Before coming to class today, I was a bit skeptical about how Twitter could be used in an educational setting. Though I still hold some uncertainties in regard to its use in a classroom, I am much more open to using Twitter as a means of forming a personal learning network. My change of heart can mostly be attributed to the guest speaker we had today, who presented a lot of information about the use of Twitter in preparing for job interviews, in forming contacts with other professionals, and in acquiring resources to use in our classrooms. Because of her presented information, I have already added several new streams to my Twitter account on HootSuite, for such hashtags as #ntchat and #scichat. I am looking forward to seeing what types of resources I can find using these streams. Though I previously thought that Twitter was used solely to follow celebrity gossip and the lives of close friends, I now see that it can be used for so much more!
In addition to learning more about Twitter, I am also looking forward to exploring Google Reader in more depth. It seems like a useful tool to have, especially when following blogs on multiple sites. It gets slightly annoying checking blogs all over the web just to see if there have been any updates, but with Google Reader, any updates can be seen by going to just one page. Before today, I never realized that something like this even existed!
Even though I have only been to two Teaching with Technology classes so far, I already feel like I have learned about so many valuable tools on the Internet. The fact that most of them are free amazes me. I am definitely looking forward to our future classes to see what else is out there!
I am the same way with twitter before today's class. Before today, I was mostly using twitter to follow sports journalists and reporters to get the latest rumors in sports. I am really excited to use twitter to expand the network of professionals I interact.
ReplyDeleteI had a difficult time getting into the Google Reader. It is more fun for me to go to the actual blog site. You did such a nice job of adding character to the site with colors, fonts, and pictures. It looked much more bland from Google Reader. I can see how it would be useful, but not for me. Since we already have the group consolidated on our Wiki, it is pretty easy to click through all of the blogs.
ReplyDeleteI too was completely sold about Twitter from our guest speaker. The #ntchat has tag resonated interest for me as well. It was priceless to add the streams now. Even if we don't get into using Twitter at this moment, it is a tool out there already set up for us to utilize when we get going with our student teaching.
I agree with Amanda - I don't like to read directly from google reader because it usually looks dull. However, I've been using it just as a bridge to blogs. Google reader lets me know when there are updates so I don't have to waste my time going to a blog where there isn't a new post.
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