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Sunday, March 02, 2014

R U Following Education Twitter Chats?

Twitter is an exciting means of communication but it is an ongoing flow of information through a twitter river.  You don't always catch all of the posts because you may not be online when  relevant posts flow by.  Wouldn't it be exciting if you could get together with a number of like-minded educators to discuss what is on your mind?

ENTER TWITTER CHAT . .  .
A Twitter Chat (or Tweet Chat) is actually a Twitter conversation that revolves around one unique hashtag.  Like-minded tweeters (professionals, fans, friends) tweet at a predetermined time using a specified hashtag. This can be an overwhelming event with #hashtagged postings hyperspeeding by. 
 
This event can be controlled if you use a Twitter Chat tool like TweetChat.   TweetChat is a tool that captures the relevant tweets and places them on the screen for you to read and reply. 
NOTE: I am now using tchat.io for engaging in Twitter Chats.  I was having some problems with Tweetchat and tchat.io has been problem-free for me so far. (3/1/15)

Even with these wonderful tools, I have lost track of the "Twitter Train of Thought." A friend of mine told me that the strategy for getting the most out of a Twitter Chat:

"To successfully experience a Twitterchat, you should identify a handful of participants that make sense to you and follow them during the session. Find some new people to follow on Twitter for the future. After the session, you can get more information from the event by returning to the transcript and mining more nuggets of information."

I just spent an hour with Iowa Educators at #iaedchat tonight.  They had 5 questions that were used to direct the discussion throughout the evening.  There were a great number of dedicated educators who were sharing their ideas and opinions on good teaching.  GREAT OPPORTUNITY.

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Here are a number of Education Tweetchats listed by day and time (Eastern Standard Time.)  There are MANY more Tweetchats available in the resources at the end of this posting: 

Sunday
9 pm ET            #iaedchat        Iowa Education Chat   (Bettendorf & Fairfield)

Monday
7 pm ET            #engchat         English Chat
7 pm ET            #sschat           Social Studies Chat
8 pm ET            #edtechchat    Educational Tech Chat
8 pm ET            #flipclass         Flipped Classroom Chat
9 pm ET            #kinderchat     Kindergarten Chat
9 pm ET            #tlap                Teach Like a Pirate Chat

Tuesday
12 pm ET          #edchat           Education Chat
7   pm ET          #edchat           Education Chat
9  pm ET           #spedchat       Special Education Chat

Wednesday
9 pm ET            
#ECETechchat  Early Childhood Ed Chat (added 3/1/15)
2nd & 4th week #digcit             Digital Citizenship Chat
@ 7 pm ET


Thursday
Noon ET            #edtechex      Ed Tech Examples
8 pm ET             #tichat            Technology Integrators

Friday
7 pm ET             #gtchat           Gifted and Talented Chat
7 pm ET             #satchatOC    Saturday Ed Chat in Oceana (Around Australia)

Saturday
7:30 am ET        #satchat                  Education and Leadership
2 pm ET             #globalclassroom    Global Classroom (2nd Sat of month) 


References
Bearden, S.  (9/23/13) 13 Great Twitter Chats Every Educator Should Check Out  
ChatSalad     Realtime Homepage for Twitter Chats
Cybrary Man    Education Chats on Twitter 
Smarty, A (May 8, 2012) 5 Steps to Hosting Successful Twitter Chats: Your Ultimate Guide. 
Weekly Twitter Chats   - This is a schedule of chats on a weekly basis.  HUGE list of topics.

Which TwitterChats do you like to follow?  Share your suggestions in the comments section.