Tales from the Grad is Still Kicking!!!
Thank you all who follow me on Twitter @ajbarse. With moving, graduating, and job hunting most of my Tales have happened in 140 characters or less lately. But I have some cool blog posts going to happen soon that will be looking at my teaching of E-learning and of course...Twitter.
Speaking of...
Twitter Effect- Now Main Stream?
Ok, so CNN and Ashton Kutcher are battling for followers on Twitter (*I shake my head here*), and everyone and their grandmother seems to have a Twitter these days. Yet, I still hear among the halls of WWU from some students and faculty:
Why Twitter-a-holics?
For those still scratching their head on Twitter, the video "Twitter in Plain English" is a great review.
But really, as one of my professors said;
"But I really, REALLY, don't care to know what people are doing all parts of the day."
This graduate student even thinks Twitter has morphed beyond what my professor has said or as this video demonstrates (well, at least for some Twitter users). Basically Twitter is what you make of it. Yes for some narcissistic folk, it is a way so that every 20 minutes they can express what they are hungry for or why their significant-other gets on their nerve. But for others, normal productive Twitter-ers it is a business promotion, a social network, a micro-blog, a social bookmarker, a job networking opportunity...something productive within 140 characters.
Twitter 101
What outsiders might find frustrating about Twitter, is understanding how to read what seems to be a one sided conversation. Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com/) is a great start if you are trying to find a specific user or conversation, and the site threads the discussions for you. But still, there are Twitter-isms that are needed to fully understand the Twitter-speak such as @ or #. There is even a Twitter lexicon being created which can be seen at the Twitter Dictionary (http://twittonary.com/). In short, if you really want to see Twitter as a mode of conversation and discourse, the various Twitter apps are the most effective way of understanding the stream that is Twitter.
For those who have followed me on Twitter...Yes the much waited Twitter app review is coming.
Twitter Effect Education Implementaiton
Everyday, e-learning instructors are trying to figure out how to build in good discussion online. For that matter, grounded classroom teachers are as well as @CPDubbleU mentioned to me via Twitter. And all the meanwhile, there are still the nay-sayers that say that Twitter and online discussion is not an effective tool for learning and e-learning is a "cop out" for education. This graduate student asks...can't we all just get along? In co-teaching CCE 518 this quarter (more on this to come), this graduate student decided to take a chance and build a discussion board protocol for Blackboard that utilizes discussion concepts being demonstrated by Twitter. Yes, I had my students try @Replying fellow students to "call them out." The effects of this protocol... to be continued.
Thank you all who follow me on Twitter @ajbarse. With moving, graduating, and job hunting most of my Tales have happened in 140 characters or less lately. But I have some cool blog posts going to happen soon that will be looking at my teaching of E-learning and of course...Twitter.
Speaking of...
Twitter Effect- Now Main Stream?
Ok, so CNN and Ashton Kutcher are battling for followers on Twitter (*I shake my head here*), and everyone and their grandmother seems to have a Twitter these days. Yet, I still hear among the halls of WWU from some students and faculty:
"I get Facebook and all of those things, but I still don't get or why anyone Twitters"In the Interwebs, there is an ungodly amount of discussion via social networks, mobile communications, and various social services. But Twitter, even now as main stream as it is, still has the bad rep by some as that annoying narcissistic status update site.
Why Twitter-a-holics?
For those still scratching their head on Twitter, the video "Twitter in Plain English" is a great review.
But really, as one of my professors said;
"But I really, REALLY, don't care to know what people are doing all parts of the day."
This graduate student even thinks Twitter has morphed beyond what my professor has said or as this video demonstrates (well, at least for some Twitter users). Basically Twitter is what you make of it. Yes for some narcissistic folk, it is a way so that every 20 minutes they can express what they are hungry for or why their significant-other gets on their nerve. But for others, normal productive Twitter-ers it is a business promotion, a social network, a micro-blog, a social bookmarker, a job networking opportunity...something productive within 140 characters.
Twitter 101
What outsiders might find frustrating about Twitter, is understanding how to read what seems to be a one sided conversation. Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com/) is a great start if you are trying to find a specific user or conversation, and the site threads the discussions for you. But still, there are Twitter-isms that are needed to fully understand the Twitter-speak such as @ or #. There is even a Twitter lexicon being created which can be seen at the Twitter Dictionary (http://twittonary.com/). In short, if you really want to see Twitter as a mode of conversation and discourse, the various Twitter apps are the most effective way of understanding the stream that is Twitter.
For those who have followed me on Twitter...Yes the much waited Twitter app review is coming.
Twitter Effect Education Implementaiton
Everyday, e-learning instructors are trying to figure out how to build in good discussion online. For that matter, grounded classroom teachers are as well as @CPDubbleU mentioned to me via Twitter. And all the meanwhile, there are still the nay-sayers that say that Twitter and online discussion is not an effective tool for learning and e-learning is a "cop out" for education. This graduate student asks...can't we all just get along? In co-teaching CCE 518 this quarter (more on this to come), this graduate student decided to take a chance and build a discussion board protocol for Blackboard that utilizes discussion concepts being demonstrated by Twitter. Yes, I had my students try @Replying fellow students to "call them out." The effects of this protocol... to be continued.
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