Twitter Is For Real: The Learning Paradigm has Shifted

Source: http://bit.ly/1ylhCLa

Here's a question: Would you decline an opportunity to attend an all-expenses paid education conference that promised sessions and recourses related to your work as an educator? Furthermore, would you decline if the session leaders shared their presentations and resource material? 

If the answer to these questions is yes, then you have no need to use Twitter. Because Twitter for educators is exactly that- a FREE, global education conference you have the choice to drop in on 'sessions' and gather resources whenever you want.

Connecting and sharing resources with other educators and communicating/collaborating in real-time conversations (chats) throughout the globe is exactly how Twitter is used by educators.  Evident is a culture of sharing, generosity and gratitude. Whenever "tweet-savvy" educators attend conferences, they share information they are learning in real-time via the conference-issued hashtag. Which means: you can learn along with them from wherever you are (and whenever you want to "tune-in").

By following educators and education leaders, you have access to their blogs and resources that they have shared over time. Arguably one can 'curate' enough resources that, if read, synthesized and put into practice would equal a graduate degree's worth of learning in a relatively short time. Along these lines, it will be interesting to see if personalized learning routes will be accepted as a valid 'credential' by employers in the future if an individual can demonstrate a strong knowledge base on a topic/subject despite never having attended a traditional college or earned a degree in the area of expertise.  

This is for real. The learning paradigm has shifted and, leaders in education have pointed out: It is now a choice for an educator to remain in isolation and ignore the opportunity to connect, learn and become better teachers for their students. Tens of Thousands of educators across the globe are personalizing their education and professional development because they recognize that they are the lead learners in their schools and classrooms. Twitter and other online networks (ie, Google+) are accelerators of this process

Join the Learning Revolution. It's time.

Unblocking Blocked Websites: Framing the Argument

Much to the frustration of many teachers, websites that could be used to engage learners are blocked at school. Many school districts, with good intentions of protecting students (and teachers) have taken a very heavy handed approach with regard to online access to websites-especially (social) networking sites. It is the rare school district that allows access to Facebook. Many others do not allow access to You Tube, Gmail accounts, Ning Networks or Twitter.

But as many teachers know, all of the sites mentioned in the previous sentence can and do have educational value if used properly. It is also known that technology can be used to effectively engage learners and to differentiate learning. Knowing this, however, doesn't help convince those with the authority to unblock sites that have potential educational value. The argument for doing so has to include HOW these websites have educational value. And HOW other districts, schools, teachers and administrators are using these online sites/tools.

Here are some resources that can help begin the conversation. If you use sites and tools in your classes, please share your blog/site and what you do. Did you have to convince anyone to unblock sites that you use regularly? If so, how did you do it? Your story is immensely valuable to others.

• EDUCATIONAL USES of TWITTER
• A PRINCIPAL'S USE OF FACEBOOK
  
• EDUCATIONAL USES of GOOGLE
• EDUCATIONAL USES of YOU TUBE
• 47 ALTERNATIVES TO YOU TUBE

Using Technology for the sole purpose of using technology is pointless. As we frame the argument about it's use, it is important to consider the words of Principal Jonathan Martin:

What are we doing as educators to meaningfully engage our students, to give them the autonomy, purpose, and opportunity for mastery which they crave and to which they respond with focus, energy, enthusiasm, and diligence?

How can technology help? Framing the argument with these credible, educational goals in mind helps to move us forward in the right direction-to a future of unrestricted access.

10 Things All Teachers Should Know How to Do (Edited)

After viewing @todmafin's tweet about how it's simply not funny to claim 'Luddite' status anymore, I thought about what might be important-from a tech perspective-to know as a teacher teaching in these times. Here's my top ten...with many exclusions.

These, to me, are basic competencies I think all School Districts should assess and provide professional development in.

All teachers should be able to..........
1. Subscribe to an RSS Feed
2. Bookmark, tag and annotate websites in the Cloud
3. Create and use a Blog
4. Create and use a Wiki site
5. Create hyperlinks (in e-mail, at blogs, websites and wikis)
6. Create a PDF file for Free
7. Capture, Remix and upload Photos (free of copyright restrictions)
8. Capture, Remix and upload Audio/Video
9. Use Google Docs or other collaborative file sharing system.
10. Locate and Participate in Social Networks on Education, Useful Tech Tools for Learning, 21st Century Learning and content-specific Education Sites.

What would you add?

10 Reasons School Leaders Should Pay Attention To Social Media

by By Kitty Porterfield and Meg Carnes
from the AASA website

At first glance, building a social network — with tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube — may not seem like a wise investment for your district. But look again. social media can be far more useful to schools than it might appear.

1. It’s a new way to build relationships. By now, it should no longer be a surprise that the key to good leadership is strong relationships. (See Fullan, Kotter, Sparks, et al.) Creating relationships is an on-going job. Social media is a new—and very efficient—tool to help build stakeholder ties. It should be in your tool box.
2. It’s no longer about you anyway. It’s about your customers. Your parents and employees are growing younger by the day. They live their lives by a different set of rules than their parents did. (See Harnessing the Power of the Millennial Generation for details.) They want to work in teams, be part of the solution, and hear you tell them they’ve done a good job with their kids. They will not be shut out of the education process.
3. People are already talking about you. Join the community bulletin board. Google yourself. Create a weekly Google-Alert search for your school system. Read the newspaper comment boards. You will quickly find out what the neighbors are saying. Social media is our present-day equivalent of the front-porch, back-yard fence, and playground bench conversation. Listen in.
4. Your reputation is at stake. In the end, you are the one charged with maintaining your school or school district’s good name. The buck stops on your desk. If you only listen to your department heads and your PTA leadership, you will never hear the real concerns of parents and tax-payers division-wide. Social media is like managing a dozen focus groups that you didn’t have to create.
5. The response most likely will be positive. School systems that have taken a proactive step to establish social connections like a blog, a Twitter feed, and YouTube postings get high marks from their communities. The districts that feel the brunt of viral venom are those that don’t have digital avenues of conversation already open when a news story goes bad. When there is a way to hold a conversation, it softens the blow. It’s considered transparency.
6. You don’t have to do it all at once. Maybe all you do is start a Twitter account (free), which just gives you the opportunity to flash (your) headlines in 140 characters or less to your stakeholders’ phones and PDAs real time. On most days, it will be postings like “Three More National Merit Scholars Named Today. www.ourschooldivision.edu/honors” But think of the possibilities for “11AM Severe storm expected. Trailers evacuated. Students secure. www.ourschooldivision.edu/emergencyplan.” Sure, there is some upfront investment of time and resources, but the ROI (return on investment) will be well worth the effort. (Forget the what-I-had-for-breakfast stuff. That’s an old joke.)
7. Social media gives you the chance to stay ahead of the curve. Like putting your ear to the train tracks, you can hear the rumble of the approaching train. Social media gives you the opportunity to respond quickly to rumors and dissention, without the filters of the media. It takes a lot less time than writing and publishing a press release. And it can be much more far-reaching.
8. It’s not going away. The forms of social media will keep changing as new technologies emerge. (That’s the hardest part for the over-50 crowd. “Just when I learned to text….”) But the pace will only quicken and the focus will only sharpen. Part of the job is staying in the race. People use social media partly because they can—it’s here, it’s new, it’s cool. But social media also helps to fill a deep need in our communities to feel connected, to be in touch. If it didn’t, it would have already gone the way of the 8-track tape and the LP.
9. Social media helps you build community and a sense of ownership among your stakeholders. People only invest in what they care about. In today’s world, you cannot assume that anyone cares about or respects public institutions. People care when they feel cared for. A social media presence speaks to inclusion. It is an invitation to be part of the action.
10. It takes the whole village. We know that kids learn best when parents and the community are invested in what goes on in our classrooms. Social media is part of what it takes today to win that investment. It’s a small price.