Twitter

I was afraid of Twitter before I actually became a user.  It seemed "dumb" and pointless.  I already had Facebook, what did I need Twitter for?  I honestly thought it was a bunch of celebrities and wannabes posting about their every move, I did not know there was so much great "stuff" on Twitter.  Steven Johnson (2009), in his article for Time Magazine says that "the one thing you can say for certain about Twitter is that it makes a terrible first impression." (Johnson, 2009, p. 1)  But as he later points out, "Twitter turns out to have unsuspected depth." (Johnson, 2009, p. 1)  I realize Johnson was writing about Twitter three years ago, but I would argue that his point still stands.  The proof of this is not just in my experience, but also in the experiences of other classmates who included Twitter as part of their inquiries.  Berger & Trexler (2010) tell us to "keep an eye on Twitter - we'll be seeing more instructional use in the near future!" (Berger & Trexler, 2010, p. 172) and they were right.  It almost seems like Twitter has "grown up," or perhaps we, as its users, have changed how Twitter can and is being used.

 

Here is another shameless plug as to why I NEED an iPhone, LOL.  Twitter is full of so many great ideas that it is easy to get wrapped up in scrolling through tweet after tweet.  When I first signed up I felt a bit overwhelmed and almost "worried" that I was going to miss something.  I have definitely limited the time I now spend on Twitter, but I know that if I had mobile access I could use it more, and use some of my "down time" to browse tweets from the day. (like when my daughters are at one of their activities)  I have found that it is easy to use Twitter on the iPad but I miss my "AddThis" bar - which is not available for the iPad... yet.  I am going to be attending Leadercast 2012 and I know that people will be tweeting during the event.  I am hopeful there will be WiFi so that I can use my laptop or iPad.  

Tweeting during events/conferences is one area that really interests me.  My friend, Maureen Parker, Director of Curriculum for the Battle River School Division in Alberta, is always posting interesting observations, quotations, and comments from events and conferences she attends and organizes.  I was also recently following Steven Anderson, during his attendance and presentations at #ASCD12.  There are so many great ideas that can be shared via Twitter, that previously would be left in someone's complimentary conference padfolio.  I like that these ideas can now be stored, retweeted, favourited, or read and discarded quickly, and often in "real time."

I do find that I am actually a bit intimidated when it comes to actually tweeting.  I feel this pressure to be somewhat profound or at least a little inspirational.  I often wonder what people like @web20classroom, @mrwejr, and @shannoninottawa actually do all day besides Tweet?  I don't have that kind of time and I'm not sure I want to be always thinking about how I can turn what I am doing, learning, or experiencing, into a tweet.  I know that for some, Tweeting is their job, but for others, it is not, they have just made it a priority in their daily activities.  Chris Wejr, @mrwejr, is a principal in my school district, and also a former student.  He is very active and well known in the social media world and education.  His iPhone is literally an extension of his hand, and often I don't even notice that he is tweeting while having a conversation or walking down the hall.  He is passionate about taking education is new directions and he is using Twitter to influence this change.  I still wonder however, are we just tweeting about "it," or actually doing?  Are we embedding the ideas we see and learn about on Twitter into our classrooms, schools, personal learning, or are we just appearing to be on the cutting edge because we tweet about all of these ideas?

Twitter has made me more philosophical about education and my teaching than I expected.  I am still trying to decide where Twitter fits in my vision and personal learning plan.  Do I want to use Twitter for ideas and contacts?  Or do I want to be part of the "trends" on #edchat or #edtech?  Twitter can be very overwhelming if I was to feel the need to implement every idea or theory that is tweeted.  The skill comes in discerning which tweets are worth a second look and which are people who are all about the trend, and not about the substance.

References:

Anderson, S. (2012, March 26). #ASCD12 - A Presentation On Creating Social Media Policies For 

     Schools And Districts [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://blog.web20classroom.org/

Berger, P. & Trexler, S. (2010). Choosing Web 2.0 tools for learning and teaching in a Digital World.

     Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Johnson, S. (2009, June 5). How Twitter will change the way we live. Time. Retrieved from

     http://www.time.com