Professional Development in 140 Characters (1/2)

Ah Twitter. The social media platform where users can quickly post their thoughts for their followers and the world to see in 140 characters or less. The place where I wasted countless hours throughout my youth scrolling through my news feed and tweeting about just that. I thought I was being so #deep.

My high school CIS teacher, (computer information systems, for those of you wondering), called this life tweeting and explained that this is what the majority of individuals used Twitter for. But what would you say if I told you that Twitter can be used as more than a megaphone to update everyone on your life with hashtags? That it is possible to use Twitter as a platform of personal development?

Salvete omnes, today I want to share with you my adventure that was my first experiences with Twitter chat.

But first, what is a Twitter chat? A Twitter chat is when a group of people, who are interested in a similar topic, assemble under a designated hashtag, to discuss a topic.

This week I was able to attend two Twitter chats. On Monday, I attended the Educational Technology Chat under the hashtag #Edtechchat. Unsure of what to expect, I decided to spend my time as a lurker. I was surprised when this chat began because it did not take off right away in an unorganized tornado throwing random information debris at me. Instead it was well structured with discussion questions, labeled Q1, Q2, etc., introduced intermittently throughout the hour to help guide discussion. Responses to the questions were easy to find because they similarly were labeled A1, A2, etc. I was so immersed in the information and following links provided by participants that before I knew it the chat was over.

I caught the Twitter chat bug! So today I attended another chat but this time I introduced myself and I participated. The second chat was set up similar to the Edtech chat that I attended so I was able to easily share my ideas as well as learn and collect more information from others.  

Before this experience, I had never considered using Twitter for anything other than life tweeting. But like many of the internet platforms that I have been exploring and reviewing lately, I believe Twitter has the potential to become something more. I may not have realized it at the time I was attending these chats, largely because I was able to attend both while wearing my Pj’s and sipping tea, but I feel that Twitter chats can be a great source for individual personal development. The participants in the chats are very welcoming and eager to share their ideas. The environment of Twitter chats encourage networking, collaboration, and the sharing of ideas and resources among educators all over the world. 

I hope this post has in turn encouraged you, my dear reader, to explore a Twitter chat in a topic that interest you. And if that topic happens to be education technology, well then I will see you on Monday.