Last summer, I registered for a Twitter account, but drifted away it from it quickly as I thought it was more of a “fun” social networking tool that did not have any real meaningful application.
Was I WRONG!
I reconnected with Twitter last week thanks to my friend Stephen Rahn at the Kennesaw State Ed Tech Center. In the last week, here is what I have found and/or accomplished thanks to my connections on Twitter:
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I discovered an amazing library blog, http://libpower.blogspot.com/, and connected with a new colleague, Phil Goerner! Through Phil, I now have great ideas for a “Grab-n-Go” event for our faculty! Thank you, Phil!
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I am following the Tweets of great leaders in my field like Doug Johnson, Joyce Valenza, “Cool Cat” teacher Vicki Davis, and Will Richardson! Doug Johnson is now one of my “followers”! It is something akin to rubbing elbows with Hollywood stars at an Oscar party!
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Discovered and have been listening to some amazing educational podcasts at http://edtechtalk.com/live, an amazing resource! I haven’t had a chance yet to listen to a live broadcast although I hope to catch one today at 10:00 A.M.
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Discovered the YALSA Blog (which is TERRIFIC!) through a Tweet from YALSA on Twitter!
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Found and installed Twhirl, a Twitter client.
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Found ChitChatEd through Vicki Davis, “Cool Cat Teacher.”
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Found an excellent blog of an Instructional Technology Specialist, http://kenrodoff.blogspot.com/; Ken Rodoff is the ITS at Joyce Valenza’s school.
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Discovered Ted Talks through a link to a post from Will Richardson on Twitter. Find out more about TedTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/pages/view/id/5 ; this is a COOL resource! Here is the RSS feed for TedTalks: http://feeds.feedburner.com/tedtalks_video.
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Found this blog, http://plethoratech.blogspot.com/, through a Tweet from becksintex.
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Found this interesting article from a Tweet from becksintex, http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/03/is_web_20_an_en.html.
As you can see, Twitter can be a great resource for networking with other people and sharing resources in real time. You can Twitter me at http://twitter.com/buffyjhamilton! Come join in this fun way of learning and networking with others!
In addition, here are some ideas for using Twitter in your library: http://del.icio.us/theunquietlibrary/twitterlibraryapplications
Yep. Twitter can, despite its shallow premise, prove valuable as a resource sharing platform.
But finding a way to use it in a class is a whole different issue.
Some things are best left out of the ed/tech discussion.
Tweet, tweet!
Comment by ken — March 24, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
Hi Ken!
Really? Why do you feel Twitter is not a good classroom application?
I had collected these resources for using Twitter in our library program:
http://del.icio.us/theunquietlibrary/twitterlibraryapplications
Buffy
Comment by theunquietlibrary — March 24, 2008 @ 6:00 pm