Click to view Bill Graziadei’s profile on LinkedIn. and/or Click to view Bill Grziadei’s Retaggr profile card.

And meanwhile, I’m waay cool in the eyes of my students! Tools are just that, and when my dad had his own car, his father’s horse and buggy just would not do! I asked my students to research all aspects of the Japanese dry garden and relate those aspects to the culture of Japan. They did it on this on a multilayered Wiki I designed. The end result now exists as part of our campus landscaping. So, yes, Virginia, the 2.0 and beyond tools make learning fun and meaningful. I can’t ask for much more than that! These tools have also helped me stay more student centered and in 30 years of teaching, I am delighted to give up the book of knowledge I had to lug around for more than half my life! sarahsmiles

I’m interested in what others contribute (here for example) and as a result I learn from their posts. BTW, that’s how I found my way here. But, with any new technology, especially Web 2.0, I try to be judicious in WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW I use IT.

As a long-time educator, I still find it exciting and interesting to teach and learn. I like to ask questions which is a key approach to my teaching style. Micro-blogging (text or video) lends itself well to this. I don’t teach what I know; I teach how I came to know what I know. I do so by asking questions about how one goes about finding an answer to a question. If a learner asks me a question and I don’t know the answer, we’ll “learn” to find it together. Then, I’ll ask them another question and so on…

I definitely see Twitter’s utility in teaching-learning for such an approach. So, to repeat myself, I am judicious in who I follow and when and how I post. I use two accounts one for personal use and the other is for my teaching-learning via Q&A. Both are private but I’m more lenient with my personal account. If I’m not learning, then I stop following and posting. I’m sure you do the same.

Ciao

I guess in short what I’m saying is.. well said. And amen.

I have only just started to use/follow Twitter – after creating an account a long time ago. And I’ll admit that I am not sure if I like it. I do agree with some points that have been made about relation-building and the like, but some of the comments by some colleagues (that I am not sure they would make in face-to-face conversation) have definitely changed my perceptions of them. I think it is because they are not the same person in-person as the person they tweet…maybe??? I am not liking this experience.

At the same time, I receive a reply last evening from Gardner Campbell saying he picked up a link to something from my blog….me a humble beginner. What a blast to have been able to make that small connection with him via twitter.

So….I am still figuring it out. But I do think that if this is where my students are and how they communicate, I need to try to at least understand it a little better.

Humble rant of a first time caller!

Add twitter4skype as a contact.
Type the following as a single chat message to twitter4skype:

/account (shift+return)
yourtwitteraccountname (shift+return)
yourtwitteraccountpassword (shift+return)

The system should return: twitter4skype Registration complete!
The next time you write a chat message to twitter4skype, the entry will appear on your account and you’ll receive your friends’ twitters in Skype.

1] Twitter is not a blogging tool: It is a jumping off point. It is the easiest way for new educator to discover the wonders of the edublogsphere. By sharing a combination of resources, links and personal updates, I hope to provide potential avenues for learning. It is in the hope of finding similar nuggets that I continue to check in. The number of live feeds and back-channel chats I’ve engaged in this year would not have been possible otherwise.

2] Twitter is a tool for building and maintaining relationships. That is why social tweets are valuable. Knowing that we have lives outside of education, somehow makes each of us more ‘real’ to one another.

3] Twitter is close to LIVE. With the GPS and photo technologies built into current phone technologies, I believe that we are engaged in crude use of a tool that will continue to evolve into a richer reporting and sharing tool.

4] Twitter is not a conversation tool, but is an elevator chat room where you might be invited to dinner; nudged to attend a workshop; or asked a question. Never knowing who will be on the elevator, the traveler cannot predict where he or she will be engaged.

5] The openness of the content to other developers and aggregators is what gives Twitter a big advantage. The many competitors trying to leverage similar platforms, will have to add value in order for large networks to jump ship. Tip to developers: Develop GROUP tools, allowing me to send semi-private messages to chunks of followers (family; teachers; local; conference-goers; workshop attendees…), and you just might get my tweets.

It’s too intense and too much pressure on anyone or anything to expect he, she or it to deliver only deep, meaningful, focused information and experiences all the time or even most of the time.

Is it making us stupid? No. It’s a place where we can be stupid or silly or profane or profound. That’s important too.

Is the 140 character limit making us lazy? Whether it was Pascal or TS Eliot, the quote “I would have made this letter shorter if I’d had the time” resonates for me. I’d rather read a tight Tweet than a loose sloppy blog post.

Is it self-indulgent to discuss this or preaching to the choir? Should we think about the vast majority who have no idea what Twitter is? Nope. I don’t give a rat’s pink patooty about football but don’t judge my colleagues for discussing it. If intelligent people care about something, they reflect on its use. And it’s okay to go to church and talk amongst your fellow parishoners once in a while — just as long as you remember not to live there.