Twitter bird logo 2012.svgTwitter is a micro-blogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets”.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter).

Twitter has never been an interest of mine based on hear-says of how this platform works.  So, for this assignment, I had to create an account and learn how to use it.  Thanks to “Introduction to Twitter and Twitter Chats in education [Video file], Karlin, M. (2016, March 23),” I was able to navigate this tool fairly well.  As Lalande, 2012 puts it, in most participating chats I am always a “lurker.”  Most of the social media sites that I have an account with (I mainly use Instagram and Facebook), are mostly used to stay in touch with friends and keep up with the lives of celebrities.  My YouTube account on the other hand is used for educating myself on areas of interest.

Tweet Chat Chosen 

I decided to follow #lrnchat, as this group’s focus is on “how people learn.”  Getting ideas from a wide range of people on how they think and/or believe people learn is very useful, especially teaching an “all inclusive group of students.”  Ideas shared and learnt can allow and/or promote creativity, which in turn allows you to tweak others ideas to match the needs of your students based on their individuality.

Tweet Chat

I participated in today’s session (10/03), with the theme: Your Design Process.  I found the tweet chat to be very informative in such a short space of time (1 hr.)  However, the purposes of re-tweets and hashtags are yet to resonate with me.  I believe that if you are following a particular group, then what is the point of re-tweeting or having to hashtag?  I guess one of the reasons is to get it posted on your personal feed instead of the group’s feed.

Participation from Others

The group is open to everyone and can be participated in, every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. PST.  They can be found by:

  • Searching #lrnchat
  • Hit the follow button

To ensure you are in on the action, turn on the notification for the group.  This way you are reminded before the session begins and you will be notified as soon as the session starts.  Notifications are also given when questions are asked, answered and comments posted, liked as well as re-tweeted.

Tweet Chat Experience

My overall experience was very good.  The #lrnchat group seems pretty friendly, as they welcomed newcomers (me in this case) and also assured the new tweeters that it’s ok to ask for help if needed.  One key observation as well, was the introductory activity which seems to be a norm that the organizer begins with each week, which is in the form of a question – “What did you learn today? If not today, then this week?”  Questions were pretty short and very relatable.

Lesson Learnt

“Creativity is a natural outcome of our cognitive architecture, while process isn’t.”  Also a Stephen King quote “write with the door closed and edit with it open.”

Future Sessions 

Yes, I plan to keep participating in future sessions, so that I can build on my navigating and participating skills for this site.  After all, I want to move out of the “lukers” group to the group of participants :).

PS:  Please feel free to follow me on Twitter @SmallCooke

References

Karlin, M. (2016, March 23). Introduction to Twitter and Twitter Chats in education [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/TOD-E3LGzHU

Lalande, M.-A. [DevPro PD Flipped]. (2012, October 18). What is a PLN – Marc-André Lalande’s take [Video file]. Retrieved from from https://youtu.be/hLLpWqp-owo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter