The Five Twits of Twitter. Which one are you?

The Five Twits (Twitter users) in the known universe, in no particular order.

1. Consumer

A Consumer is a quiet user of Twitter. Following lots of tweeters, or just a few prolific ones. The Consumer takes in every tweet like she is reading a story. Perhaps she is. This Twit is not out to make a mark on Twitter, and may be in the early stages of learning what Twitter is all about.

Four P's for Twitter Newbies

This is a guide that has been put together based on personal experiences. While it is targeted at educational minded Twitter newbies, the principles certainly will apply to people from all walks interested in getting started on Twitter. These are the Four P's for Twitter Newbies.


Patience
It is rare that someone will understand how Twitter works in their first usage. Instead, newbies should be patient with themselves and with Twitter and take in advice from different websites and from users they trust. While there is no right way to use Twitter, there are certainly pitfalls and things to avoid. If you want to get something out of Twitter, spend at least three months actively reading about Twitter, discovering educational sites that tout the strengths of Twitter, and, most importantly, being an active participant on Twitter.

People
The people you follow will lead you to topics of interest, to follow more people, and to read blogs and websites of interest. Therefor, you will want to choose wisely. Don't be afraid to follow a lot of people and then unfollow people who don't tweet much, or who tweet things that annoy you. Are they tweeting more about breakfast than world languages? Unfollow. Are they tweeting every minute with bits of info that are unhelpful to you? Unfollow. While there are artificial ways to get lots of followers, you will not get value unless the people you follow and the people who follow you will further the discussions you are interested in. Some good ways to get new followers include:

• Follow people who are tweeting frequently on topics that are of interest to you
• Click on people you follow to see who they follow (and follow those that interest you)
• Leave your account public - you can always boot people you don't want to have following you
• Be interesting in your tweets and true to yourself and your interests

Participation
Getting involved in Twitter can be well worth the time investment. Increase your participation by tweeting at least once a day. Increase this number every couple of weeks until it feels natural for you to want to tweet about things you read and experience. Participation will be one of the top ways you can gain followers and get the most out of Twitter. Including hashtags and links to topics that interest you will draw people into your circle who are interested in similar topics.

You will also find that joining in on Twitter discussions can be a great way to participate. Every weekday there are multiple educational chats that take place on topics of all types. Topics range from discipline specific, to age level, to pedagogy and general interests. You can find the entire list  of topics on Jerry Blumengarten's (a.k.a. Cybraryman) website as well as a calendar with scheduled chats.

Finally, you can also participate by being social. After all, this is a social network. Be social by...

• Following people and occasionally retweeting what they have tweeted (if you really like it)
• Replying to other's tweets...if they say something interesting, you hit reply and make a comment
• Sending direct messages to followers, and thanking people who follow you
• Recognizing anyone who retweets you or mentions you in a way that you appreciate

Remember to use @ when mentioning someone by their Twitter name.

Probability
Increasing the probability of your tweets being read will increase the number of followers you have and the more followers you have the more influence your voice will have. Improve the probability of Twitter working for you by increasing your interactions on Twitter. The probability of any one of your tweets being read is completely dependent on three factors:

1. How many followers you have
2. How well your words and hashtags are chosen and
3. The time at which you tweet

Get more followers in ways that are legitimate to your interests. This will provide the most professional value to you. Read above for ideas on how to get more followers.

People who know how to use Twitter to gain information also know how to search Twitter. This can be done through hashtags and any words included in tweets. Therefor, when people are searching, they will find your tweets if you are including appropriate hashtags and key words or phrases relevant to your topic of interest.

Timing your tweets can be an art-form. In general, if you are including hashtags or you have several followers, people will see your tweets. Knowing your followers will allow you to improve your odds with timing. In education that can mean tweeting during the school day. I find tweets that land in the mid-morning are more frequently read because there are less tweets at that hour. Therefore, whatever I have to say may stay in search results longer. The lunch hour is also a predictable time that all teachers will have at least 20 minutes to be on Twitter and more than you can imagine, actually are. You will have to practice this and get a sense of what works best in your area of interests.

6 Keys to Fostering Quality Online Discussions

If there is one thing I know about fostering quality online discussions with students, it is that thinking about having them won't make them happen. Creating an online discussion that is more than just functional has been a quest of mine for several years now. I started four years ago with a high school video production course. Every year since then I have worked to develop the quality of the discussions, and I have been willing to shift platforms to find exactly what I want.

 Fostering a continuous, quality online discussion requires these six key ingredients:

• Relevance
• Teacher involvement
• Student involvement
• Schedule
• Expectations
• Commitment & Patience

Relevance

The most important part of an online discussion is holding a discussion on something that is both relevant to the course and relevant to the students. Teachers should avoid creating online discussions just for the sake of doing it. Why hold a discussion online if it could be completed in five minutes in a classroom? Students are much more interested in participating when they are interested in the topic and there can be a lot to say about it.

Teacher Involvement

Fostering quality discussion also means modeling quality discussion. While trying to create an online forum for most of my classes, I find that I can burn out quickly in trying to be part of every discussion. Instead, I find a balance that sustains the conversation and sustains my participation. I do this by trying to read everything (Edmodo makes this really easy) and by only replying when the conversation needs a boost or when there is a direct question I should reply to. Three things to remember:

1. Don't get in the way.
2. Ask good questions to foster more thoughts and discussion.
3. Respond as needed, focusing on student questions, misguided responses, and items of interest.

Student Involvement

Students are often only asked to be involved in the discussion through posting responses to the teacher's questions. To enrich students' participation, the teacher can hand over the reigns of developing online discussion to the students. Ask all students to develop questions, pick out five favorites, then let students decide on the top ideas each week. This can be done through online polling, response systems, etc. The teacher can also have a student or a group of students responsible for moderating a discussion. This technique is particularly effective after students have had some experience with online discussions, and is great to experiment with later in the year or in courses that are offered at different levels (i.e. Web Design 1, Web Design 2, etc.)

Schedule

If both teacher and students are new to online discussion, they will find it is like flexing a new muscle. Creating a schedule of discussions and keeping to it can make a huge difference in the quality of the discussions. I highly recommend requiring participation be complete within one week. Also, try to keep to a schedule that includes posting a new topic each week. Getting it down to a habit will keep the students coming back!

Expectations

Establish clear expectations in the beginning. If the discussion is not required, some students who may actually love getting involved could end up never logging in. Have a clear set of guidelines that indicates if participation is graded, how it is graded, and what is considered participation.
Things to consider are:

• How students initially respond
• How they respond to the ongoing conversation
• How they use the Internet to find resources, post links and even videos. 

I grade each weekly discussion on a ten point scale. I give up to eight points for student initial responses to the topic of the week, and up to two additional points for how a student engages with classmates in further discussion. Teachers should experiment to find what works best for their class.

Commitment and Patience

Have a clear commitment to fostering quality online discussions. Allow for the patience to struggle, fall down, and most importantly, get back up. Each time this happens it will be a valuable lesson to carry forward. It took me two years of discussions with the same course content before I felt confident enough to expanded to all of my courses. Everyone takes a different path. Those who are committed to online discussion as a tool for improving learning AND have the patience to try different things will have the most success.

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Choosing a Platform

There are several platforms that people use for online discussions. I am currently an avid user of Edmodo. In the past, I have tried Google Groups as well as Yahoo Groups. I also know other teachers who dedicate space on their websites through Moodle or a wiki, such as Wikispaces, to hold online discussions with students. These are just a few.

Summary
Today I have three different discussion groups going with three different courses I teach and they continue to improve and expand. Just last week I had a student feed a tweet into our discussion by using our class hashtag (a commonly used technique among those who use Twitter.) As my experience with social media expands and the boundaries breakdown, the future of online discussion becomes brighter and the possibilities become endless.

How I Use Edmodo.com - Top 10 Uses and 2 bonus ideas

My Edmodo start screen

As I began preparing for teaching The 21st Century Classroom, a professional development course for colleagues, I wondered how I was really using Edmodo. So, I sat and started to run through the archives of the groups I created and groups I participate in. What I discovered was a list much longer than I expected and a consistent growth that I was pleased to uncover. Here are my top 10 uses and a brief description of why it makes a difference.

1. Student Discussions

I started with one class four years ago on a different platform. While I think there is room for Edmodo to improve, I am thrilled to be using this platform to extend the classroom. I currently have four different groups in weekly discussions on various topics related to the variety of courses I teach. Students have an opportunity to respond by sharing their research, exploring classmate's links, and leaving comments to further the discussion. 

2. Assignments

In addition to being able to post a discussion topic (which I now do as an assignment), I can also post assignments directly to a group. Each assignment is created with a due date, the option to attach links, documents, etc. and the ability for students to 'Turn In' the assignment. A turned in assignment provides a private communication between the teacher and student and an opportunity for the teacher to provide feedback and a grade.

3. Share Documents

Using the library feature of Edmodo, I am constantly uploading documents, sorting them into folders for specific groups and creating private repository for my classes that will be reusable year after year. After a recent update to Edmodo, I can also now share my Google Docs directly from my account. Because I am a devoted user of Google Docs, this addition just made my life much easier! I always post documents with assignments including rubrics and instructions.

4. Sharing Links and Videos

As a frequent part of online class discussions, I provide links to websites and videos for students to watch. In return I often ask for students to do the same. The number of great links that have been posted to my walls over the past two years is amazing. My only wish is for an easy way to capture all of the student posted links. Also, all of the videos I link to are embeded directly into Edmodo and play right from the site.

5. Professional Discussions

Edmodo is full of groups that are started by other teachers and professional organizations. These groups create instant communities of like minded individuals able to share ideas, ask questions and be a participant in the ever changing 21st century classroom. Almost every subject and topic is covered by at least one group. I use the groups to post questions, participate in philosophical debate, and answer questions of other users.

6. Creating Subgroups

Once a group is formed, it is quite simple to create subgroups. I use this feature for my web design group. their are currently over 30 users and several of them are in my Advanced Web Design. So I give these students full access to the web design group and I have created a subgroup to create discussions tailored to their needs and growth.

7. Notes / Alerts / Polls / Quizzes

Using these various types of posts I have managed to explore student thoughts in different ways, get their attention quickly, and share my thoughts. While I almost always use 'Assignment' as my post of choice, the others serve their purposes from time to time.

8. Twitter Stream (or any RSS feed)

Using my Twitter RSS link, I have found it possible to have my Twitter messages post directly to the wall for each group. Now I know that students see my posts, which often provide links to technology and education related topics. I also sometimes Tweet out directly what students are doing in class, so they get to see their own work published on Twitter.

9. Parent Communication

I have created access for parents to see what is going on in Edmodo on an as needed basis. I could easily do this for the entire class. I currently only provide access as any parent requests it. Parents receive their own special code that gives them access to their child and any posts that I choose to share with parents.

10. Professional Development

I currently use Edmodo as my class platform when I deliver professional development. It is a tool that continues to impress and while it does not fit all of my needs (it is not a duplicate of Blackboard or other delivery systems) it is reusable, connected to the outside world and I find using Edmodo creates an opportunity for other teachers to explore its many possible uses.

Bonus #1 - Gradebook

If you choose to, you can provide grades on assignments done in Edmodo, directly through Edmodo. While I have an electronic gradebook that I use already, I can see this tool being quite helpful and it can provide immediate feedback to both parents and students.

Bonus #2 - Text Messages

While I don't use this feature, students and teachers may find it helpful to find that notifications of updates to Edmodo groups can be sent as a text to any cell phone number. The user can select which type of Edmodo event will trigger a text notification.

While the number of possible uses of Edmodo.com continues to grow, it is my intention that this list give you a good starting place for what you can do with Edmodo. If you would like to read a much longer list of very specific curriculum ideas, please see the google shared document Edmodo Ideas started well over a year ago by Troy Seyfert.

Please follow me on Twitter @ahstechteacher and leave feedback on this post if you have something to say! 

Chad McGowan

Computer Arts teacher

Technology Enthusiast

Ashland, MA