a good lead in to a discussion about the ideas I'm referring to.




FREE PD!!!

Click on the picture below to gain access to FREE PD!!!  I have highlighted the places on the METC page where you can find handouts from all of the presentations which contain vast amounts of free resources.  I also highlighted Virtual METC, there you will find videos of the Keynote presentations and other session that were recorded at the conference.

What Can TED Ed Do For Your You?

The TED-Ed website allows you to engage in or create dynamic lessons around the hundreds of thousands of educational videos on YouTube. In this video, the familiar illustration assembled at the beginning of each TED-Ed video finds his [computer generated] voice and gives viewers a tour of ed.ted.com. The features explored include the ability to add multiple choice questions, open answer questions, "dig deeper" materials, and custom discussion topics to any video on YouTube.

YouTube Channels featured in the video:
Crash Course: http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse
Minute Physics: http://www.youtube.com/user/minutephy...
Bite Sci-zed: http://www.youtube.com/user/Lexie527
SciShow: http://www.youtube.com/user/scishow
Vi Hart: http://www.youtube.com/user/Vihart
Vsauce: http://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce
Periodic Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/periodicv...
Smarter Every Day: http://www.youtube.com/user/destinws2
Veritasium: http://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium
C. G. P. Grey: http://www.youtube.com/user/CGPGrey

Create a Lesson: http://ed.ted.com/videos
Take a TED-Ed Lesson: http://blog.ed.ted.com/2013/03/14/1066/
Track your Learning on TED-Ed: http://blog.ed.ted.com/2013/03/16/how...
Five ways to get involved with TED-Ed: http://blog.ed.ted.com/2013/03/17/how...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/dear-subscr...

Full credit of this post goes to TEDEducation