Thing #5 Microblogging

For a long long time I only had a MySpace and used it very limited. I found that I didn't have the time to continually update the hmtl and add stuff to make my MySpace interesting. I also found that some people are very "free" with what they post on their pages as well as mine. I still have it and use it occassionally.

I LOVE Facebook and Twitter. I created a FB to keep up w/ my sister in Salt Lake City. I have found that I use FB daily. I update things going on in my life and the lives of my family and friends. At the end of last year I created a "teacher" FB account to give to my students when they ask if they can be on my friend. I have found it is important to keep students on their own seperate page from my family and friends. I love connecting w/ my students on FB. I really get to know them as people and they love the attention. Building those relationships naturally evolves into students sending me messages, questions, etc. about the coursework, homework, and class stuff. I created a group to go w/ my teacher FB account. I am hopeing to turn this group into a forum of sorts for our class. Posting class happenings, calendar items, reminders, pictures, videos, etc. would be valuable to my students. Students are on FB... let's meet them where they are.

Twitter is cool. I used to think it was dorky. That's really funny, considering I'm the biggest nerd that my friends and family know. LOL. I started using Twitter after I watched a story on CNN. This doctor was performing a knee replacement. He had another doctor in the OR twitter every 10-15mins describing the procedure at that point and how it was going. The family sat in the waiting room keep up with the tweets. How awesome!!! Anyhoo. I started using Twitter. I follow only a few people and a few of those I have the text update for my phone on. So, when they tweet, I get a text. It's fun to tweet on vacations, caravans, etc. I think there is an interface that updates Twitter and your FB status as the same time. I think it's called Twhirl (sp?). I'm not sure about it. I need to investigate it. I'd love to be able to send ONE update that would update my FB and my Twitter at the same time.

Twitter would be useful for classes b/c as things are happening, you can tweet a few words about it. You can also tweet important content concepts that you dont' want students to forget. Many times, students have trouble w/ note-taking. If you "tweeted" key concepts, definitions, etc. they could review and update their notes to make sure they didn't miss anything. One of my teaching partners gave me a GREAT idea about notetaking for my kids. I plan to use it this year and could create a twitter to go along with it. Hmm.... I better log on and create that new account now! I'll be needing it this year.