Chatting with Professionals via Twitter

I have never used or even heard of Twitter chats before and to be honest, I was not excited to try it for the first time. I'm not really sure why I wasn't interested at first, it just seemed contrived, like only well-known educators trying to get people to side with their beliefs. I was pleasantly surprised to find that many different people participate in #edchat. Administrators, college professors, k-12 teachers and other people who are simply interested in the topic.

Last week, rather than participating in the chat, I acted as a bystander to see how it works. I was a little nervous this week that I wouldn't have much to contribute. It is easy to see which tweeters regularly participate in this chat as they get the chat going by posing discussion questions. The focus of this #edchat seemed to be "innovation." This wasn't necessarily a topic I would have preferred but I was surprised to find that I did enjoy it. I don't have many opportunities to communicate with professionals in my field, especially in such a casual setting. I also enjoyed that not only did I tweet with teachers, but  also principals, one followed me! I thought the chat was a little limiting because not everyone tweets back and it can end up as a one-sided conversation. Another limitation was that tweets were coming in so fast that it was hard to try and read them and reply, but that could be viewed as a plus. As an undergrad, I don't think I will use Twitter chats again. I don't like to spend a lot of time on social networks, this semester is extremely busy and next year I will be student teaching. I can see myself participating in chats as a professional because I like getting different perspectives from people I'm not closely connected with. I also think if I participate often, I would benefit because each week there seems to be a different focus.

Playing with Google Spreadsheets

I have never used Google forms or spreadsheets before this assignment. I actually really enjoyed creating the survey. I think it was incredibly user-friendly. All different question formats were available with plenty of options to make it work for any type of inquiry. I didn't enjoy working with the spreadsheets as much as I did with the forms but I do think it is a user-friendly program. Regarding my research question, I found a slight trend between the age a person first used a computer and how many hours per day that person currently spend on a technological device, represented in the graph below. It seems that the later a person used a computer for the first time, the more hours they spend on their device (laptop, smart phone, etc.) on a daily basis. I also found that regardless of a person's age, first experience with a computer, how many hours/day spent on a smart phone or any other variable, most people prefer to take notes and quizzes with a pencil and paper as opposed to online.

I believe that one of the key aspects to being a "good teacher" is to individualize each child's education to the best of my ability. Using a Google form for older students would be a great way to get to know my students. It would give them an opportunity to discuss their interests and let their teacher know what they'd like to learn about. Google forms could be used the same way to get to know the child's family, which is crucial to knowing each child. Parents can share their experience of their child's education thus far, their concerns or just take an opportunity to rave about their student. Third graders could create their own Google forms and spreadsheets from what they learn in class. They could also create surveys for their classmates to take and then use the spreadsheet to analyze the data as a math lesson!

[click HERE for a link to my survey]

Twitter!

I used to have a Twitter account, so I am experienced with Twitter. I decided to delete my Twitter almost a year ago. It just seems to be an outlet for complaining and a place where it’s okay for anyone to pass judgment. Most of the people I know are concerned about how many followers they have or how many people re-tweet one of their tweets. I do think that Twitter can be useful, though. Freshmen year I used to stay up all night on my computer. One night, I was awake until about 4 a.m. and saw trends about a catastrophe in Japan. It was the first news coming out about the tragic earthquake and tsunami in 2011. I just remember how amazed I was that I was receiving this news almost instantly from across the world. Just recently, the OU dean tweeted that the university was closed due to an armed robber more than twenty minutes before students received an e-mail.

I suppose that I could use a Twitter professionally. It wouldn’t surprise me if many of my future students’ parents have Twitters. It would be a quick and efficient way for me to share articles or websites I think parents might find useful. The only concern I have is that Twitter is informal and nowadays, that seems to bring trouble. As a professional, I’d have to be aware that information I share is not bias or offensive to my followers.