Professional development for educators has changed immensely over the last 10 years. The conferences held one time a year - although still very important - are being replaced by real time professional development. Social media has allowed for this ongoing PD for educators. One of best platforms for real time professional development is Twitter.
A Twitter chat is a public conversation held on Twitter. It follows a hashtag that allows you to follow and participate in discussions on specific topics - usually it connects people to common interests. These chats are arranged in advance so all involved know the time to join. Quite often the chats are led by a speaker and follow an agenda. Other times, these chats are just discussions between anyone interested in the topic.
Twitter Chat 1 - #edchat - Are punitive grades or zeros necessary to create compliant students?
Here is a link to the original post on Facebook complete with screenshots of my involvement in both the chat and the backchannel.
What I Saw: This was my first ever Twitter chat so I did not know totally what to expect. First, I found it quite confusing as there was not a speaker to control the chat. As well, #edchat is such a well used site that it was confusing to follow as there were irrelevant tweets that had nothing to do with the topic. Even though I organized the hashtag to my Tweetdeck I found it hard to follow the conversation. I noticed there were backchannels (in essence, other conversations going on at the same time). I found that some of these conversations were more relevant as you could tweet directly to someone without using the hashtag. As well, these were more concentrated on a desired topic.
My contributions. As this was my first Twitter chat I did not get involved too much as I wanted to learn what these sessions were all about. I was more of a “lurker.” The discussion I did take part in involved the concept of why use zeros in the first place in the assessment of students. I suggested that if the students did not do the work, we were letting them off the hook by giving the zero. If we re-assess and demand the work, maybe the student will be more accountable. I discussed how our school re-assesses over and over again and only a “not meeting” and not a zero will be given. I talked about our school’s marking spectrum in a backchat and even gave them a link to this assessment. Much backchannel talk was evident on this topic.
Learned concepts and processes: In terms of content, I learned about the different views on this topic. I am astonished that some teachers still use zeros as a punishment. As I said early, we are letting the student take the easy way out by taking zero. I also learned that there are good reasons to give a zero that do not relate to punishment for the student - many of these I agreed with. In terms of process, I like the real time PD opportunity that Twitter chats allows for. The amount of knowledge I saw from the participants and their ability to get involved (especially those who would not get involved otherwise) in the chat sessions made it very appealing for learning. I just have to learn how to weed out all of the irrelevant information. This is one major drawback of the whole idea of Twitter chats.
Twitter Chat 2 - Personalized and Individualized Learning
Here is a link to the original post on Facebook complete with screenshots of my involvement in both the chat and the backchannel.
What I saw: This chat was much more organized than the first chat. This chat had a speaker with an agenda. The speaker gave the group six questions - one at a time - and let the participants chat in regards to the topics. The conversations were great as there was much conversation. It was very organized and made for a much better learning experience as compared to my first Twitter chat.
My contributions. There were six questions directly at the participants. I only participated in four of the questions as I felt two of the questions were not relevant to the conversation. I did, however, use extra time to get involved in the backchannel discussions. The questions I participated in were: 1. How is personalized and individualized learning similar? How are they different? 2. What does individualized learning look like? 3. Why is personalized learning such a topic in education-based conversation? 4. How are you learning this summer? I am currently involved in high school redesign in our school and province so this topic was very relevant. I feel I contributed well to the conversation as one of the pillars of the redesign is the personalization of all students. I was active in both the chat and the backchannels and received a lot of likes and comments from my remarks. The screenshots show my involvement in both.
Learned concepts and processes: In terms of content, this Twitter chat made me re-examine the difference between individualization and personalization and the importance to high school redesign. It re-emphasized my beliefs that personalization is vital to 21st Century education. In terms of process, I found that when the chat is organized, it is a much better learning environment and more relevant information and conversation is evident. As well, the backchannel discussions are more closely related to the Twitter chat. I found many educators that I will now follow on Twitter that relate to this topic of conversation. My PLE is growing exponentially.
Twitter chat 3 - #formativechat - Implementation and Impact of Formative Assessment
Here is a link to the original post on Facebook complete with screenshots of my involvement in both the chat and the backchannel. As well, here is a transcript of the complete Twitter chat.
What I Saw: This was my third try at a Twitter chat. The topic on this one was the Implementation and Impact of Formative Assessment - #formativechat. This chat was very organized. Before the chat, the speaker let everyone know exactly what time the chat would begin. At the beginning of the chat, introductions were made and then questions were laid out. Each question was allocated six minutes for information to exchange. There were some very experienced chatters as far as I could tell as the answers were coming fast and the backchannel chatter was substantial.
My contributions. I tried to contribute to both the main chat by answering the question as quickly as possible. I then tried to focus on the backchannels to get perspectives on different topics under this overall theme. I just need to learn how to handle going from my individual twitter account to the main chat. Participate Learning is helping out a lot with this endeavour.
Learned concepts and processes: I found on this chat I had difficulty keeping up with all of the information that was present. Every time I tried to join a certain discussion, I was late to the party and the discussion had moved on. I find it hard to keep up with all of the info and still be a large part of the discussions. I lose out on so much of the conversation and learning. Once thing I am realizing about these chats is you have to pick and choose which discussions you want to be a part of. There is so much backchannel talk, some addressed to you, that it is hard to stay in the chat discussion. As well, it is hard to think about the answers. It feels like I am on a gameshow and only have a few seconds to answer and to be able to articulate this answer in 200 characters is difficult. I will keep trying but I need to focus on certain areas of the chats from now on. I'll keep practicing. Here is a link to the entire chat. Go to 5:00.
As far as content, there was some good information in this chat. As we know, formative assessment (assessment for learning) is very valuable in student learning. The immediate feedback that gives students a chance to revise answers using the feedback is more valuable to learning than the summative variety. Many of the participants gave great examples of how they use formative assessment in the classroom. I will surely try some of these.
Twitter Chat 4: #edtechchat - 7 Ways School Leaders Can Fulfill Their Obligations to Edtech Leadership - Chat
Here is a link to the original post on Facebook complete with screenshots of my involvement in both the chat and the backchannel. As well, here is a transcript of the complete Twitter chat.
What I Saw: Tonight I completed my fourth but not my last Twitter chat. This chat, through hashtag #edtechchat, was entitled 7 Ways School Leaders can Fulfill Their Obligations to EdTech Leadership. The chat was well organized and had a series of questions pertaining to "piloting new technology." The speaker made it a point to introduce herself and welcome each participant into the chat. There were some great questions that related to most educators.
My contributions. I really enjoyed this topic as it is a goal of mine to move up into leadership once I am completed the MET program - four more weeks. Again, just as in the last three chats, I was involved in both the main chat and the backchannels. I made it a point to only get involved with discussions I could be an integral part of. I tried to stay away from joining every backchannel. It helped as I was not so flustered with the process and actually enjoyed these chats.
Learned concepts and processes: During the chat, I used my limited experience to try to make this chat the best one so far. I used learned lessons of organization - using Participate Learning and my TweetDeck. As well, I tried to answer the question as soon as possible so I could engage in conversations from other users whether through the main chat or the backchannels. I found that most of my ideas are in concert with many of my colleagues. Most agreed that pilots need to start with the stakeholders (teachers, students) and not get pushed down to us from admin or the product developers. As well, most agreed that a successful pilot would create engagement from both the teacher and student standpoint.
I found the use of Twitter chats both very informative but also very frustrating. The immediate knowledge taken from each chat will be essential in my PD of certain topics. It is real time and mostly relevant to the topic. However, I found the amount of chatter to be distracting. It is like there is 100 people in a room and everyone is talking at once. It takes organization and, as well, selfishness to truly get the most out of these chats. I also found there is not a lot of time to think about the answers. As I was not prepared for the questions beforehand, I was not always able to share my thoughts in the way I would have liked. Also, the 200 character limit makes it difficult to portray all that needs to be said. I think the more practice in using Twitter chats the more valuable they will become.
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