Tagged with "#twitter Archives - Mark Anderson's Blog"
So this coming Thursday, TeachMeet Clevedon is taking place (if you hadn’t noticed! One application I’ve been looking to examine for some time is ‘CoverItLive’ – I’ve heard great things about it from the likes of @CheriseDuxbury and @JamiePortman on his great post on the app/topic here with some fab ideas. I thought I had to try it out for TeachMeet this coming week. This is my trial and as you can see it works really well! You can put images and posts up yourself either using the online client software or one of the different mobile apps they provide. It will also pick up hashtags in the timeframe that the event is happening too and drop them in. There are options galore.
I’m definitely going to be using it for #TMClevedon on Thursday.
An updated version of the ‘CoverItLive’ below will appear both on my blog and on the http://bit.ly/clevedonteachmeet wiki.
Videos of the various presentations will appear shortly after they have occurred here: http://youtube.com/tmclevedon
This post is really an update following my recent posts about Twitter and the ideas gained through sharing my tweets with others.
For a much longer write up, this post by Jon Tait inspects the experience in more detail really well here: http://www.woodham.org.uk/edutait/
The original post has had more than 1000 unique visits and my tweet was retweeted more than 50 times with a reach of 28,138 Twitter users in the course of 1 week.
To top it all off, yesterday, the DfE picked up on it and then posted about it on their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk
It’s just phenomenal when you think about it – what power educators really can have when they collaborate, communicate and work effectively using modern day technology tools.
So it happened ‘like’ this.
I ♥ Twitter
Like every teacher all over the world, I’m a busy fellow. The time I can spend tweeting and checking my tweets is very finite. I’m torn though because tweeting with other educators is something that I love to do. It is simply the best staff room in the world with professionals all doing the best they can by the children in their classrooms. Tweeting and keeping on top of everything in the Twittersphere takes time. To do this well and efficiently, I’ve researched lots of different iPad Twitter apps. I’ve tried the Minority Report-esque official Twitter app, Osfoora HD, Hootsuite and the recently updated for iPad Tweetbot. The best of the bunch, simply has to be Tweetbot. Ok, so it costs £1.99, but for the smart tweeter, it’s the way to go.
With Timeline view, list view, mentions, retweets, lists, mute options (for when someone you don’t want to unfollow but is annoying you can be muted indefinitely or for a certain period of time), lists, the ability to manage lists in app, update your profile, search, and so much more. Another key feature for me is that you can do so much in shorter sequences. Swipes across tweets and you can see replies/conversations linked to that tweet or retweets that have happened on that particular tweet.
The app is so feature rich it is great; and that’s not mentioning how much more powerful it is when you tie it in with Tweetbot for iPhone. Here you can use syncing with either iCloud or Tweetmarker so that Timelines are synced across different devices. That means that when you close your iPhone and go to your iPad, it knows what the last tweet was that you viewed, thus saving time again.
What I can also say is that they are really responsive as a team of developers too, so if you ever have a problem – drop them a line!
So, what do I say? Tweet away!
And if you like Tweetbot, you might like to consider some of their other beautifully designed and efficient apps, particularly Calcbot, which has to also be the best calculator for iPad in my opinion:
- Calcbot
- Pastebot
- Weightbot
- Convertbot
Twitter for developing a PLN
What is a PLN? Many people describe it as their Personal or Professional Learning Network – certainly for me, joining Twitter has been the single best thing I have ever done in terms of developing myself professionally. My colleagues often comment about how they can’t believe how I know all these amazing Web 2.0 sites that students can use, or how I know so much about what is going on in education today, not just locally, but nationally and internationally too. This is all down to Twitter and my amazing PLN. Without it, I believe I wouldn’t have gained the personal and professional developments and contacts I now have – and I love it.
As someone who is clearly an advocate of Twitter and its use for educators, I recently ran a training session at the school I work in, the amazing Clevedon School.
Below is the resource I used as the framework for that session. Feel free to read it, re-use it, so long as you re-credit it back to me.
Spread the word – Twitter’s a bird and bird is the word!
This site is pretty cool – what it does it take a keyword, searches Twitter for it and then turns it in to a nice Flash based animation – not so cool if you don’t use a device that supports Flash! Like it myself though!
Mark introduced Scribd and The Little Book of ICT Ideas he has published using this. In addition, he talked about an alternative to wordle – www.tagxedo.com. Words can be uploaded online and moved into shapes, words are made bigger according to importance. Why not copy and paste a topic’s key words? Or the whole script from a play you are studying? These pictures can be stored online and accessed as a live interactive document. Words can be clicked on and it will be searched for within Google.
Here is an example for Romeo & Juliet:
http://www.tagxedo.com/artful/96627efbed224480
In addition, Mark mentioned ‘Under Ten Minutes’ (www.undertenminutes.com) which has various video tutorials showing how to use lots of different online tools – with footage of benefits given in terms of classroom practice.
PLUS!!
SlideRocket – a presentation tool that makes it easy to embed youtube videos, pictures, charts and twitter feeds. Check this out at www.sliderocket.com
A presentation featuring some of the features can be found here
http://app.sliderocket.com:80/app/fullplayer.aspx?id=6B491573-3967-B0FB-9F8F-4F80C9434B65
Chris explained how Twitter can used to promote independent learning with sixth formers, in and out of lesson. The idea is that students are using their own tools for learning purposes. The teacher sets up a school only account and discussions take place on learning related topics – hash tags can be used to link to particular topics. Messages can also be communicated and picked up on in lessons. The virtual presentation can be viewed at http://j.mp/dXujn9
Well, apart from this blog which will be updated regularly with thoughts, ponderings, news and ICT related things, I wanted to introduce you to the marvel that is Twitter.
To be fair, most people have heard of Twitter – a way of following your favourite TV celebrity, music artist, politician, TV show, etc; but it is much more useful than just catching up on gossip. By creating a Twitter account and using it to follow people with a like minded interest you can form your very own PLN or Personal Learning Network.
Read about PLNs and why they are great in this account from a blog found here: http://bit.ly/8lldPY
“Personal Learning Networks are all the rage at the moment. As with a lot of “modern” things, they’re existed for a long time but have now got a snappy new name. It used to be called “advice from friends and colleagues”. But in the era of social media the word friend has taken on a new meaning. Social media has provided me with a lot of friends who I’ve never met and never spoken to. I’ve exchanged a few tweets with them, commented on or received comments on a blog article, or maybe read a few forum posts, and as a result these people are, in Web 2.0-speak, friends. A PLN can take advantage of lots of different services – Facebook is perhaps the best-known, Ning is also very popular and offers The Educator’s PLN, but there are lots of others, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Of all the available services, the one I find the most fascinating (and the most useful) is Twitter. One of the most interesting things I learned about Twitter before I even tried it was that it is like Marmite. It polarises. I’m constantly amazed at how many people feel the need to criticise Twitter - it’s superficial, it’s useless, it’s boring, you can’t say anything useful in 140 characters, and so on… Never one to be influenced by the crowd, I signed up. I’ll start with the conclusion. I have found more resources and got more useful advice for professional development in 3 months on Twitter than in the previous 5 years without it. I’ll go further. The more I use it, the more useful it gets. David Carr, writing in the New York Times has written an excellent article describing the growing impact of Twitter and explaining why it is set to become part of the infrastructure of the Internet. You want examples? No problem! The first thing is that there are some very well known experts out there on Twitter and they are not posting about a latte machiato in Starbucks, they are providing links and opinions on bleeding edge research. New developments and products appear there immediately and feedback appears almost as quickly. Advice on new software and internet services appears within hours (sometimes minutes) of release. If you’re interested in what’s new in your field, then Twitter is a great place to start.”
The article continues to talk on about the various virtues on Twitter and give more reasons as to why it is a great thing. As the author (@olafelch) states, the opportunities for professional development by utilising Twitter are exponential. Now you might think this is just a post for teachers, well it is not – students of all ages can network and gain lots of information from building your own PLN in areas that you want to learn more about…
…so I urge you; go forth and TWEET!
If you’d like to follow me, you can do so via @ICTEvangelist
If you’d like to follow some people that have inspired me within my PLN check out:
@TomBarrett
@jamesmichie
@olafelch
@dabelshaw
@ICTtower
@DeputyMitchell
or check out my followers here http://twitter.com/ictevangelist
Thanks!
No Comments 
Posted under: Everything ICT, iPad apps, TeachMeet Clevedon
