Well, after our meeting last night I got back on Twitter and Plurk. I like them both, but for different reasons. I have more personal connections on plurk, others who converse with me which I like. It has taken me awhile to get Twitter, but now that I am following some interesting people, they are leading me to other twitters who have  useful information or connections. When I was poking around on Twitter today I found a list of top tools used by educators. Check it out, you might find something new to try or you might be able to add some information to it. http://ow.ly/uLJK

I have been on Twitter for about 2 months now, and do not see any real value to using it.  Maybe I just haven’t found anyone to connect with who can improve or impact the way I teach. However, personally I do enjoy Plurk.com.  It still does not do anything for me professionally, but I do like the way it is set up. Just my opinion.

We as professionals can find the benefits of social bookmarking to share and interact with our peers.  How do you think social bookmarking can benefit the teacher/student relationship and be used in classrooms of all ages?  What reservations might you have about using this technology with students?

I do not see my group (Group 3)’s blog post up for discussion…wcjhillegeer is my group’s moderator. Maybe I’m just blind and absent-minded.

I’ve looked and looked, but I have not seen my group’s moderator post a question about the article we read:  “Teaching the ‘Net Generation”.

This was another link I found on Plurk.  An interesting read about networking guidelines for teachers. 

I found this link on Plurk.  Thought I’d share it here since Bloom’s was part of our homework.

I subscribed to Twitter several years ago and find that it adds no value to my life at all.  I have tried to build twitter into my schedule but just don’t care for the chatter.  I find the small talk almost irritating and am amazed by the minutiae people think I should know about their days and lives.  From where I sit, it is not worth the time it takes to filter out the gravel so that I can find a gem.  I know that there are people out there who are considered, or consider themselves, experts but I find that I am surrounded by considerable brilliance within my district and through the connections I have made in the greater community.  Thus, twitter goes unused in my world.

This said, although this may be outside the circle of our conversation, I am interested in what people think Twitter is doing to the quality of our news.  In the end, do you think it is beneficial?  Are their drawbacks?

In the article “From Web 2.0 to School 2.0,” Lankshear and Knobel state:

“Schools and classrooms that successfully incorporate Web 2.0 principles, resources, and technologies will adopt a new form of learning that involves co-design, co-creation, and shared problem solving.  This new learning will work best when guided by teachers who not only understand the stubstantive learning areas, but also know how to translate existing learner interests into worthy problems and challenges whose solutions involve productive activityguided by expertise, including those experts whose work inhabits Web 2.0 space.”  (Text was not bolded in original article; it has been bolded for this task.)

Share how we might translate traditional lessons into collaborative design, creation, and/or problem-solving activities using Web 2.0.  How can we assure that these lessons are meaningful, challenging, and productive?

It seems that many of you have posted questions about the use of twitter in education. I have found a few resources that might help you better understand the potential behind twitter and to find a use for it in your professional/personal learning network.

Laura Walker’s Nine Great Reasons Why Teachers Should Use Twitter

Alan Lew’s Twitter Tweets for Education

Let me know what you think!

I’m not that impressed with Twitter yet.  Maybe I just need to follow some more people.  But I am really enjoying Plurk and trying to make more teacher connections there.