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One of the many advantages of having a class blog is the potential for global collaboration.

Global collaboration has always been one of my very favorite aspects of blogging with students.

There are many reasons why global collaboration is worthwhile.

Connecting with other classes around the world is fun! I'm yet to meet a student who doesn't enjoy getting involved in global collaboration. It just seems to spark a natural sense of curiosity and wonder, even for those who are disengaged with some aspects of traditional schooling.

Developing global competence is a must. If we want our students to thrive in a changing labor market, live harmoniously together, and work together to solve some of our world's big problems, they need to be comfortable with global collaboration.

The curriculum can come alive. Many teachers worry that global collaboration is an "add-on" which they don't have time for with a busy curriculum. To the contrary, global projects can offer an authentic and innovative way to teach and go beyond learning benchmarks.

Global collaboration is purposeful and productive. We know our students are online. A lot. But what are they doing online? Playing games? Taking selfies? Texting? We all need downtime but perhaps we could tap into this interest in the online world and help students connect more purposefully and productively? Global collaboration could be a piece of that puzzle. This sentiment is echoed by George Couros in his post, Hope is Not a Strategy.

Maybe you like the idea of connecting with other classes, but don't know where to start? This guide will walk you through many different entry points to global collaboration.

In this post, I've outlined a framework that's weaved from my own experiences. I hope you'll add to the guide by sharing your own ideas and experiences.

Contents
Why You Need A Blog Three Stages Of Global Collaboration Stage One: Informal Collaboration Stage Two: Join A Project Stage Three: Start A Project Two classes using their own blogs Two classes using one joint blog Multiple classes using their own blogs Multiple classes using one joint blog 5 Tips For Success Conclusion
First, you need a blog

Okay, you certainly don't have to have a blog to get involved in global collaboration but there are advantages to having one.

A blog is an online hub. It acts as a place where classes can meet, collaborate, converse, and learn together. You can document your journey with global collaboration and also post content (text, photos, videos, songs etc.) to share with other classes.

A blog is your virtual home. You may want to make your classroom community discoverable if you're interested in forming connections. This would be through a public blog. A public blog also offers an authentic and ongoing way to cover digital citizenship, as I have written about before. Together, your classroom community can make decisions about what will be posted including names, photos, personal information, and so on (refer to Should Your Class Or Student Blogs Be Public Or Private to dive into this topic further).

If you're brand new to blogging, we have a guide to get you started. Check it out.

Three Stages Of Global Collaboration

There are three key stages to involving your class in global collaboration and we'll be going through each one.

These stages don't represent a continuum and you don't have to progress through the first stage and then move onto the next.

The great thing about global collaboration is the flexibility.

Sometimes you can do big things, other times small things.

Sometimes you might be a leader, other times you might just follow along.

Sometimes your project might be over in an hour, or a few days. Other times, your project might span for many weeks or a semester.

Sometimes the project might involve one other class, other times it might involve a handful of classes you know, or hundreds of classes you don't know (yet).

Stage One: Informal Collaboration

What?

The first stage of connecting with other classes is informal collaboration. This is where you dip your toes in, reach out to someone, and just try some form of connection. You don't need to have big goals or objectives and it doesn't have to be an ongoing thing.

Why?

Informal collaboration is simply an entry point that's low risk and not daunting. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't matter. If it does work out, you never know where it could take you!

How?

Simply find someone who has a class that looks like a good match to your own class (similar age/subject, a location you'd like to connect with etc.). You might put a call out on Twitter, check out our list of class blogs which we update twice a year, or simply google for class blogs. Then it's just a matter of asking! Leave a blog comment, send a tweet, or send an email if there is an address listed.

Then what?

Once you've asked someone if they want to collaborate and they say yes, decide what you want to do. Do you want to leave comments on each others' blogs? Perhaps you could post something special for the other class to comment on (e.g. film your class singing a song or giving a tour of the school). Or you might want to do a casual Skype call. Never used Skype before? Get our PDF full of tips for running a successful Skype call.

Tips

Remember it works both ways. If you want others to comment on your blog, make sure you visit their blogs as well. And keep the conversations going by asking questions etc.

You might also find that it's easy enough to find connections in first world/western countries - USA, Australia, UK, New Zealand etc. Once you get familiar with global collaboration, you might consider ways to connect with educators in other parts of the world. This can broaden your students' horizons even further.

Stage Two: Join A Project

What?

The first experiences many classes have with global projects involve joining pre-organized collaborations. You don't need to think of the project idea and find your own connections. There are agencies and groups that can do this for you.

Why?

You might not have the connections, the ideas, or the willingness/time/capacity to organize your own global project. Or, you might like to sometimes join in pre-arranged projects and sometimes set up your own collaborations or projects.

Examples

Below is a list of projects that classes can join from anywhere in the world. This list is far from exhaustive. There are so many wonderful projects out there that are free and open to anyone. We invite you to add your own suggestions in a comment.

The Student Blogging Challenge runs twice yearly starting in March and October. It is made up of a series of 10 weekly tasks all designed to improve blogging and commenting skills while connecting students with a global audience and being supported by a team of blogging mentors.

The Challenge is open to both class blogs and to individual student bloggers from all over the world and of all ages. Participants can complete as many of the tasks as they like and in any order.

This is a popular project run by retired English head teacher, Julia Skinner. Each week a prompt is published and students are invited to respond in under 100 words.

Julia can also help connect your class with a hub where three classes from around the world band together to support each other with comments. Additionally, Julia has a team of volunteers who comment on students' work each week.

Find out more about how this project works in our interview with Julia Skinner.

Every year, millions of students and educators connect on or around September 15th to celebrate creativity, courage, and collaboration.

Participating in International Dot Day is simple. You sign up on the website, read The Dot book to your class, and express yourself in any way that's in line with themes from the book. Then finally, you're invited to connect with other classes around the world and the Dot Day organizers can help you do this.

Find out more about participating in International Dot Day in our 2017 post.

Skype in the Classroom is an online community that enables teachers to bring the world into their classroom via Skype.

Classes can

Go on virtual field trips

Play Mystery Skype

Meet with guest speakers

Participate in a global collaboration project

Take part in a Skype lesson

Teachers can sign up for Skype in the Classroom on the Microsoft Educator website.

Find out more about Skype in the Classroom in our interview with Skype Master Teacher, Julie Hembree.

This is a website that helps connect K-12 classrooms around the world.

Teachers can search for learning partners based on country, age group, language, subject etc.

ePals allows you to set up pen pal exchanges. This is where students can communicate privately with other students. These are teacher moderated.

You can also join in global projects (called 'experiences'). There is a range of projects available targeted at different age groups and subject areas.

The Global Read Aloud was created by Pernille Ripp in 2010 and is now very popular. It is a yearly event that spans six weeks starting each October.

Participants sign up to read the same book aloud to their students and then use any form of technology (Skype, blogs, Edmodo etc.) to connect throughout the six weeks.

This quote from Pernille explains The Global Read Aloud concept,

Global collaboration is necessary to show students that they are part of something bigger than them. That the world needs to be protected and that we need to care for all people. You can show them pictures of kids in other countries but why not have them speak to each other? Then the caring can begin.

Stage Three: Start A Project

Hopefully, as you build up your professional learning network, you might start meeting some educators that you work well with. This could be through your informal connections or structured projects. These educators might prove to be a good match in terms of reliability, student goals, age of students, standards etc.

When this happens, a natural next step can be to start your own project.

Starting your own project can be very beneficial because you can customize the learning experience to meet your students' precise needs and interests. You can also extend and build on connections over time.

I'm going to show you some examples of projects that I've devised over the years with different teachers.

These global blogging projects took four different formats:

Two classes using their own blogs

Two classes using one joint blog

Multiple classes using their own blogs

Multiple classes using one joint blog

1) Two Classes Using Their Own Blogs

This is a fairly easy entry point to setting up your own global project and there are many ways you can go about it.

Short Project Example: Two Truths And One Lie

Some projects might just span a few days like Two Truths and One Lie. This was a project I worked on with grade 3/4 students and Linda Yollis ' third grade class at the end of 2017.

Each class worked together on a collaborative Google Slide presentation. The students worked with a partner to come up with one slide. The slide had two facts and one "lie" about their country's animals, landmarks, culture, or any other area they were interested in. The slideshows were published on the class blogs and the other class was invited to guess the lies in comments after doing their own research.

You can read more about the Two Truths And One Lie project here. This would be easy to adapt to older year levels as well.

A similar short term project that you might be interested in reading about is The Monster Project.

Longer Project Example: The Flat Stanley Project

Some projects might go on for multiple weeks. One example that my grade two students enjoyed was The Flat Stanley project.

This was a collaboration with Open The Door To B4 in New Zealand. We both read Flat Stanley then sent our own paper Stanleys in the mail along with a journal for a NZ student to fill in about Stanley's adventure overseas. There was great joy when the journals were returned home and a few Skype calls complemented the project.

The Flat Stanley project has been popular for many years and there is a website where you can find out more information about how to run your own version or find classes to connect with.

2) Two Classes Using One Joint Blog

One of my earliest blogging collaborations was with Linda Yollis and her third grade students. We met via a simple exchange of comments. We then started regularly commenting on each other's blogs and sometimes posted a special post just for the other class (e.g. a traditional song).

From there we decided to set up a joint blog which we called Collaboration Corner. (You can check out the blog here, although note that it hasn't been maintained in many years so some embeds aren't working as they should).

The first project we worked on was a simple one - The Lunchbox Project. Each day a different student would take a photo of their lunch and create an audio recording about it. The other class could ask questions and conversations evolved.

Following that, the students voted on a new project which was to do with the school environment.

There's a lot of scope for working collaboratively on a joint blog no matter what age or subject you teach. This could be in addition to a class blog or instead of a class blog.

3) Multiple Classes Using Their Own Blog

Once you start getting to know other teachers, you might find you have a number of strong connections from different locations. Why not bring them together to create a bigger project?

QuadBlogging

You could start with something like QuadBlogging. This is a concept that UK educator David Mitchell came up with.

The format is simple. Four blogging classes come together and learn about one another one week at a time. Each week, a different blog in the quad is the focus and the other three classes take the time to visit and comment on their blog.

Here is a video our class made with their blogging buddies about QuadBlogging many years ago.

I tried out QuadBlogging when the concept was in its infancy. David Mitchell has since built more of a framework around it and can help you find your own quad. Check out quadblogging.net.

The Tale Trail

Another example I worked on with multiple classes using their own blogs was called The Tale Trail. Six classes around the world collaboratively wrote a story together. Each class would have three days to come up with their portion of the story before passing it on to the next class to continue.

Again, there is a lot of scope to broaden this sort of project!

You can read more about The Tale Trail on Shawn Avery's class blog. Shawn instigated this project.

4) Multiple Classes Using One Joint Blog

If you really want to step up your global collaborations, you might like to look into having multiple classes working on one joint blog.

This certainly requires a little more organization and it can be helpful to have one teacher take on more of a leadership role to set up the blog, distribute tasks, come up with schedules, and keep the momentum going.

Outcome: Fun And Learning

Sometimes these sorts of projects might just be for the sake of learning more about the world, building communication skills, and authentically teaching the curriculum.

A few examples I've been involved in setting up include:

Our World, Our Stories: Over a 7 week period, 6 classes worldwide collaborated on a joint blog sharing their stories. Each week a different class was the lead class. They published a post about the weekly topic - games, food, traditional songs/stories etc. The other classes read the posts, possibly published their own posts, and left blog comments.

Our World, Our Numbers: Over a 12 week period, 7 classes worldwide collaborated on a joint blog sharing their mathematical lives. A different class led a mathematical topic every week or so (currency, seasons, time zones, population data etc.). The lead class would publish posts and reply to comments. The other classes read the posts, possibly published their own posts, and left blog comments.

Outcome: Fun, Learning, And Taking Action

Sometimes your outcomes might go beyond simply learning and collaborating. There might be a greater purpose. Students can come together to take action and either raise awareness about a cause or improve conditions for others in some way. Perhaps they can use their privilege and voice to contribute to a better world.

An example of this sort of project was The Ugandan Global Project.

Like Our World, Our Stories and Our World, Our Numbers, there was a collaborative blog where students from four continents shared and learned through weekly topics. One of the participants was a Ugandan school and the culminating event was a fundraiser to help purchase a playground and dining hall for this underprivileged community.

The outcomes of this project exceeded all expectations. Not only was there a lot of fun and learning, but $20,000 was raised for the Ugandan School. There were after effects too when members of a US community heard about the project and decided to travel to Uganda to volunteer.

While these wouldn't be the sorts of projects you'd do all the time, it can be worth thinking about how you could take a collaboration one step further to make a difference in the world.

5 Tips For Success

There are no hard and fast rules about global collaboration and there are sure to be some benefits however you approach it, however, here are a few tips from my own experiences that might help.

1) Start Small

Think quality over quantity. You don't have to be involved in every project going around and you don't have to connect with too many different classes.

Once you find one or two classes that you have a solid connection with, there's no reason why you can't try a few different projects with the same class. There are many benefits to extending and deepening your collaboration.

2) Project Management

When working on your own projects or collaborations with other classes, you need to consider how you'll tackle project management. I've always been a big fan of having shared Google Sheets and Google Docs to lay out all the ideas and timetables.

A little bit of behind the scenes organization can really pay off.

Communication is crucial so keep in regular contact with the other teachers you're working with, whether that be through email, Skype, Twitter ... or a tool that suits you.

3) Involve Students

It's easy for global projects to become teacher managed but it's obviously a good idea to involve students in all aspects of the project.

As students get older, they can be more involved in the behind the scenes planning too. Whatever the age of the student, there should be some element of 'voice and choice'. This can be as simple as students electing what topics they'd like to explore, what questions they'd like to ask, how they'd like to present their work etc.

4) Involve The Community

Global collaboration might be a novel concept in your school community. Share the excitement and learning by inviting others to get involved.

This might be through things like:

Asking your principal and parents if they want to come and watch a Skype session.

Inviting the local community to take part in a fundraiser.

Asking other classes in your team or school to take part alongside you (maybe your partner class also has other classes at their school they could invite to even up the numbers).

5) Celebrate And Reflect

A culminating event can be a satisfying way for students to showcase and celebrate their learning at the end of a project.

For simple one-off connections, you might write a blog post. Or for bigger projects, this might look like a movie, fundraising event, song, Skype party, digital story, community event, or art display.

Be sure to discuss with your students what worked and what ideas they have for next time. Think of ways you can build on the project or connection. A thorough debrief and reflection can lead to even more powerful outcomes in the future!

Conclusion

It can certainly seem a little daunting to get started with global collaboration in the beginning but there's a strong chance that once you dip your toes in and see what your students get out of it, you'll be hooked!

Please leave a comment and share any of your own experiences with global collaboration. If you're aware of any other good projects or entry points that we haven't mentioned, be sure to let us know!

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The Edublogger's Guide To Global Collaboration

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One of the many advantages of having a class blog is the potential for global collaboration. Global collaboration has always been one of my very favorite aspects of blogging with students. There are many reasons why global collaboration is worthwhile. Connecting with other classes around the world is fun!

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It's always important as an educator to grow and learn from peers. This is a key element in becoming a better teacher and not stagnating. Falling into a rut is something that happens to all of from time to time, but knowing how to get out of that rut can at times, be a challenge for some.

One fantastic way of growing as an educator is to become part of a professional learning network.

There are many ways of joining PLN's (#PLN). They are on Google Groups, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. For the sake of this post, I want to focus on Twitter since that is a space I enjoy being in and honestly, have had success with as a learner myself.

First of all, as a teacher, if you aren't on Twitter, you should be. Many amazing teachers around the world use Twitter on a daily basis They share the amazing work they do with their students in class, they share lesson ideas, collaborate with other teachers, post research and share their knowledge.

I have formed professional relationships via Twitter, discovered fantastic teaching ideas, met teachers in other parts of the world and collaborated with their students, have formed friendships and have even received job offers!

I use Twitter as a teacher for a few reasons.

First, I use it to be a learner. I use it to follow the latest news (education and non-education). I follow many global news organizations such as BBC, NHK, CBC, CNN, etc. and that way, I get alerted to breaking news events long before most others know about them. I was using Twitter back in 2011 when the big earthquake and tsunami hit Japan (using an account I no longer have). That was really important since I was teaching and living in Japan. I was able to follow breaking news immediately and was always up to date. As far as teaching news goes, may education organizations and schools make announcements on Twitter before anywhere else.

Second, I use it to build my professional network. Networking is a key to becoming successful in any industry and teaching is no different. Follow your colleagues. Follow famous educators like Kath Murdoch and Vicki Davis. Look who they follow and follow those people too! If you are an international educator and you are interested in certain schools around the world as places of possible future employment, follow those schools and then follow the teachers who work there! Soon your contacts grow.

Third, I use Twitter to show the world who I am as a teacher and an outdoor/nature expert. Twitter is my digital portfolio. "Hey world, look at me and see what I am capable of doing!"

I use it to market and promote myself. I of course also use it to share news about science, technology, and Japan, some of my other interests.

Now that you are on Twitter and populating your feed with other fantastic teachers, you need to use the tool. Don't be passive. You need to be active to grow your own following. Without followers, no one will see what you do or notice you.
How do you build followers?
1. Use Twitter daily...many times a day. Space out those tweets. Send out some in the morning, afternoon, evening and night. Remember, those teachers out there are global. They are in different time zones and may miss things you post so post when teachers in some parts of the world are going to sleep and others are getting up.

2. Twitter is kind of like a fire hose. One or two tweets a day are like drops of water in a big bucket and won't be noticed, but constant tweets, a constant spray, will get you noticed more often.

3. "Like" other teachers' tweets, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, RETWEET THEM! Retweets get more eyeballs on their tweets. If you retweet others regularly they will appreciate it, notice you and probably follow you as well. If you consistently retweet them, they will probably retweet your stuff which means you get noticed and your following will grow.

4. Make your feed about more than just teaching. Add some food and travel pictures to your feed. Share your hobbies and other interests. That will help you grow a broader following more quickly. That will also help you tweet more often!

5. Build community by regularly shouting out people using Follow Fridays (#FF #FollowFridays). The more you show community support or try to build community, the better a reputation you will gain on Twitter and you will garner more followers.

6. Use video on Twitter! It doesn't just have to be about text and pictures. People find short videos very engaging!

7. Engage people in conversations. When they make a great post, retweet it and then make a comment. Ask them a question. Start a conversation. People want to support active and engaged users!

8. Market your skills and have fun!

By the way....you can follow me on Twitter @madformaple

Kevin O'Shea is a PYP/Nature/Outdoor educator currently based in Beijing, China. He is a father, husband, and avid conservationist. Kevin is an advocate for outdoor play and nature education. He is the host of the long-running and is currently developing the Making Better Teachers Podcast!
Twitter: @MadForMaple Email: makingbetterteachers@gmail.com

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The Importance of #PLN's and Twitter - Professional Learning Networks

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It's always important as an educator to grow and learn from peers. This is a key element in becoming a better teacher and not stagnating. Falling into a rut is something that happens to all of from time to time, but knowing how to get out of that rut can at times, be a challenge...

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Listen to an extended version of this post as a podcast: I hear it all the time: "I have a Twitter account, but I don't really know how to use it."
I understand this thinking completely. Before I signed up to Twitter less than three years ago, I didn't get it AT ALL. I would go to someone's Twitter page-if that's what it was even called-and none of it made sense. It was only slightly easier to read than HTML. I had a vague understanding that a "tweet" was a 140-character post, and some fuzzy memory of Ashton Kutcher doing some kind of charity thing on it a few years back, aaannnd that was pretty much it.

But I kept hearing people say things like, "Twitter is the best professional development I've ever had." In my head I was basically calling BS on that. Because that's what I tend to do when I don't understand things. (It's not my best quality.) So I went ahead and opened an account, and I pretty much did nothing with it for a while. Over time, I picked up a few tips, but it took about six months before I started using it with any regularity.

Now that I've been using Twitter for a few years, I get it. I really do. And I want you to get it now. Because I believe every educator really needs to be on Twitter and be able to use it well. All those Twitter accounts just sitting there, not getting used, are just wasted opportunity.

At the end of this post, you'll find information about my new online course, Twitter for Teachers and Students. It's a 5-module video course I created to help teachers learn how to really use Twitter to its full potential. To learn more about it, click here to jump right down and check it out.

In the meantime, here are some things you could be doing to get the most from Twitter.

6 Ways to Make Better Use of Twitter

1. Find your people.

One of the greatest things about Twitter is that it allows you to find like-minded people, no matter where they are in the world. Once you've found them, you can start talking, sharing resources and ideas, and further developing your point of view with the enrichment and support of people who see things through a similar lens. When I was full-time in the classroom, I could count on one hand the number of people I worked with who shared my views on teaching, students, parents, and overall growth as a professional. ONE HAND. I was starved for connection. If I'd had something like Twitter, it would have been so different. I hear stories all the time from people who have made these connections-they experience tremendous growth and satisfaction in their work, regardless of the environment they happen to work in.

How to do it: When you first sign up for Twitter, you're likely to follow people you know, plus a few other well-known accounts that Twitter suggests for you. After that, what do you do? Using the search bar, look for topics that interest you. So if you're a middle school science teacher, you might look for "middle school science." The search results will show you accounts of people who have listed those terms right in their profile-definitely check those people out as possible people to follow. Your results will also show you specific tweets containing those terms: Click over to the profiles of the people who tweeted them, browse their past tweets, and see if they would make a good connection for you. Once you're following these people, you can start interacting with them; that's where the real tribe-building happens.

2. Communicate directly with anyone on Twitter.

As long as someone else has a Twitter account, you can communicate directly with them. That includes people you don't know, celebrities, corporations, whoever. If you place that person's Twitter handle (the thing that starts with an @ symbol), in your tweet, that person will be notified that you mentioned them. If they choose to, they can respond. Now if we're talking about celebrities who have millions of followers, the chance of hearing back from them is slim, but it definitely happens. If we're just talking about an educator who lives across the country, "tweeting at" them is far more likely to get a response, and a real conversation can begin.

How to do it: Just copy the Twitter handle of the person you want to communicate with in your tweet. For example, last week I tweeted out a link to one of my blog posts. Brad Wilson replied back to me, then I replied back to him. This is what I mean about having conversations on Twitter:

Why No One Reads Your Classroom Newsletter https://t.co/HIC32WRMFp #instruction #organization #teachers #edchat

- Jennifer Gonzalez (@cultofpedagogy) April 25, 2016

@dreambition Excellent points - never even thought of that. Was strictly looking at design. Thanks, Brad!

- Jennifer Gonzalez (@cultofpedagogy) April 26, 2016

3. Share the great stuff you find online.

Once you start making connections with people, the next step is to share stuff with each other. In the same way that you share links on Facebook or pin things on Pinterest, you can share links to fantastic content in tweets. And the best part about doing this is that other people, your tribe members, they will share stuff with you, too. This is, I believe, one of the main reasons people equate Twitter with professional development. Pretty much every time I jump on, I end up discovering something in just a few minutes that I never would have come across otherwise, and my professional knowledge is thereby enriched.

How to do it: Well, this is one of the best uses of a tweet. For some people, a tweet is all about making witty commentary about life. But most active Twitter users-especially in education-share quite a few links to online resources right in their tweets. If you're new to Twitter, you might not even recognize them as links, because they look like this: goo.gl/goeKWS. Those are just abbreviations, but they work the same way as the longer ones you're used to. By the way, if you paste a long link into a Tweet, don't worry about the 140-character limit: Twitter will automatically shorten the link for you. Here's an example of me sharing a post from Vicki Davis' site-see the shortened link in there?

2 Simple Ways Improve a Lesson Plan https://t.co/ck1pe6DOgt via @coolcatteacher

- Jennifer Gonzalez (@cultofpedagogy) April 26, 2016

4. Participate in a Twitter chat.

One of the most exciting ways to use Twitter is by participating in a Twitter chat. This is where a group of people "meet" online at a designated date and time and, using the same hashtag, have a group conversation. There are chats for just about every specialty area you can think of-take a look at this comprehensive list of education-related Twitter chats to get an idea.

How to do it: Find a chat you're interested in. Then, at the designated time, search for the chat's hashtag and on the results page you'll see what people are talking about. To add your own contribution, simply add the chat's hashtag to your own tweet and it will be included in the stream. Below is an example from an Early Childhood Educators chat (#ECEchat), held Tuesday nights at 9:30pm EST. The first tweet shown is the fifth question of the chat (marked with Q5), followed by some of the participants' responses (marked with A5). Notice how each tweet includes the #ECEchat hashtag:

RT Q5: Show us how you differentiate for your students! Please include the grade/subject #ECEchat pic.twitter.com/atakOKVm4J

- ECEchat (@ECEchat) April 27, 2016

A5. K Literacy stations are differentiated by color folder in a draw system. Ss match their folder to the folder in the drawer. #ecechat

- Danielle Brown, NBCT (@TeachDB17) April 27, 2016

A5: I'll record directions for lower groups, video myself playing the game, QR hunts for higher groups, #ECEchat

- Keri Lewis (@KinderKeri) April 27, 2016

A5 #ECECHATA5 3rd grade- Read alouds, think-pair-share, choice boards, anchor charts. #ECECHAT pic.twitter.com/4dPHx5ZhlJ

- Grace Salguero (@gracesalguero) April 27, 2016

5. Do research.

I am now in the habit of using Twitter as part of my regular routine when I'm researching a topic. First I look on Google and Google Scholar, then I check Twitter. Far more than just a communication tool, Twitter is a powerful search engine in its own right. I can search for any topic I want, then find tweets about it, which lead me to other resources and experts that can tell me more.

How to do it: Just use the search bar in the top right corner of the Twitter platform in the same way you'd do a Google search. When your results come up, you'll have the option to look at the top tweets about that topic, the most recent tweets ("Live"), and specific accounts that mention that topic. I did a quick search of the term "flipped learning" and found thousands of results, like this one, which links directly to an article where I can learn more:

Blended Learning vs Flipped Learning: Can You Tell The Difference? #eLearning #edutech https://t.co/KcNJAEGlgr

- Julian Davis  (@JulianDavis71) April 17, 2016

6. Communicate with students and parents.

If your students or their parents are on Twitter, you can use a classroom Twitter account to alert them to upcoming assignments, send reminders about important events or deadlines, provide links to interesting articles or other online resources, or share fascinating videos and images. You can also use a class Twitter account to show others-parents and the community, or the education world at large-the great things you're doing in your class.

How to do it: Create a Twitter account for your class that is different from the one you'd use for yourself; this requires a different email address to link to the account. Then start tweeting! You can compose the tweets yourself, or better yet, have students do it. Here's an example of a tweet from a 4th grade class Twitter account, which appears to be managed mostly by students:

Today we used skype to connect with our friend who moved back to France!!

- Ms. McElwee's Class (@msmcelweesclass) February 2, 2016

Go On, Turn the Corner

I promise you this: If you make the effort to try some of the things I've listed here and just stick with it for a while, you will turn the corner with Twitter. I never thought I would get the hang of it, but now it's as much a part of my day as checking email and Facebook. People who work in other fields can probably get away with avoiding Twitter, but for you, an educator? It's part of an essential 21st century toolkit. Make this the year you really start using it. ♦

Ready to Take the Next Step?

To help teachers learn how to make the most of Twitter, I have created an online course called Twitter for Teachers and Students on a brand-new learning platform for educators called Blend. In less than 90 minutes, you can learn everything I describe above and so much more. Through a series of self-paced video tutorials and a detailed, printable set of notes you can refer to any time, I show you step-by-step how to:

understand "Twitter language," including hashtags

find people to follow who share your interests

communicate directly with anyone on Twitter

participate in a Twitter chat

find Twitter chats you'll care about

share images and videos

organize content with Twitter lists

do research on Twitter

set up and use a classroom Twitter account

Use the code 10TWITTER to take $10 off! Click here to learn more about the course

Keep in touch.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to my members-only library of free downloadable resources, including my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading!

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So you have a Twitter account. Now what?

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Listen to an extended version of this post as a podcast: I hear it all the time: "I have a Twitter account, but I don't really know how to use it." I understand this thinking completely. Before I signed up to Twitter less than three years ago, I didn't get it AT ALL.

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This post was first published in 2011 and updated in June, 2018.
One of the things I love most about blogging with students is the opportunity for global collaboration.

When I first began blogging with my grade three class in 2008, I didn't even think about the possibility of connecting with other classes. Around six months into our blogging journey, we began to cross paths with other teachers and students around the world.

One of the first connections we made was with Linda Yollis and her third grade class in California. This connection began with a simple comment and a song!

There have been so many highlights from my connection with Linda Yollis and her class. We've worked on many collaborative projects together, met in person when we presented at ISTE, and two of my students even visited Mrs Yollis' class on separate occasions.

Aside from Mrs Yollis' class, my students have had the chance to connect with others from all parts of the world. This has been through regular commenting interactions on our blog, or more structured global projects.

The Importance of Global Competency

Work is Changing

When I first began teaching in 2004, I worked at the local school and my interactions with anyone outside of the community were very limited.

Fast forward to 2018 - I teach part time and am also working with Edublogs which means I interact with colleagues and the blogging community (who live in all corners of the globe) on a daily basis. Perhaps this model is going to be very familiar to our students when they hit the workforce - combining local and international employment.

The workforce is certainly changing, but are schools reflecting this change?

Helping our students to develop global competency is more important than ever.

Teaching for Global Competence in a Rapidly Changing World

In early 2018, the OECD and the Asia Society released a publication. It's called Teaching for Global Competence in a Rapidly Changing World. It's well worth a read.

The report defines the skills required by globally competent youth and provides guidance on how to embed global competence into the curriculum.

As Harvard Professor Fernando Retners says in the report

We're not going to educate global citizens by organising a food festival in a school once a year.

The report suggests globally competent students have the knowledge and skills to:

Investigate the world - being aware, curious, and interested

Recognize perspectives - understand others may not share your perspectives

Communicate ideas - verbally and non-verbally, with diverse audiences

Take action - not just learning about the world but making a difference

The report breaks down some of the reasons why global competency is a must:

For employability in the global economy

For living cooperatively in multicultural communities

To communicate and learn effectively and responsibly with old and new media

For achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

Interestingly, global competency is now being included in the PISA test which assesses 15 year olds worldwide every 3 years.

There are many ways that global competency can be achieved, as demonstrated in the report. Having a culture where students and teachers can regularly connect with others around the world is a great start. Blogging, along with other collaborative technology like Skype, Flipgrid, Google Docs and so on, can make connecting easy!

How to Get Started with Global Collaboration

I recently published an extensive guide on The Edublogger that outlines a three step process to bringing global collaboration into your classroom.

I proposed three different entry points which I walk you through in the post. Check it out!

Tips for Forming Friendships with Blogging Classes in Other Countries

One of the biggest obstacles can be forming those friendships with other classes who blog and want to connect. While there can be some luck involved, just like there is luck in meeting people in real life, these tips might help!

Visit Edublogs compilation of class blogs from around the world and add your blog to the list (Note: You can be using any blogging platform).

Join the Student Blogging Challenge which Sue Wyatt runs twice a year. It's a great way to learn about blogging while connecting with other classes from around the world.

Work on building your own professional learning network or PLN. This is a must! Twitter is a great meeting place for teachers who want their classes to connect. (Tip: Learn more about building a PLN with this Teacher Challenge).

Show a genuine interest in blogs you start commenting on and work on being an active member of the blogging community.

Consider finding bloggers that are at a similar stage to you. More experienced bloggers can be great role models but they might have many established connections already. Perhaps 'learning together' with a class at a similar stage will be of benefit to both of you.

Hunt for like-minded educators. The teachers I have bonded most with are those who have classes around the same age group, who have a regular online presence, and who share similar teaching philosophies and standards.

Keep blogging relationships student centred. While I enjoy collaborating with other teachers, our core business is the students. Help students to get to know their blogging buddies, develop their relationships, and extend their learning.

Start small by getting into the routine of commenting on your new buddies' blogs before delving into more structured collaboration or projects.

Encourage parents to be part of your blogging community and comment on your buddies' blogs or attend Skype sessions. Blogging is something your whole school community can be a part of!

Rush into finding blogging buddies before you establish your class blog. It can be beneficial to ensure your students know the basics of blogging such as safety, etiquette, and quality commenting before embarking on collaborative ventures (Note: You may be able to do both at the same time with the Student Blogging Challenge).

Don't visit a large number of random blogs and leave a comment that simply says "please visit my blog". Like all friendships, blogging relationships require give and take, and develop from genuine interest.

Introduce your students to too many different blogs at once. In my early days of global collaboration, I tried to have my students comment on and keep up with dozens of different blogs which only resulted in confusion for all of us.

Forget to think about other connections that are out there. Maybe one of your students has relatives overseas? Perhaps a colleague has worked at a school abroad? Maybe a family travels overseas and has connections you could work with. Look into the opportunities available with resources like Skype in the Classroom where you can invite an expert to connect with your class.

Give up - if you have trouble finding a suitable class to connect with or have difficulty finding time to develop relationships, keep trying! It's worth it.

Conclusion

It can take a little bit of work initially to find those great connections but once you do, you never know where they could take you. Your relationship with a fellow educator might span over many cohorts of students.

It's been over nine years since I first connected with Linda Yollis and just last week she skyped my class who are currently working on a project with her students.

The world truly is at our fingertips now. Have fun exploring it with your students!
What are your tips for forming friendships with other blogging classes?
You Might Also Enjoy
Why Teachers And Students Should Blog: 18 Benefits of Educational Blogging Poster: How To Write A Quality Blog Comment Where to Find Free Images for Students and Teachers Are Blogs Dead?
Let's Stay in Touch!

If you haven't already signed up for my monthly newsletter, maybe you'd like to?

Towards the end of each month I showcase the blog posts I've written and also share other useful links, tips, or resources I've come across.

When you sign up, you'll also get instant access to my free e-book with tips for teaching students how to research. It includes two classroom posters. I created this after a number of teachers told me how useful they were finding my blog post on teaching students how to research.

Fill out the form below or simply click here to find the sign up form in your browser.

Of course, there is no pressure and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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How To Connect with Other Classes Around the World Through Blogging

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Teachers, would you like to connect your class with other classes around the world? This post outlines the essential dos and don'ts for forming friendships with classes in other countries through blogging. Global competency is a must and global collaboration is easier than you might think!

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Showcasing the unique approaches taken by IB students to address some of humanity's greatest challenges

As part of our 50 th anniversary celebrations, we're inviting students from all four IB programmes to join a week-long #generationIB event from 24 to 28 September 2018 to showcase their collaborative skills and innovative ideas and solutions with the world. We're connecting with some of our most renowned alumni to grow ideas for the themes and challenges that will shape the event. We are partnering with SDSN (Sustainable Development Solutions Network) Youth and the Global Schools Program to promote the best solutions to a global audience and showcase them to leaders from business, academia, government and civil society.

How can we capture the incredible stories and the unique approaches to problem-solving taken by IB students and share them with the world? #generationIB

How will it work?

1. First, create a team. Either within your own school groups or, even better, reach out to students from other IB World Schools and collaborate across the globe.

2. Choose from one of the following five themes:
Health and nutrition #healthIB
This theme covers such topics as food poverty, sustainable food production, mental health, health care, exercise, nutrition and obesity.
Citizenship and responsibility #citizenshipIB
This theme covers topics such as global communities, migration, economics, conflict, freedom of speech, responsibility of the press, fake news, the use and abuse of social media.
Environment and humanity #environmentIB
This theme covers topics such as climate change, energy, pollution control, recycling, sustainable living and urban planning.
Social justice and equality #equalityIB
This theme covers such topics as human rights, racial equality, gender equality, LGBTQI+, economic opportunities and the distribution of wealth.
Education and literacy #educationIB
This theme covers topics such as technology and its impact on education, life-long learning, access to education and skills for the future.

3. Identify an issue related to your chosen theme. Is there an issue you feel passionate about? Do you live in a society which is already dealing with the issue and is it effective, or do you think it can be done better? What world-changing ideas could you come up with?

4. Share and showcase your work. Post photos and videos of your team in action to find solutions to these global issues on Twitter, Instagram or Periscope. Share sketches, texts and other creations that help you think smart. We'd love to see your ideas grow and develop during the week, and demonstrate how you work with each other in new and creative ways. Use #generationIB to recruit for your team across the IB's global community of schools Don't forget to use #generationIB and the hashtag of your chosen theme with all your posts to get them the most coverage with the IB community and beyond, and always include pictures and tag your location.
See full guidelines
You've done all the hard work, now it's our turn to shout about it

We know that all schools involved will be very proud and keen to share their students' involvement in this event across their own communities. By tagging your location when you post to Instagram and/or Twitter, we'll create a map of the student work taking place as it happens around the world.

After they've grown on our platforms, we'll showcase the solutions and ideas at our final IB Global Conference of 2018 in Vienna, Austria in October, to a global audience of more than 1,500 heads and educators. #IBVI2018

Our IB Global News newsletter will showcase the event and your ideas with more than 47,000 people worldwide who will get the chance to read, share and like the posts with their own friends and communities.

We hope you're as excited as we are about this truly global, collaborative and showcasing event. If you have any queries, you can contact us, or Tweet us using #generationIB.

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Showcasing the unique approaches taken by IB students to address some of humanity's greatest challenges As part of our 50 th anniversary celebrations, we're inviting students from all four IB programmes to join a week-long #generationIB event from 24 to 28 September 2018 to showcase their collaborative skills and innovative ideas and solutions with the world.

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Social learning

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Communities of Practice (CoPs) offer sustained social learning that can integrate seamlessly with any professional development program.

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Collaboration Resources on the Web

" Alone we are smart together we are brilliant." Steven Anderson

Collaboration - Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students will:

Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.

Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.

Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.

Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

I believe that content should support the development of student skills connected to the 4 Cs or collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity.

If you are interested in resources and tools to support student collaboration, then we have this document for your exploration.

Have an additional resource or want to share how you use one of the tools? Please share in our Collaborative Padlet or post a reply in the comments below.

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Supporting the 4Cs in Learner-Centered Classrooms - Collaboration

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Collaboration Resources on the Web " Alone we are smart together we are brilliant." Steven Anderson Collaboration - Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

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I was convinced the school had chosen the wrong workshop. The pre-workshop survey indicated that teachers' needs included things as disparate as drama teaching, physical education and inquiry in the early years. Their requests appeared to have little connection to the objectives of the PYP workshop I would be leading for them - 'Get Connected:...

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Earlier this year I went to the 21CLHK tech conference. While there, I got to see Alec Couros do a keynote presentation titled Finding Humanity in the Age of Social Networks. His presentation discussed how using social media can foster meaningful connections and improve the world we live in today. Prior to attending this amazing conference, I never really thought about how this could be true. His presentation got my wheels turning and inspired me to dig deeper into this topic.

As a result, I recently found an awesome book that helped me to not only understand this idea better, but also helped me realize the need to use social media to empower our students to become world changers. The book is called Social LEADia: Moving Students from Digital Citizenship to Digital Leadership by Jennifer Casa-Todd. For this week I thought I would share a few of my biggest take-aways from this amazing book and in the same way encourage you to go read it for yourself to get even more.

Takeaway #1: Digital Citizenship to Digital Leadership

The foundation of this book revolves around the idea we need to make a shift from teaching our students to become digital citizens to teaching them to become digital leaders. Digital citizenship is based around teaching students about copyright/plagarism, privacy online, digital footprints, cyberbullying, and overall making safe choices when it comes to participating in activities online. Teaching our students to become digital leaders encompasses all of this and much more. In a blog post by George Couros (Alec Couros' brother) titled Digital Leadership Defined, he describes it as,

Using the vast reach of technology (especially the use of social media) to improve the lives, well-being, and circumstances of others.

He also stresses,

We really need to push our students to make a change in their world and highlight how social media can give them an opportunity that we never were given as students. Just being "citizens" online is the average; kids already exist online. We should be pushing for much more than this.

This mindset shift really spoke to me because I never really thought about teaching it this way. The communication tools we have today are truly able to empower us and through them, even the smallest of students can make a positive impact on the world and practice good digital citizenship skills at the same time. This visual created by Sylvia Duckworth and Jennifer Casa-Todd helps explain it even better than I can.

Takeaway #2: The Power of Social Media

In a previous post of mine I discussed how much teaching and learning have changed as a result of new tools and technology. But, there was one tool I never thought about or mentioned at all in this post. The big takeaway I got from this book that expanded my thinking in this regard is that we as teachers need to also consider social media as a powerful tool we can use not just for ourselves, but for our students as well. I believe I am not the only teacher that has overlooked this amazing tool. Casa-Todd discusses how schools need to break away from blocking social media sites from students including her top 5 suggestions: Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Youtube and instead use them in a controlled environment to allow our students to express themselves in an engaging way as well as connect with professionals, organizations, and other students. Having a class account on these sites allows students to choose what is posted but the teacher still has control over it. She also states the benefits of each tool and how it could be used to empower students.

Twitter allows communication to happen in real time as well as following and connecting with people, organizations, news outlets, educational institutions, and companies.

Instagram & Snapchat can be used as powerful tools for sharing digital stories with a wider audience.

Facebook can be used to create private groups where students can practice 'public' behavior authentically as well as giving kids access to many nonprofit and educational organizations.

Youtube can be used to teach our students to respond positively to others' creative work.

Very few schools are indeed doing this and Casa-Todd states it well,

...students only know social media to be a distraction, a form of entertainment, because the typical classroom rarely uses it in the context of teaching and learning. Furthermore, when we use digital leadership as a framework for technology and social media use, we know students can, in fact, become advocates for these same issues and address them with their peers, if we educate them and empower them to take action.

Takeaway #3: Connecting Students

My biggest question when thinking about creating digital leaders is, "How in the world do I get my first graders to make an impact? They are so young and I don't really know where to start?" I'm so glad this book gave some practical, concrete ways to make this possible. One way I will implement in my classroom is to get my students to participate in globally collaborative projects. Finding meaningful connections provides students opportunities to think critically and practice showing empathy or giving encouragement. Casa-Todd gives some great resources to get connected around meaningful projects. Here are a few of my faves.

Duckworth and Casa-Todd also created this visual to help you see the benefits for your students when you make this happen.

Takeaway #4: Inspiration Leads to Action

The final parts of the book center around using our students passions to inspire them to take action. I personally think this is the key to it all. We can't really force our students to make a positive impact on the world, it has to stem from them organically or as a result of something they have learned in the classroom. Kids of all ages have knowledge about what is happening in the world and are passionate about different things. All we have to do is ask them about those passions and help them to believe they can make change. When students actually believe it is possible for anyone to make an impact, they will be more likely to try it out for themselves in small or really big ways. I am definitely going to use a few of the resources Casa-Todd mentions to help my class be more inspired and feel more empowered to take action:

My personal favorite that she mentions in the book and that I find myself using quite often to inspire my students is Kid President. To close, I will leave you with this video in hopes that it inspires you to make a change in your classroom that enables your students to become world changers.

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Earlier this year I went to the 21CLHK tech conference. While there, I got to see Alec Couros do a keynote presentation titled Finding Humanity in the Age of Social Networks. His presentation discussed how using social media can foster meaningful connections and improve the world we live in today.

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10 steps to creating the perfect educational twitter account 

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10 steps to creating the perfect educational twitter account 

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As a globally connected educator, I LOVE connecting, networking and engaging with my PLN (ersonal/ Professional Learning N etwork) on a daily basis through Twitter.

I wish I got connected to Twitter earlier on in my educational career (as it is the BEST form of FREE Professional Development I have ever found). Because of this, I love to share my passions behind using Twitter and how it makes me a better educator.

To create a globally connected PLN, I firmly believe engaging in the online world of Twitter is a must. To get started, follow these 10 easy steps:

1. Go to www.twitter.com and fill in your name, email address and password and Click "Sign up for Twitter."

2. When prompted choose your username - think to yourself, how do I want to be seen as online to my Education network now and in the future. I am @mrkempnz (simple, but effective).

3. Click "Create my account"

4. Next, start following people that you look up to or admire. If you want to follow celebrities, be prepared for a lot of 'rubbish'. Some suggestions for Education 'celebrities' that you should follow instead are:

5. Do some searching and click on the "FOLLOW" button beside anyone you want to connect with. Their tweets will appear in your feed (I will explain this more during our session at #ulearn14).

6. Once you are finished connecting, you need to 'de-egg'. When you start twitter you get assigned your 'egg' as your profile picture. Let the world see who you are - upload a professional photograph, symbol, or cartoon of yourself. Click on the empty profile photo to upload an image of yourself.

7. Make sure you follow me @mrkempnz so I can support you along the way and help connect you with some amazing educators.

8. Edit your profile and add the important details about who you are and what you are passionate about by clicking on ' Edit Profile ' - this is what my profile says - it may help you craft your short bio:

9. Send out your first tweet by clicking on the blue box. Type your first tweet in less than 140 characters (maybe you can say something like: "Hey @mrkempnz I am on twitter and I can't wait to learn more about how to use it at your #21CLHK workshop"). By including my @mrkempnz tag I will get a message telling me you are talking to me 🙂

10. Start exploring Twitter. Have a look around, wait for me to reply to you and start adding some people you might know. Let's get connected!

If you are using this at my #21CLHK workshop in February 2016, make sure you follow the hashtag #21CLHK and follow others who are here right now and also tag in @21cli

Stay connected and see you soon 🙂

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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10 Steps to Creating the Perfect Educational Twitter Account

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As a globally connected educator, I LOVE connecting, networking and engaging with my PLN (ersonal/ Professional Learning N etwork) on a daily basis through Twitter. I wish I got connected to Twitter earlier on in my educational career (as it is the BEST form of FREE Professional Development I have ever found).

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Today I am going to share with you a simple step by step guide on how to join a Twitter chat.

About 4 years ago I started using Twitter for professional learning and since then I have never looked back. It is incredible and has opened up many doors along the way. It is my go-to professional learning platform that I literally learn something new from each and every day.

Just over 3 years ago, I connected with Laura Hill and #whatisschool was born - our 'little' chat baby that we love and cherish. That little baby has grown into one of the largest Educational Twitter Chats in the world and its journey has been outstanding.

I often get asked how to join a Twitter chat. The main reason for this is because joining a chat is often daunting, there are rules and protocols in place that are often unknown and you are joining a world that is different to what you are used to.

Here are 6 steps to joining your first twitter chat:

1. Create an Account
Sign up and create a Twitter account (click here for a step by step guide for educators), follow some inspirational educators (click here for my favorites) and be ready to share and learn with other like-minded educators from all over the world.

2. Understand what a Twitter Chat is and how it works.A Twitter Chat is a public Twitter conversation around one unique hashtag. This hashtag allows you to follow the discussion and participate in it. Twitter chats are usually recurring and on specific topics to regularly connect people with these interests. It provides you with a chance to network and grow your PLN (Professional Learning Network) through shared interests, in our case, this is EDUCATION while learning (I often learn more in 1 hour than I do in week-long Staff Development sessions).

3. Find a Twitter chat that suits you

My advice is to choose 1-2 chats that peak your interest and focus on those until you develop an understanding and a confidence of how to make it work for you. There are many ways to find Twitter chats, which are fairly regular. The easiest way to find them is here on this huge spreadsheet which includes hundreds of Twitter chats. This list was developed by @thomascmurray @cevans5095 @cybraryman1 and updated by @jrochelle and @conniehamilton. A special thank you to them for providing such a great resource.

4. Choose a third party application to tweet on

Tools like TweetDeck, Hootsuite, TweetChat and Participate all provide ways to live chat and to organize your twitter account by hashtag so you can more easily follow along and pause a fast-paced chat to go at your speed!

My personal favorites are TweetDeck and Participate. For TweetDeck, TweetChat, and Hootsuite, users must first set up an account on the third party site and grant access to the user's Twitter account. Once linked, these free tools provide an easy and efficient way to take part in a chat.

Tweetdeck is owned by Twitter and integrates seamlessly with your Twitter account as a login. This is a beautiful, simple way to keep on track with a Twitter chat. Here is an easy step-by-step guide to setting up a TweetDeck for use and here is a great video for using TweetDeck for Twitter Chats.

5. Always use the Hashtag and Follow the Basic Rules

Tweeting is pretty simple and so is joining a Twitter chat. The basics of joining a chat are:

Use the chats Hashtag in every tweet you send so others can follow along. Remember a hashtag is a search tool

Always introduce yourself into the chat - it is nice to tell everyone who you are, what your role is and where you are from. It is also nice to say hello to everyone else

Most chats use Q/A style chat format. That means that the moderator tweets a question starting with Q1, Q2, Q3 and the participants of the chat tweet using A1, A2, A3 etc. to indicate your response to a specific question. It is a great way to organize ideas and responses

Try to always think positively. When challenging someones tweets always think with a positive head. It is OK to challenge and disagree but always remember that emotions are almost impossible to read online so be aware of how you might come across.

Always thank the moderators. Running a chat is no easy job. A lot of time and effort goes into organizing it. It is common courtesy to say thank you.

6. Here are some of the Top Tips as a reminder

For additional information check out this video as Monica Burns shares what a Twitter chat is, and how to find a chat you're interested in via Cybraryman. Monica quickly explains what a Twitter hashtag looks like, how to view tweets on a particular hashtag, where to find education-related Twitter Chats, and how to participate in a Twitter chat.

You might also like to read my blog posts about Hosting a Twitter Chat and How to Manage a Fast-Paced Chat.

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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Today I am going to share with you a simple step by step guide on how to join a Twitter chat. About 4 years ago I started using Twitter for professional learning and since then I have never looked ...

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Top 9 Twitter Chats Every Educator Should Know About – 2018 update!

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Top 9 Twitter Chats Every Educator Should Know About – 2018 update!

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In 2014 I blogged about the 8 Twitter Chats that I love and visit regularly, I then did an update here. As a globally connected educator - this list is constantly changing! I love being involved in Twitter chats because it is where I get to connect and engage on a personal level with other like-minded educators.

Before I begin with my list, it would pay for you to familiarise yourself with what a Twitter chat is by clicking here.

Every opportunity I can get I involve myself in the 1-hour twitter chats that surface themselves in my twitter feed. It gives me the opportunity to connect and collaborate with like-minded educators, network with the best in the business and pick up new and interesting things to use to make me a better educator. PD in the palm of my hands (literally).
Here is the 2018 list of my 9 favorite education-related chats, the hashtags, a short description and when you can join them:

1. #edchat - the original chat and by far the fastest paced and hardest to keep up with. It features the best of the best and is one of the most popular chats. It is held on Tuesdays from 12-1pm and 7-8pm EST. It attracts educators from all over the world. You can find out more by clicking here.

2. - is from one of my edu-heroes (Marialice Curran) focuses on global citizenship and digital literacy. Its goal is to encourage discussions with students, educators and parents on social responsibility, on and offline. Some topics include creative credit & copyright, digital footprints, online identity, privacy issues, information literacy, communication and digital etiquette. The discussion is on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month from 7 to 8 pm ET. Find out more by clicking here.

3. - one of my old haunts. an oldie but a goodie. It is fast paced and full of the best educators you can find on twitter. You can join #satchat every Saturday 7.30-8.30am ET. If mornings are not your thing, there is always #satchatwc (West Coast) at 10.30am ET and #satchatoc Friday night at 8pm ET - #satchatoc is popular with international educators. Click here for more information about #satchat.

4. #sunchat - Fascinating discussions - similar to #satchat, you can find a plethora of spectacular educators sharing their knowledge and ideas as well as newbies to twitter chats. So many of my favourite ideas that I use in my professional career have come from this chat. You can find it 9-10am every Sunday morning EDT.

5. #nt2t - NT2T stands for "New Teachers to Twitter". It is an open chat for teachers who are new to twitter and a must visit to learn more about how to use twitter and chats more effectively. Full of veteran twitter users to support you and newbies just like you, it is a chat you just can't miss. Learn to tweet, who to follow and access the very best resources to support teaching and learning. Join the #nt2t chat crew every Saturday 9-10am EDT. For more information, click here.

6. #CollaborativePD - Join the Collaborative Professional Development movement! Every month, @JenWilliamsEdu, @spirrison, and @participate discuss how you are incorporating blended learning tools and ideas derived from other educators into your instruction and professional development. This chat is great if you are new to Twitter, or a seasoned social media maven. Ultimately, it's about empowerment and self-discovery through the expansion of personal learning networks, and the ability to blend voices, concepts, and tools from all over the world. Every 3rd Wednesday of the month 8-8:30pm ET (30 min, 4Qs)

7. #aussieED - One of the most exciting things to come out of Australia since Russell Crowe (or is he a kiwi?). #aussieED has quickly become the go-to chat for all Southern Hemisphere educators. The #aussieEd team consists of several Australian based educators who have a diverse range of skills and knowledge in Education. Their chats are on every Sunday at 8.30pm AEST (6.30am EDT). For more information, click here.

8. #EngageChat - is a weekly chat session moderated by @DavisWelcome that focuses on engagement in schools. Every Friday evening at 8.00pm ET.

9. #Edtechchatis a weekly Twitter chat about all things education technology related on Monday nights at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. The purpose of the chat is to encourage participants to share ideas and best practices related to the meaningful use of education technology in the classroom. Weekly topics are as diverse as the field; past topics have included professional learning, digital citizenship, maker spaces coding, classroom management, getting stakeholder buy-in, social media, media literacy, content creation, collaboration, and more.

And I can't leave without plugging my baby -> #whatisschool - (a little bit bias) an edchat space where people can express an unbiased response to questions about schooling, where educators have a voice in shaping the future through their experiences, recommendations and interests. This chat is moderated by myself and guests each week. You can join #whatisschool every Thursday at 7pm EDT, 6pm CDT (Fri 9am AEST, Fri 11am NZT) and all questions and archives from the past 10 weeks can be found here.

So there we have it - my current list of 9 (+1) must follow chats. For the interests of an engaging and enlightening article (and not to overwhelm people), I have not included every one of the chats that I try and visit. Twitter chats are personal preference, so I would love to know: "What are your favorite chats?" - please share below in the comments and via Twitter and please do share with your PLN.

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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Top 9 Twitter Chats Every Educator Should Know About - 2018 update!

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In 2014 I blogged about the 8 Twitter Chats that I love and visit regularly, I then did an update here. As a globally connected educator - this list is constantly changing! I love being involved in Twitter chats because it is where I get to connect and engage on a personal level with other like-minded educators.

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Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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Craig Kemp I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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50 Asia Based Educators to Follow on Twitter

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Craig Kemp I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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21 things teachers can do to grow their PLN!

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A6: LOVE this image of the "Networked Teacher" via @courosa #ASCDL2L

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A6: LOVE this image of the "Networked Teacher" via @courosa #ASCDL2L https://t.co/nQcDJo8PW8

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A6: LOVE this image of the "Networked Teacher" via @courosa #ASCDL2L pic.twitter.com/nQcDJo8PW8
— Thomas C. Murray (@thomascmurray) March 7, 2018

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A6: LOVE this image of the "Networked Teacher" via @courosa #ASCDL2L https://t.co/nQcDJo8PW8

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A6: LOVE this image of the "Networked Teacher" via @courosa #ASCDL2L https://t.co/nQcDJo8PW8

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A6: LOVE this image of the "Networked Teacher" via @courosa #ASCDL2L

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Thank to Joel Bevans for this great padlet

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An example of Kindergarten kids connecting globally 

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An example of Kindergarten kids connecting globally 

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Sharing the Planet UOI padlet

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Julie Lindsay - Global Collaboration, Learning on the Edge

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Global collaboration - Learning on the edge

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Learning2 Conference Asia 2017 - Learn2 Talk by Julie Lindsay

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Hosting a Twitter chat lets you better engage with your followers and customers on Twitter and build community among them by using some of Twitter's conversation-friendly features.

Twitter chats are a great way to grow your social following, generate valuable discussions and feedback, and demonstrate thought leadership. Done right, they generate lively conversations and build deep connections between participants and brands.

Like any social media tactic, before diving in it's worth taking some time to understand the ins and outs of Twitter chats. The last thing you want is to host a Twitter chat with no chat-#tumbleweed #awkwardsilence anyone?

Here's a step-by-step guide to hosting a successful Twitter chat for business, including some best practices and examples of brand-led discussions to check out.

The key to success? Like any dinner party, seminar, or other event that brings people together, you need to be the host with the most.

Bonus: Download the free strategy guide that reveals how Hootsuite grew our Twitter following to over 7 million users and learn how you can put the tactics to work for your business.

What is a Twitter chat?

A Twitter chat is a public discussion on Twitter around a specific hashtag (see: topic). Twitter chats are led by a designated moderator-brand or individual-who ask questions and facilitate the discussion at a predetermined time.

On the web, Twitter chats are similar to forum Q&As (e.g. a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session), which involve people visiting a forum thread at a particular time to chat to the host. In offline terms, hosting a Twitter chat is like hosting an open house for neighbors to discuss a local issue or a Meetup group for people who share a common interest.

In both cases, you set a date and time, choose a topic or theme, promote it to your audience, and then host a live, public discussion anyone can contribute to.

On Twitter, hashtags rule supreme as the easiest way to find content. Twitter chats make good use of hashtags to drive people to them and build an audience. For example, search for #HootChat on Twitter to see how our regular Twitter chats work.

We've rounded up a few more social marketing ones you can check out: 7 Twitter Chats Social Media Marketers Need to Follow. There are Twitter chats for almost any industry and topic you can think of. Search for more chats on Twitter or browse the Twitter chat lists at Tweet Reports and Twubs.

When looking at Twitter chats, note that they include certain recurring elements (more on that later). First, what's in it for you, and your participants?

Benefits of hosting (and joining) a Twitter chat

Before delving into the benefits of Twitter chats, it's worth reminding yourself what makes Twitter such an important social network for businesses by reading some of our posts covering who uses Twitter and how businesses can succeed with it:

Why host a Twitter chat?

A Twitter chat is more than just a fun event for you and your followers. From a business perspective, a Twitter chat is a golden opportunity to connect with and engage your customers in a meaningful way.

Hosting a chat shows followers that your business is open, accessible, and willing to engage with them-rather than just broadcasting content to them.

By initiating and participating in open conversations with people interested in the topics you present for discussion, you create opportunities to connect with new people, including influencers, existing and potential customers, and others in your field.

A Twitter chat can help you:

Build authority and establish your brand's leadership in your area

Enable members of your business to be identified as influencers

Make new connections with relevant Twitter users

Share valuable and informational content with your audience

Boost your brand awareness through increased mentions and discussions surrounding your brand

What's in it for participants?

People often have questions they want to ask a brand or business, but they might feel frustrated by traditional methods, such as a contact form on your website. A Twitter chat has that element of immediacy and two-way discussion that is a draw for many people.

For others, it's a chance to display some thought leadership of their own, raise their profile, and grow their audience by participating in a public debate. And other people might see Twitter chats as another source of interesting content they can add to their feed, as well as a way to find interesting people to follow and grow their network.

That's how Twitter can benefit your business. How can you run your own successful Twitter chat? First, let's break out the most important things you need to know about.

The 6 key elements of every Twitter chat

Each Twitter chat incorporates these key elements:

1. A hashtag: As mentioned, your Twitter chat hashtag gives your discussion an identity and helps people find and follow it on Twitter.

2. A host: That would be you. Every Twitter chat needs a host to start things off, encourage participation, and moderate the discussion and keep it on track.

3. A topic and content: Twitter chats can either be a general discussion or about something very specific. Either way, you need to have an idea in advance of what you want to talk about, and some prepared content and talking points.

4. Questions and answers: Twitter chats usually follow a Q&A format. The host asks questions or posts discussion topics (indicated by Q1, Q2, etc.) and participants post answers (A1, A2, etc.) to make it easy to follow along.

5. A set date and time: Instead of starting Twitter chats as and when you feel like it, successful Twitter chats happen at predetermined times-often on a weekly basis in the same time-slot. Think of it like that radio show or live podcast you tune into every week at the same time.

6. Participants: The last thing you want is to end up talking to yourself, so getting the above things right is crucial, as is promoting your Twitter chat effectively. You can also invite selected participants and special guests.

With these common elements in mind, here's your step-by-step guide to hosting a Twitter chat for business.

How to host a Twitter chat in 7 easy steps

Resist the temptation to jump straight in. You'll need to build a plan before starting your first Twitter chat. Follow these steps to give your chats the best chance of standing out and attracting engaged participants.

1. Define your purpose

Twitter chats take effort, so you need to make sure it's the right tactic for you.

How does a Twitter chat support your larger social media goals?

Why choose the Twitter chat format over other publishing options?

Does a chat support your community building goals?

The Twitter chat format can be very powerful in creating a sense of "place" on an otherwise fragmented social media platform. On the flipside, it encourages opinion-based messaging, which can be a headache if topics turn controversial.

Hosting a chat also requires commitment, and a fair bit of advance planning and work on the day. That means you need a clear vision of what you want to accomplish to have any hope of success. Here are some possible aims:

Grow your following

Understand your audience better

Display thought leadership

Boost engagement

Solicit feedback

2. Do your research

Take some time to get a feel for how Twitter chats work and understand the experience from a participant's perspective. Take some notes to inform your own chats, asking yourself:

How many people participated?

What time and day did the chat take place?

What response did questions generate?

How engaging was the host?

How relevant was the topic?

How well was the chat promoted?

What did you get out of the chat?

Find existing chats relevant to your industry. This will have the added benefit of introducing you to participants you may want to invite to your own event. And, if you participate in other chat communities, people will be more likely to take part in yours.

3. Choose the best time to hold a Twitter chat

From sending out an email to telling a good joke, the secret to getting the best response is often timing. Twitter chats are no different. Will you host weekly chats? Monthly? Or will they be more sporadic, aligned with your marketing programs?

Whatever you choose, be consistent. Your community will find value in knowing when to tune in, and will be able to integrate your chat into their own schedules. Also consider the timezone(s) of your community and when your followers are most active on Twitter.

Our post, The Best Times to Post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, provides a few pointers. While these times apply to regular Tweet publishing, they may be helpful as a jumping off point for scheduling your chat. You can also do your own research by following or participating in some popular chats on Twitter.

Testing different times is a good idea. Where did you see the most engagement? How long was the chat? Where were the participants of your most successful chat from? You can even canvas opinion on Twitter among participants or possible participants, by asking what time would suit them best.

4. Create your Twitter chat hashtag

A Twitter chat will almost always include a designated hashtag so participants can find the chat and follow along easily. Each time you tweet or respond to a tweet within the chat, you must ensure that you include that chat's hashtag.

The hashtag you choose will define your community. It should be simple, concise, and mean something when spoken aloud. Your hashtag can be branded (for example, SAP chose #SAPsmbchat for their small business chat and we use #Hootchat). Or it can be unbranded, so that those who don't identify closely with your brand may feel more comfortable participating (for example, #smallbizchat).

For a thorough guide on hashtags, read our how to use hashtags guide. Here are a couple of the most important things to bear in mind:

Keep your character count low. Every letter steals valuable space from your participants' tweets.
Stay away from abbreviations and acronyms that won't make sense to a broader audience.

5. Choose your topics and questions

Preparation is a crucial part of being a good Twitter chat host. It's your job to not only start the conversation, but also keep it going and make it lively.

First, you need to choose topics or themes for your chats so you can build a schedule in advance, send out invites, and promote your chats to your followers (see below). Most Twitter chats follow a Q&A format so you should also come up with five to 10 questions in advance, and try to predict answers so you have some responses prepared.

There should be a fair amount of flexibility for Twitter chats to develop on their own, but it doesn't hurt to be as prepared as possible.

You can also create graphics or GIFs in advance to include in your chat posts, or even turn your questions into graphics to make them stand out in your followers' feeds.

6. Promote your Twitter chat

To avoid an empty "room" when your Twitter chat day rolls around, you need to spend some time promoting your chat.

Start by scheduling promotional tweets from relevant Twitter handles at different times of the day, as well as snippets of content from previous chats if it's relevant.

If you have nurtured relationships with your brand advocates, including employees and ambassadors, invite them to participate and help spread the word. Getting them involved prior to launch will build a feeling of exclusivity and deepen your relationship with your advocates.

See you all tomorrow for #HootChat featuring @giphy! Get your favorite GIFs ready 😏 pic.twitter.com/5OxaaikcOH

- Hootsuite (@hootsuite) August 3, 2016

You should also use your other social media networks and email to promote your chat as appropriate. You can also set up a permanent Twitter chat landing page on your website with updated dates and topics before each Twitter chat, or a schedule if you have one worked out.

Promoting your chat with content can also be a smart strategy for building an audience. For example, tweet something like, "Want to learn more about how we make our widgets? Join us on [date] for our regular Twitter chat [hashtag]."

Participating in other chats can also help when it comes to promoting your own chat. Keep a note of people you come across in these chats who would enjoy participating in your's.

Build a list of people to invite, and send each of them a tweet invitation prior to the chat starting (an hour or so beforehand seems to work well). Make your invitations unique and personalized. Craft them in a way that makes the recipient feel as though you're exclusively inviting them.

7. Host your Twitter chat

When Twitter chat day comes around, your first step will be to kick things off with a welcome tweet that introduces the chat and sets the tone. You can schedule this tweet in advance to make sure the chat begins at exactly the time your participants expect.

That's right, it's #HootChat time! Follow the hashtag to join the conversation. Make sure to introduce yourself! pic.twitter.com/xIvJ2n3pW3

- Hootsuite (@hootsuite) September 1, 2016

You'll also want to welcome participants to the chat, and to ask them to introduce themselves. This helps participants get more value from the chat by making connections with each other, as well as giving the experience a more personal feel and getting people involved early.

Warm Up Question: Quick! How do you pronounce gif? With a hard G or a soft G? #HootChat pic.twitter.com/geEbU1sNjJ

- Hootsuite (@hootsuite) August 4, 2016

This also gives you a chance to chat to each person individually to start building the deeper relationships you need to foster an ongoing Twitter chat community. Pay special attention to new participants so they are always made to feel welcome and involved.

After the introductions comes the questions and answers-the reason you've brought your audience together to chat.

Here are a few best practices to follow:

Questions and answers should use the Q1/A1 structure to make it easy for people to follow along

Ask a question every five to 10 minutes

Try to ask at least six questions, up to around 10 or 12

Tailor the number nature, and tone of your questions to your audience

Q1. Why do we find GIFs so engaging? #HootChat pic.twitter.com/ThebZFUktr

- Hootsuite (@hootsuite) August 4, 2016

To keep things moving during the Twitter chat, retweet the best answers and responses and ask follow-up questions when possible. Try to put the spotlight on your participants as the subject matter experts to create a livelier conversation.

Close your chat by thanking your participants for joining, and by setting up your next chat. This also lets you promote next week's (or next month's) topic.

Bonus: Download the free strategy guide that reveals how Hootsuite grew our Twitter following to over 7 million users and learn how you can put the tactics to work for your business.

How to host a Twitter chat using Hootsuite

Do Twitter chats seem like a lot of work? The good news is there are tools to make life easier, even if you are a time-strapped social media team of one.

If you're already using Hootsuite to manage and monitor your social network activity, you can save any chat as a stream in your Hootsuite dashboard. This will let you monitor the chat easily, as well as jump into it at any time without having to remember the right hashtag or conduct a manual search. You can also create a tab just for Twitter chats, and have multiple chat streams saved within this tab.

Don't have a Hootsuite account? Sign up today and connect your Twitter handle.

Set up tabs

Once you're logged into Hootsuite you need to add a new tab within your Hootsuite dash, as you're going to create a few chat-specific streams.

You can use Hootsuite to search for the hashtag of a chat you want to join. You'll see a number of Tweets show up in the results. At the bottom of the results, there's a button to "Save as Stream." This will allow you to save that search, and that chat hashtag, as a stream in your tab.

You can now view the chat as it occurs in a saved stream. You can use Hootsuite tools to favorite and reply to Tweets from other participants, and use the compose dialogue box to create Tweets of your own. Just be sure to always include the hashtag for the chat.

The Hootsuite stream will automatically check for and indicate that there are new Tweets available to view. Remember that each stream has its own refresh button so you don't have to refresh your entire screen.

Learn how to get even more out of Hootsuite with free social media training from Hootsuite Academy.

Create search streams

Once you've got a new tab started, you're going to want to populate it with information streams. The first stream inside your new "Chat" tab is going to be the main chat stream. This stream will aggregate the entire conversation in one place. You'll want to keep this stream fairly open, but it's useful to remove retweets from it to cut down on the conversation volume a little.

For this main stream, you'll create a search stream for the chat hashtag (in this case #Hootchat) and the syntax "-RT" to remove both old-style and new-style retweets from the conversation.

To make managing the Q&A conversation format smoother, you'll want to filter for these questions and answers in the chat stream. Add separate search streams with the following syntaxes to your Chat tab.

This search stream filters for chat questions only, allowing you to keep a pulse on how the conversation is progressing and which question is current:
#Hootchat AND (Q1 OR Q2 OR Q3 OR Q4 OR Q5 OR Q6 OR Q7 OR Q8 OR Q9 OR Q10 OR Q11 OR Q12) -RT
This one is the reverse of the question stream-it filters for answers only, showing responses so that you can easily engage with others:
#Hootchat AND (A1 OR A2 OR A3 OR A4 OR A5 OR A6 OR A7 OR A8 OR A9 OR A10 OR A11 OR A12) -RT
Depending on the needs and structure of the Twitter chat, it's often a good idea to create streams with custom syntaxes. For example, Hootsuite's #HootJobs chat doesn't follow the Q1/A1 format of most chats, choosing instead a Q&A free-for-all with questions and answers sourced from the community. During this chat we used a search stream with the syntax "#HootJobs AND ?" to filter the conversation for questions only.

Test new search streams to find what works best for you.

What to do after your Twitter chat is over

After the conversation has ended, it's time to reflect, measure, and learn.

First, decide what you want to track. Metrics like hashtag mentions, hashtag impressions, and participants can inform how well your chat resonated with the audience.

Look for increased engagement or a spike in new followers-an indicator of community growth. Social measurement and analytics tools, such as Hootsuite Insights, can help dive into the chat results and quantify your efforts. Choose metrics that you can report on consistently over the long term to identify trends in community growth or to adjust your activities to better serve your audience.

The story of your Twitter chat doesn't end with the numbers. You can curate the best responses and conversation for later by taking screenshots. Highlight prominent community members, influencers or customers, and mine the responses for "quotable" nuggets.

These insights will help you tweak the delivery of your next chat. If the conversation was particularly interesting or memorable, consider bringing some of the best content together into a blog post.

Hosting a Twitter chat requires constant tweaking, learning, and reformatting to suit the ever-changing needs of your audience. By following the steps and tips above, you'll be on your way to creating a Twitter chat that's sure to engage your online audience.
Whether you're planning to run a Twitter chat or just participate in one, Hootsuite can help. Try it free today. With files from Matt Diederichs.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Hosting a Successful Twitter Chat

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Hosting a Twitter chat lets you better engage with your followers and customers on Twitter and build community among them by using some of Twitter's conversation-friendly features. Twitter chats are a great way to grow your social following, generate valuable discussions and feedback, and demonstrate thought leadership.

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Connect to educators through twitter to find their blogs: @makingoodhumans,
@sherrattsam & @TimeSpaceEd , @hktans,
@innovative_inq,
@kjinquiry
@mrkempnz (#whatisschool) , @gcouros,
@trev_mackenzie,
@traintheteacher
@ModernLearners

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@julielindsay

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By Amber Coggin

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Flipgrid is where social and emotional learning happens! The leading video discussion platform for millions of PreK to PhD educators, students, and families.

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Join us at the Vietnam Tech Conference March 10 & 11, 2018 hosted by UNIS Hanoi and SSIS

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Kerri Lee Beasley

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Today's Meet
Kath Murdoch's Learning Goals
Footprints in the Digital Age
Twitter for Teachers
Twitter: a Cultural Guidebook (iBook)The Twitteraholic's Ultimate Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter
Classroom Collaboration Using Social Bookmarking Service Diigo
The Complete Educator's Guide to Google Reader
Reasons Teachers Should Blog

Becoming a networked teacher doesn't happen overnight. Just as you can't plant seeds in a garden and expect to see flowers right away, a network takes time to grow and build. Rod Lucier has a great way of explaining that process, which he describes as the 7 Degrees of Connectedness. Jeff Utecht has a great eBook called Reach, about building communities and networks for Professional Development, which is an excellent resource for more information.

By now we've all heard of Twitter. But how many of us are using it to its full potential to help us cultivate our growing professional learning networks? Below are some resources and tips on how to get the most out of Twitter.

Twitter: a Cultural Guidebook is an iBook written by Jabiz Raisdana & myself, to try and demystify the stereotypes of Twitter, and show how it can be used for professional learning. It is quite a large file! There are videos from ADEs (Apple Distinguished Educators) explaining how they use it, and some helpful interactive media to get started.

Twitter4Teachers - An overview into the ways teachers can use Twitter for PD, this is a great starting point for any educator.

Jess McCulloch's wiki Step into Asia has a number of video tutorials and intros to different aspects of Twitter, together with some 20 second Twitter Stories from people in her PLN about why they're on Twitter.

- #ibap #MYP #PYP #learning2 #edchat #scichat #mathchat #kinderchat These are all examples of hashtags. Hashtags make it easy to group and search for tweets about a specific topic. Using a Twitter client like Tweetdeck, you can even use a hashtag to create an easy-to-follow column in your client. Here is a list of Education Related Hashtags.

There are tons of guides and resources out there for you to use while continuing to develop your Twitter presence. Of course, the greatest one in my opinion are the people on Twitter themselves. Sue Waters (@suewaters) has written a very comprehensive guide to All Things Twitter. Edudemic (@edudemic) has a couple of posts on hashtags and on Twitter in Education. There is also a Twitter4Teachers wiki where you can add your Twitter name to lists of teachers in the same subject area or grade level.

There are lots of different RSS readers out there: Netvibes and Feedly are two popular services. My preference, however, is Google Reader. It's easy to use, easy to organize, and easy to set up!

RSS in Plain English is a great video to show the basics of how RSS (Really Simple Syndication) works, how to subscribe to blogs and how to populate your Google Reader.

Google Reader allows users to share their favorite blogs in a variety of ways: by email, as a list of blogs on a website, or as blog bundles. Blog bundles are a great way to discover new blogs or to quickly share your favorite blogs with your colleagues. Here are some bundles that Clint Hamada has created in using Google Reader:

Social Bookmarking in Plain English is another explanatory video from the folks at Common Craft. It focuses on a tool called Delicious, but we would recommend educators use Diigo, as you can sign up here for an educational account.

Katie Day - a Diigo superuser - has made a great video which explains some of the features/functions of Diigo:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPutrgvcSnU?rel=0%5D

Once you've become a member of Diigo, you can join (or apply to join) groups that have been set up by other users. As a member of the group, you can choose to have emails sent to you with the latest resources added to the group.

Some Diigo Groups to help get you started:

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Important links for 21CLHK session Today's Meet Kath Murdoch's Learning Goals Footprints in the Digital Age Twitter for Teachers Twitter: a Cultural Guidebook (iBook) The Twitteraholic's Ultimate Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter Classroom Collaboration Using Social Bookmarking Service Diigo The Complete Educator's Guide to Google Reader Reasons Teachers Should Blog Becoming Networked...

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Using Social Media to Enhance Learning – 3 classroom examples that inspire me!

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Using Social Media to Enhance Learning – 3 classroom examples that inspire me!

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Following up from the honor of being selected in Huffington Posts Top 12 Global Education Blogs of 2014/2015 I have been chosen again in this amazing group and for 2016/2017 will be contributing to Huffington Post's Education blog once a month. This month we look to answer the following highly controversial question "What are the best examples you have seen of teachers using social media to enhance learning?" - here is my response:
Social Media has changed my life as an educator. It has opened up numerous doors and broken down the four walls of my classroom. It has allowed me to grow more as an educator, a leader, and a person and has helped me progress my career more than any other professional development I have been involved with.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to work with educators in countries all over the world, both in person and virtually. Social Media has allowed me to be connected with the best of the best. Through Social Media, these educators are making learning engaging and real for the students in their classrooms.

Here are my favorite 3 examples of how educators are using Social Media to enhance learning in 2016:

Ed-Chats and Blogs - Teachers are engaging in online chats through Social Media tools such as Twitter. During these focused online chat sessions, educators from all over the globe come together to learn about a topic, sharing resources, articles, links and upskilling. This learning gets transferred directly into their learning environment and spread to improve student learning opportunities. Click here for some of my favorite Twitter Ed-Chats.

Bringing in the Experts - Teachers frequently connect & engage with experts from all over the world in order to engage students in real learning experiences. From astronauts to meteorologists my students get to speak to an expert when they need to learn about something I can't help them with - I always tell them "I don't know, but let's go find out". These connections come from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or through Microsoft for Education. Click here for more information on how global connections can make learning more engaging. Here are some examples of how I use twitter to bring experts into the classroom to support real world learning:

Global Collaborative Projects - Global Collaborative Projects are diverse and available for just about any learning opportunity you can think of. The Global Read Aloud program is one example of using Social Media to improve student learning. Over a 6-week period, classes all over the world read the same book and using Twitter, Skype, WriteAbout, Edmodo and many other tools, they connect and engage with students to discuss the book from every corner of the globe. Another amazing example is the 24 hour Skypathon concept that I was lucky enough to be involved in with Beverly Ladd. Basically, as a class, students prepare and organize Mystery Skype sessions to learn about countries from all over the world. In Miss Ladd's class, they used the hashtag #PVSkype24 to connect and engage through Social Media. To find out more about this look at http://24hourskypathon.wikispaces.com/. Here are some examples:

Using Social Media has improved the way I learn and the opportunities my students have to learn. By being a globally connected educator I break down the four walls of classrooms and allow students and staff to connect and engage with experts and classrooms all over the world. These opportunities are not possible without the power of a professional social learning network.

What are the best examples you have seen of teachers using social media to enhance learning? Please share here and through Twitter - I would love to hear your stories.

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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Using Social Media to Enhance Learning - 3 classroom examples that inspire me!

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Following up from the honor of being selected in Huffington Posts Top 12 Global Education Blogs of 2014 /2015 I have been chosen again in this amazing group and for 2016/2017 will be contributing to Huffington Post's Education blog once a month.

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Using video to connect = collaboration gold 

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Using video to connect = collaboration gold 

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Skype in the Classroom and Google Hangouts are amazing tools to support the Collaboration process in the 21st Century Classroom.

Learning as a 'digital native' needs to be fast moving, digitally driven, active and most importantly student driven. The idea of connecting with an 'expert' anywhere, anytime is a foreign concept to most parents and even teachers nowadays but it is the reality for our students. We need to provide opportunities for the students to own their learning and connect with people globally.

We are teaching the digital natives for jobs that don't exist yet and need to support their learning in connected ways.

I am a huge believer in Skype and Google Hangouts for connecting classrooms globally. I have been using Skype in my classroom for over 4 years and have been supporting other teachers in this process for just over 2 years. It brings a smile to my face when a student driven question leads to an inspirational digital discussion.

The perfect example of this occurred last week. I ran a staff PD session on using Skype in the Classroom and received several emails shortly after from excited staff wanting support with this process.

Every class at my school has been set up with a Skype account to encourage collaboration and every classroom has a webcam capable device, a mic, speakers and a projector to connect, making the process much simpler.

From these emails we emailed started 3 projects. Two Mystery Skype (@MysterySkype) projects and one Space related project. The two Mystery Skype projects were easy as we are regularly running them around he school now. I am lucky that my job takes me from class to class and I get to set up and support classroom teachers to utilise such amazing resources. The best part though is seeing the smiles of wonder and awe as they connect and collaborate with others.

The Year 3 students have been learning about Space and the students came up with excellent questions. After attending the Skype in the Classroom PD session my colleague contacted me to see if I could support her class to connect with an expert to help answer their questions.

So .... I did what I know best and that is reach out to the community of people that are there to support each other 24/7 ...... my Twitter PLN. I asked for help, "Please help", I wrote, "I am looking to connect a Year 3 class with an expert, they are learning about Space". The search didn't last long. Within 24 house I had numerous connections and responses thanks to the amazing members within my twitter PLN. We managed to connect with not only Penny Pettigrew (a Space camp Hall of Famer who connects people with astronauts on the ISS), Ed Van Cise (Flight Director at NASA), but also a retired Astronaut!!!

The connections continued and then last Thursday morning the student driven project was alive. They were speaking to NASA Flight Director, Ed Van Cise. Watching videos, checking out his photo collection, listening to his amazing space stories and getting answers to their questions. Ed was incredible and a true inspiration to these students who looked at him in awe throughout the process. In the next 2 weeks we are also connecting with Penny and the brilliant Retired Astronaut through the Power of Skype (#MysterySkype) and Google Hangouts.

"WOW", students were sharing after we ended the call. "I want to work at NASA" and "Imagine how cool it would be to see our planet from space". The comments flowed as excitement continued buzzing around the room. Comments turned into more questions and excitement as they all rushed to their devices to do some more research.

This is the kind of classroom I love to teach in. A globally connected one with student driven learning! Enough said .... truly inspirational.

If you are not globally connected, give it a go. It is easy, free and at your fingertips. As always, just ask. I am always happy to help you get connected, get started or even pass some contacts on to you.

Good luck, stay inspired and remember to share your stories through this blog and via my twitter feed @MrKempNZ

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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Using Video to connect globally - Collaboration gold!

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Skype in the Classroom and Google Hangouts are amazing tools to support the Collaboration process in the 21st Century Classroom. Learning as a 'digital native' needs to be fast moving, digitally driven, active and most importantly student driven.

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From Lone Wolf to Hunting with the Pack – becoming a globally connected educator

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From Lone Wolf to Hunting with the Pack – becoming a globally connected educator

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Firstly, thanks to @annekenn for inspiring today's blog post. About 3 weeks ago Anne emailed me and asked if I would send her a sound byte or video for an upcoming CORE education presentation she was doing on this topic. Of course, I was more than happy to do so. Anne is an amazingly well connected, hard working and inspiring educator. You see, Anne was one of two people who got me started on twitter (so she is one of the people you have to blame for all of the nonsense that comes from my account!)

The Lone Wolf part began about 2 years into my teaching career at a small public school in Dunedin, New Zealand. I became actively inspired and interested in using technology to support learning. I started leading change and realised that there was more to what I was doing. I had previously thought that social media was a fad and it was for personal use only, I didn't want to get caught up in the mess that it could bring to my professional career. How wrong was I?

Once I realised there was a 'pack' of hungry educators out there willing to connect and learn with me I was hooked. Connecting and growing with others in order to grow collective wisdom was the point I was missing. Establishing a strong PLN (Professional Learning Network), not only on twitter, but Face to Face, on LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and through attending conferences and events was the first step on my journey.

Funnily enough, the connections I made and the opportunities I had from establishing a small network was incredible and got me invigorated to continue the journey. I shared what I was doing and engaged myself in discussions with other like-minded educators I found along the way. Not only was I growing as an educator but opportunities were opening up for me as I networked my way around the world.

Connecting and collaborating is what I do in the classroom, so why not match that in my professional world outside of the classroom. In order to offer up the best possible learning experiences for my students in the 21st century world that we live in, I have to be connected with the very best in the business I didn't think it was possible, but how wrong was I - it is simpler than you think!

Now, I am an international educator in Singapore. I have an amazing PLN that support me in everything I do and I would not turn back for a moment. Here is the video that I created for Anne to share at her CORE education session. Enjoy and feel free to share:

I look forward to hearing about your stories. My challenge to you is, share your journey, like I have shared mine. If you haven't started your journey yet, invite me and your PLN to enjoy the journey and support you along the way. We are all in this together! The aim of the game is to make ourselves the best possible educators, who offer the best possible learning experiences for our students.

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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From Lone Wolf to Hunting with the Pack - becoming a globally connected educator

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Firstly, thanks to @annekenn for inspiring today's blog post. About 3 weeks ago Anne emailed me and asked if I would send her a sound byte or video for an upcoming CORE education presentation she was doing on this topic. Of course, I was more than happy to do so.

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4 Ways to Become a Globally Connected ‘Teacherpreneur’

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4 Ways to Become a Globally Connected ‘Teacherpreneur’

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The definition of a teacherpreneur, according to www.teachingquality.org , is a teacher who leads but doesn't 'leave' their students or schools. They have taken on leadership opportunities to further their career, yet are still able to devote time to classroom teaching. Teacherpreneurs maintain "teacher cred" because they regularly with students. They maintain the first-hand experience with all aspects of teaching while also leading beyond their classroom (often through social media or on a local/global stage).
Image Source: https://www.weareteachers.com/teacherpreneurs/

See's problems as opportunities and acts on them

Has a positive attitude to everything they do

Loves to share, discuss and collaborate

Is a strong believer in teamwork and cooperation

Understands the importance of student voice

Tries new things and takes risks

Models connected learning

'Does' more and 'talks' less

Here are 4 things to do to become a globally connected teacherpreneur:

A Teacherpreneur can be found all around you (maybe you are even one). They are doers, shakers, and boundary pushers. They are the front-carriage leaders within your organization who are dedicated to making a change in student learning at the forefront at all times. They invest time in other people and have a presence locally and often globally as a leader in their field.

While we can't all be leaders (because we need followers in the world we live to make a movement), we can all make a difference and add value to learning by keeping them at the forefront of everything you do.

I encourage you to share your passion and become a globally connected teacherpreneur.

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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4 Ways to Become a Globally Connected 'Teacherpreneur'

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The definition of a teacherpreneur, according to www.teachingquality.org , is a teacher who leads but doesn't 'leave' their students or schools. They have taken on leadership opportunities to further their career, yet are still able to devote time to classroom teaching. Teacherpreneurs maintain "teacher cred" because they regularly with students.

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Twitter for Teachers - a live learning experience 

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Twitter for Teachers - a live learning experience 

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I wanted to share this link as I am getting lots of requests for links to my recent session about Twitter for Beginners.

Here is the link to my Session from #ulearn14 that was live streamed as part of connected educators month. This was one of two sessions I ran in Rotorua in October. It was exciting to be involved and an amazing learning experience. The top 10 tips to creating the perfect educational Twitter account article that I published for this event can be found here.

I can talk for hours about the impact twitter has had on me and the way I use Social Media to engage in a professional learning community. However, I had only a short amount of time to engage and share with my audience. Enjoy this short, 20 minute chat about Twitter for Teachers. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me or read through my other Twitter related blogposts.

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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Twitter For Teachers - A 'live' learning experience

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I wanted to share this link as I am getting lots of requests for links to my recent session about Twitter for Beginners. Here is the link to my Session from #ulearn14 that was live streamed as part of connected educators month. This was one of two sessions I ran in Rotorua in October.

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Twitter has been the best tool I have encountered for educators to connect, collaborate and develop as professionals. It allows educators to learn and connect 24/7 from anywhere around the world.

Once connected you get the best of the best when you want it and can ask questions and get answers instantly from educators all around the world. Then there is the power of twitter chats, but we don't have time for that now. Click here for more about my favorite twitter chats.

Image source: http://bgr.com/2015/02/09/who-to-follow-on-twitter/

The key to successfully using Twitter as an Educator is who you follow.
Here is my list of the Top 30 MUST FOLLOW educators on twitter (in no particular order):
Alice Keeler - An inspirational Google Certified Teacher and author of 50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom, Alice is the "go-to gal" for everything Google.

Kevin Honeycutt - With over 53,000 followers, Kevin is a super connected educator, global speaker and author who likes to bring his personal life experience and a sense of humor and creativity to the mission of helping prepare 21st-century learners!

Lisa Dabbs - Lisa inspired thousands as an educational & social media consultant, author, blogger, podcaster and speaker. Lisa's passion to support and mentor new & pre-service teachers led her to found New Teacher Chat #ntchat on Twitter.

Dave Burgess - Dave Burgess is the New York Times Best-Selling author of Teach Like a PIRATE, co-author of P is for PIRATE, and the president of Dave Burgess Consulting. He is a lively and inspirational tweeter, always willing to answer questions and support learning development (you should also follow Dave's wife Shelley here)

Mark Weston - Mark is a warm-hearted, engaging person, who goes out of his way to help people connect. Mark is an education change agent, who works tirelessly to support those in need.

Summer Howarth - Summer lives in Melbourne, Australia and is the Director of Learning Design with the inspirational team at EduChangemakers. Her bubbly personality hooks you in and her knowledge and expertise leaves you wanting more!

Mark Anderson - Mark is a global leader in anything and everything ed-tech. His ICT Evangelist blog won the 2015 Education Blog of the Year award. He is one of the UK's most in-demand keynote speakers and his tweets will keep you inspired.

Jennifer Williams - Jenn is an inspirational tweeter with a passion for global learning. Her online work connects and engages students and teachers from every corner of the globe. She is always willing to help and share her knowledge.

Vicki Davis - Vicki is one of the most connected teachers on Twitter. She is an author and global speaker who speaks from the heart and from her hands-on experience in the classroom - she is a must follow in the ed-tech scene.

Angela Maiers - Angela is a globally recognized educator and speaker who is passionate about literacy and encouraging learners that there are no limits. Angela will inspire you with her active involvement in education in all its forms.

Eric Sheninger - Eric is an award-winning principal and Senior Fellow at Rigor Relevance. He is a best-selling author and an international keynote speaker. Eric has been featured on TV and print around the world and is a leader you can't miss being connected with.

Will Richardson - Well known for his passion for his profession, Will is a global speaker and change agent who is inspiring to us all. He is the co-founder of modernlearners.com and an author of 6 books. A sharer of knowledge, Will is one person you don't want to miss out on being connected with.

Sue Gorman - Sue is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Innovator, and a powerful Social Media voice. Her passions lie with engaging classrooms that inspire inquiry, visible thinking, student voice and choice, and global collaboration. Get connected with her today!

George Couros - George is a powerful leader who is the author of the global hit book, "The Innovator's Mindset". George gives up his time to help others and share his passion for leadership and education. He is always willing to help and you will find his twitter feed buzzing every day.

Erin Klein - Erin is an award-winning educator, keynote speaker and author who is constantly referred to as a leader in her field. I always look to Erin when in need of help in the ed-tech world and she always delivers. Her blog kleinspiration.com is packed full of incredible resources.

Martin Burrett - Editor of #UKEdChat's UK Ed Magazine and UK Ed Resources, Martin is well known online as @ICTMagic and his resources inspire thousands on a daily basis. He is a primary teacher and is based in the UK. He openly and willingly shares ideas daily and his twitter feed is a non-stop shop of amazing resources!

Steven Anderson - Steven has over 144,000 twitter followers and is known as one of the top 50 innovators in education. He is a global keynote speaker, blogger, author and the co-creator of #EdChat, the first and most powerful twitter chat for educators.

Shannon Miller - Shannon is a teacher-librarian and with over 50,000 followers, is a leader in her field. She is an author and powerful blogger at thelibraryvoice.com who regularly and openly shares her ideas and resources.

Todd Nesloney - Todd is the Principal of Webb Elementary in Texas, USA. He is a multi-award winning educator who is constantly recognized as a leader in his field. He is passionate about student voice and helping teachers remove barriers and eliminate excuses.

Larry Ferlazzo - Larry is an Inner-City High School Teacher in Sacremento, USA. He is an author of 8 books and writes regularly in the NY times. He is passionate about EAL/ESL/ELL students and supporting English Language Learners in the Mainstream classroom.

Rusul Alrubail - Based in Toronto, Rusul is on a mission to build out a literacy and student voice community. She is a TEDx speaker and a social media influencer on education, race, and equity. Her tweets inspire and her ability to engage always leaves me amazed!

Steve Wheeler - Steve is a constant inspiration to me and is always willing to lend an ear, give you a hand or have a chat. Steve is a teacher educator, researcher, international speaker and author. His tweets inspire and he is always willing to give time to people who reach out.

Kasey Bell - Kasey's work to help teachers use Google tools in the classroom is creative and always practical. Her blog and Pinterest account are must-follows. She is a Google-Certified Trainer who is dedicated to making a difference in student learning.

Joyce Valenza - Joyce is an assistant professor at Rutgers University. She is a public speaker, teacher, and author. Her work as a librarian inspires many and her twitter chat #tlchat encourages teacher librarians to share their inspirational stories with the world.

Lucy Gray - Lucy is the co-founder of GlobalEdCon, a virtual global education organization. Follow her for ideas and resources for helping your students become more globally minded. She is an Apple Distinguished Educator who is well-known in the ed-tech and social media world.

Shelly Sanchez - With 75,000 followers, Shelly is an incredibly powerful educator and global speaker. She is the author of 30 goals (30goals.com) and is passionate about helping like-minded people connect and collaborate.

Sue Waters - Sue is from Perth, Australia and is an EduBlogs Support Manager. Her work in education blogging is powerful and she has supported thousands of educators to share their journeys through blogging and encourage the same in their students.

Deputy Mitchell - David is an award winning Head Teacher and is best known through Twitter as @deputymitchell. He founded QuadBlogging which has now seen over 500,000 pupils from 55 countries take part. He is a speaker, writer, and trainer of teachers.

Beverly Ladd - Bev inspires many, including me! She is passionate about connecting students with the world and is a Skype Master Teacher. If you ever need help with connections or collaborating, Beverly is your go-to educator.

Sarah Thomas - Sarah is a regional tech coordinator and passionate about social media in education. She inspires me constantly as she connects educators from all over the globe. She created #EduMatch to support this and is constantly giving her time to support others.

Obviously, there are thousands of other amazing educators and thought leaders out there to follow on twitter but I have limited this to my top 30 because I had to stop somewhere. You can follow me @mrkempnz to see more amazing educators that I follow and interact with on a daily basis.

Image source: http://www.edudemic.com/teachers-embrace-twitter-professional-development/

Who are your favorite 'tweeters' and why? Who have I missed? Share your thoughts here or tag your favorites with this post on twitter and be sure to tag me in too @mrkempnz

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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Twitter has been the best tool I have encountered for educators to connect, collaborate and develop as professionals. It allows educators to learn and connect 24/7 from anywhere around the world. Once connected you get the best of the best when you want it and can ask questions and get answers instantly from educators all around the world.

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10 Steps to cresting the perfect educational twitter account

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10 Steps to cresting the perfect educational twitter account

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As a globally connected educator, I LOVE connecting, networking and engaging with my PLN (Personal/Professional Learning Network) on a daily basis through Twitter.

I wish I got connected to Twitter earlier on in my educational career (as it is the BEST form of FREE Professional Development I have ever found). Because of this, I love to share my passions behind using Twitter and how it makes me a better educator.

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As a globally connected educator, I LOVE connecting, networking and engaging with my PLN (ersonal/ Professional Learning N etwork) on a daily basis through Twitter.

I wish I got connected to Twitter earlier on in my educational career (as it is the BEST form of FREE Professional Development I have ever found). Because of this, I love to share my passions behind using Twitter and how it makes me a better educator.

To create a globally connected PLN, I firmly believe engaging in the online world of Twitter is a must. To get started, follow these 10 easy steps:

1. Go to www.twitter.com and fill in your name, email address and password and Click "Sign up for Twitter."

2. When prompted choose your username - think to yourself, how do I want to be seen as online to my Education network now and in the future. I am @mrkempnz (simple, but effective).

3. Click "Create my account"

4. Next, start following people that you look up to or admire. If you want to follow celebrities, be prepared for a lot of 'rubbish'. Some suggestions for Education 'celebrities' that you should follow instead are:

5. Do some searching and click on the "FOLLOW" button beside anyone you want to connect with. Their tweets will appear in your feed (I will explain this more during our session at #ulearn14).

6. Once you are finished connecting, you need to 'de-egg'. When you start twitter you get assigned your 'egg' as your profile picture. Let the world see who you are - upload a professional photograph, symbol, or cartoon of yourself. Click on the empty profile photo to upload an image of yourself.

7. Make sure you follow me @mrkempnz so I can support you along the way and help connect you with some amazing educators.

8. Edit your profile and add the important details about who you are and what you are passionate about by clicking on ' Edit Profile ' - this is what my profile says - it may help you craft your short bio:

9. Send out your first tweet by clicking on the blue box. Type your first tweet in less than 140 characters (maybe you can say something like: "Hey @mrkempnz I am on twitter and I can't wait to learn more about how to use it at your #21CLHK workshop"). By including my @mrkempnz tag I will get a message telling me you are talking to me 🙂

10. Start exploring Twitter. Have a look around, wait for me to reply to you and start adding some people you might know. Let's get connected!

If you are using this at my #21CLHK workshop in February 2016, make sure you follow the hashtag #21CLHK and follow others who are here right now and also tag in @21cli

Stay connected and see you soon 🙂

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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10 Steps to Creating the Perfect Educational Twitter Account

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As a globally connected educator, I LOVE connecting, networking and engaging with my PLN (ersonal/ Professional Learning N etwork) on a daily basis through Twitter. I wish I got connected to Twitter earlier on in my educational career (as it is the BEST form of FREE Professional Development I have ever found).

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Flipgrid is where social and emotional learning happens! The leading video discussion platform for millions of PreK to PhD educators, students, and families.

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Flip grid ebook

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I'm using a tool called Flipgrid to have educators respond to a series of prompts related to globally connected teaching and learning. The Global Share-O-Rama is located here and I'm looking for educators and global education organizations to participate. Consider doing any of the following:

Promote your project, organization, or book that relates to global education

If you are running a project and need participants or partners, let us know in this Flipgrid as well.

Share your favorite resource (article, book, tool, website etc) for helping educators connect to the world

Questions about how on how to collaborate globally are also welcome.

I've created seven topics or Flipgrids within the Global Share-O-Rama; you are invited to respond to one or more of these by recording a short video of yourself discussing the topic. To participate, click on a topic, then the + sign, and allow Flipgrid to access the camera on your computer if necessary. If you are using an iPad, you can download the app, and use the code that is available in the top lefthand corner to join that particular grid. You can also leave responses for other educators who have posted to Flipgrid, too.

Below are some examples from the Global Share-O-Rama. I hope you will join in and make some new connections to enhance your work with students! Please share this information widely.

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You are Invited to the Global Share-O-Rama!

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I'm using a tool called Flipgrid to have educators respond to a series of prompts related to globally connected teaching and learning. The Global Share-O-Rama is located here and I'm looking for educators and global education organizations to participate.

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One of Kathy Cassidy's students practices reading with the class Twitter page. ( Courtesy Kathy Cassidy)

The excerpt below is from the book "Connected From the Start: Global Learning In the Primary Grades," by Kathy Cassidy, published by Powerful Learning Press. By Kathy Cassidy
Some teachers I talk to say they do not have time to connect with other classrooms because they are too busy covering their curriculum. In fact, connecting with others is not an addition to our curriculum. It is not something we do after we have finished our reading and math for the day. It is the way we do our curriculum. From practicing counting by fives or comparing similarities and differences via Skype, to writing for a worldwide audience, to making and sharing videos of social studies concepts on our blogs, we connect and invite the world to learn with us and to help us learn. Although learning from others is a key reason why I continue to connect my classroom online, there are many other reasons as well.
1. Our Students Will Be Part Of a Hyper-Connected World
The world seems to shrink a bit more every day. This has been the pattern for many decades. As this trend continues, the world that my students will be part of in their adult lives will be incredibly connected. Twenty-five years ago, I spent some time living in Thailand. When my husband and I left Canada to move there, we knew that our only connection with our family and friends would be letters and an occasional (and expensive) telephone call. If we were to make that move now, there would be a multitude of ways we could connect with home, both synchronously and asynchronously, anytime we chose. Although having a computer or device with an internet connection in my students' homes becomes a little more common every year, not every child in my class has this access. Sometimes these children and their parents are able to access the Internet from a relative's home or from the public library. What is clear is that we are continually moving toward the point at which every family will be connected.

These connections are not restricted to our private lives. Business is also becoming more globally connected. It is possible and perhaps even probable that our students will spend much of their working lives in some kind of virtual conversation with colleagues from around the world. If that is even a possibility, we owe it to them to begin to prepare them for that option. We want to get them ready for the world they will be part of, not the world that we lived in as children, or even the world we live in now.
2. A Global Perspective Increases Empathy
The enthusiasm of my students at the discovery of the volcano near the Voyagers' school was tempered by the fact that they knew volcanoes could be extremely dangerous. Because of our online connection and conversations, they felt about the students in New Zealand the same way as they did about the students in the classroom next door. They were concerned for their safety, and it was important to them to find out if their friends were in danger in the event of a volcanic eruption. It is easy to brush off dangers or catastrophic events when they do not personally affect your life. Knowing others who may be affected by that danger takes something abstract and makes it personal. You begin to care. My students were relieved to discover that the volcano in New Zealand did not spew lava-only ash-and that the ash had never endangered any of the students at the school in Palmerston North.

From children in places far from where we live, my students have learned that not everyone has the same alphabet, that people speak other languages, that some areas do not have snow in the winter, that children everywhere learn to read and write, that school rules can be different, and that, yes, there are trees in Wisconsin. Without our online connections, these global understandings might not have been gained for many years, if ever.
3. Kids Often Learn Best From Other Kids
Kids can often learn better from a classmate or another child than they can from their teacher. If you are a teacher, I'm sure you've seen this in your own classroom. I certainly have.

I remember one of the moments that this was hammered home to me. One of the objectives in my curriculum at the time was learning the difference between needs and wants. I planned and taught a couple of what I thought were fabulous lessons about what each of these concepts was and the difference between the two. Then, I asked the students to make a Common Craft type of video to show what they had learned. If you are not familiar with Common Craft, they have a series of simple but brilliant videos explaining concepts such as Twitter, social media, RSS and wikis. The camera points at a table and films the narrator's hands. As he talks, the narrator pulls pieces of paper with simple drawings or words in and out of the camera's view.

My students' task was to create a similar video to show what they had learned about the difference between needs and wants. When the videos were completed, it was obvious that despite my brilliant teaching, three of the students still did not understand the difference between these two words. Instead of re-teaching, I took those three students aside and showed them videos created by students who obviously had a clear grasp of the concepts.

It was like the lights went on. After having seen what their peers had created, those three students all clearly understood the differences, and they were able to go on to create a new video showing this learning. You can probably think of similar things that have happened in your own classroom.

Now, imagine those "aha" moments happening through a connection with a child in another place your students have never been and will probably never have a chance to visit. I could have simply told my students that there are volcanoes in New Zealand, or read a book about children who wear uniforms to school, or shown a video about children who live near the ocean. Would my teaching have provoked the same learning? I don't think so. As we talked with our Kiwi friends below the equator, the children could ask questions and get answers. They could observe the learning of the other children in response to the answers we gave. My students could be part of the lives of people who lived on the other side of the world. This vivid personal connection both inspired their learning and made it more meaningful to them.
4. We Learn about Online Etiquette and Safety
Some people worry that young children should not be online because they cannot be safe. Instead, I worry that young children who are isolated from social technologies will not learn HOW to be safe online. In our increasingly connected world, it is important for even five and six-year-olds to begin to learn what is appropriate when using technology to connect.

While I agree we need to take steps to protect children, I think it is equally important that we begin to teach them how to handle themselves in virtual settings. Having them create digital content and interact in a safe manner is essential learning for a child growing up in the Internet age. Unfortunately, we are not having many conversations about this at the level where decisions are made about education policy and practice.

Almost everyone knows the story of an adult who, because of something that was posted online, was denied a chance at a job, or lost their employment, or was censured in some way. I know of a young man who was denied a chance to compete for a coveted job in tourism because the sponsoring organization found a video of him online using profanity at a professional football game. Incidents such as this are happening more and more often.

The issue of online bullying is also gaining worldwide media attention. Many children and adults do not realize that once something is online, it stays online. You may be able to delete it from your website or Facebook page, but you must assume there will always be a record of what you posted somewhere in cyberspace. As significant as this issue has become in our lives, it will become even more important in the future as our world continues to become more connected.

Even 10 years ago, we could never have predicted how important the Internet and the connections it allows would become. A positive digital footprint is on its way to becoming an essential part of all our lives. Even five and six year olds can begin to understand this concept.

My curriculum asks me to teach the students how to recognize potential safety risks in play areas. To my students, the Internet is a play area. Online safety is just one of the forms of safety that they need to learn to be healthy and secure as they grow.

When my own children were too young to cross the street on their own, I took their hand and crossed with them. As they grew, I let go of their hand and walked beside them. When they were ready, I watched as they crossed the street on their own. Finally, they were ready to do it entirely without me.

When my primary-aged students begin to interact online, I do not set them loose to explore on their own. I figuratively take their hand and we do things together. After much modeling, I let the students do it while I watch. When those habits are firmly established, I watch from afar while they do it without me. I do this to ensure that they interact online in a safe and appropriate way.
5. I Place a High Value on Serendipity
Time and again, our classroom interactions with students far away have resulted in unforeseen learning. When we began connecting with the classroom in New Zealand, I had no idea that they lived near the ocean or that they had a volcano nearby. Those unexpected realities led to serendipitous learning.

Over the years, we have "accidentally" discovered that some schools have no girls, that some people go swimming on Christmas Day and that some schools have no school buses. We've learned what it looks like to have a tornado drill in a classroom. Year after year, I have let the students "discover" for themselves that when we chat with students in Australia or New Zealand, it is already the next day there. The learning is much stickier when they suddenly perceive that the kids down under are having summer when we are having winter and that not everyone wears snow clothes for four months of the year.

One day my class received a package in the mail from New Zealand. It contained some wonderful treasures such as kina and paua shells and ash from a "real" volcano. This led to more wonderful questions about why the pumice was so light and how the paua shell got to be blue inside, and why anyone would think to eat the spiky kina shellfish! More serendipity.

These kinds of connections bring something to the classroom that nothing else can. Connecting globally has changed my classroom and my teaching practice in such a profound way that I feel almost claustrophobic thinking about old-style instruction. Maybe you already enjoy this same sense of freedom to connect. If not, let me introduce you to the tools I use to lower our classroom walls and welcome the world in.
Kathy Cassidy is a Grade One teacher for Prairie South Schools in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada, and an Apple Distinguished Educator. Since 2005, she has been integrating various technologies into her teaching practice to help "connect" her primary-grades students so they can become global learners. In addition to her widely followed classroom blog, she writes about her professional work at Primary Preoccupation and for the Voices from the Learning Revolution group blog.
Why Even Young Students Benefit From Connecting Globally

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Why Even Young Students Benefit From Connecting Globally

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The excerpt below is from the book "Connected From the Start: Global Learning In the Primary Grades," by Kathy Cassidy, published by Powerful Learning Press. By Kathy Cassidy Some teachers I talk to say they do not have time to connect with other classrooms because they are too busy covering their curriculum.

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Edchat's on Twitter are incredible sources of information and for me, the BEST sources of learning in my already hectic week.

Running the award winning #whatisschool chat is incredible and so rewarding. The #whatisschool PLN is powerful and always contributes incredible ideas and resources to all of the topics that are covered.

However, I am always asked the same questions:

I have already written a blog post about the use of Storify and how we use that to archive the #whatisschool chat - this is available every week immediately following the chat. To read more about Storify and its use for archiving chats - click here

Now it is time to answer the question "This chat is too fast, how can I keep up?" ...

The reality is, that in a popular chat like #whatisschool, you probably won't be able to keep up. With hundreds of educators connecting and answering questions at the same time it is about picking and choosing (and the skill of skim reading comes in VERY handy).

For me the #whatisschool hour is my most intense hour of the week, but by far the most rewarding. I learn more from these conversations than any other professional learning I do in my life. It is truly remarkable!

The fact remains, chats are fast!

Here are 5 tips to help you "keep up" and manage a fast paced EdChat:

1. Use Tweetdeck or Hootsuite - these tools are designed for real-time tracking, organising and engagement. It is particular useful during a chat as you can create a deck for #whatisschool and see the live flow of conversations happening right in front of your eyes. The best part is that you can go at your own pace by scrolling up and down, while the chat continues! You can also use the filters to refine your search to certain types of tweets.

2. Get involved - Lurking is great, but getting involved in a chat is amazing. As soon as you see an area of interest, pounce on it and start a discussion with that person. The side conversations is what makes chats like #whatisschool so powerful. The reality is that you don't have to 'keep up' in order to get benefit from a chat.

3. Follow up - Archives are created for a reason. Use the archives to give you more time to go into the tweets in more detail. Archives, such as the Storify ones on #whatisschool, are there forever and are the best tool for in depth analysis and resource gathering. Don't get caught up in the moment, think to yourself "I can go back and use the archive later".

4. On-going - For me Twitter chats are conversation starters and are the best way to identify experts. From a chat you can identify those who are passionate about a certain topic and follow up with them later. The on-going conversations is what makes chats powerful. If a chat is overwhelming, just lurk and gather Twitter handles of those you want to follow up with later.

5. Be prepared - most chats publish their questions before a chat happens. We publish our #whatisschool questions at least 2-3 days before the chat each week. Use these questions to help structure your answers. Even pre-write them up so you can respond as the questions are posted. I highly recommend this as a tool to manage a fast-paced chat. That way all you have to do is copy and paste, post it and then focus on other conversations. It is also a good idea to identify the moderators of each chat and follow them so you can always see their tweets. Some chats have remind notifications so you never miss one. Click here to get the #whatisschool FREE remind notification.

A 6th and bonus idea to manage a fast-paced chat is to favourite (by clicking on the star) any tweets you would like to follow up with later. Afterwards you can go back and check out all of the tweets you favourited and spend more time to respond and follow the links.

Chats are an amazing Professional Learning tool and one that I highly recommend everyone to take part in. Although they are sometimes overwhelming, you make them what they are so get involved.

Hopefully these tips keep you involved in even the most hectic of twitter chats 🙂

Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration. Co-founder of #whatisschool, #asiaED edchats and #pubPD.

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5 Tips For Managing a Fast Paced Twitter Chat

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Edchat's on Twitter are incredible sources of information and for me, the BEST sources of learning in my already hectic week. Running the award winning #whatisschool chat is incredible and so rewarding. The #whatisschool PLN is powerful and always contributes incredible ideas and resources to all of the topics that are covered.

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sylvia duckworth twitter - Google Search

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Discover recipes, home ideas, style inspiration and other ideas to try.

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Hub for resources | Case studies | Place to connect

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If you find a link that is not working, please let me know the title and I will fix it! Thank you!

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This is a reprint of a piece Denise originally wrote for us in 2008, updated to reflect the latest and greatest Twitter know-how.
I created my first Twitter account in 2008. Four years later, I finally made the commitment to using Twitter during an edtech conference, where I found myself frantically tweeting, retweeting, and refreshing my feed as I tried to take it all in. Honestly, up until I used it at that conference, I thought Twitter was just another social media blackhole. But through essentially constant use for those few days, I began to see Twitter as an excellent resource for educators and an invaluable tool for professional development - one of the best out there. So, for you teachers wondering about all the hype...I promise, Twitter is worth it.

Why Twitter Seems Daunting

Some of my colleagues are wary of Twitter. In no particular order, here are some of their concerns and how I think teachers can address them.

New Tech Can Be Intimidating

Technology, like any other skill, comes easier to some of us than others. I have plenty of colleagues who want to embrace technology in the classroom and just struggle to click with new tools. But with practice and support, figuring out Twitter is something that can be done, no matter what your tech or social media fluency.

My advice: do a bit of research before you dive in. Articles like The Teacher's Guide to Twitter or 25 Ways to Get the Most Out of Twitter are a great place to start, as they link to tutorials and how-to guides that might make your transition to Twitter easier.

So Many Tweets, So Little Time

Another reason my colleagues are a bit hesitant to jump into Twitter is the overwhelming amount of content available on the platform. If this is on your list of things keeping you from Twitter, you definitely have a good point. There is a lot of information out there.

The trick is to follow the right people and organizations to fill your feed with information that you will find useful and relevant. By connecting with educators and administrators on Twitter, you are starting to build your Personal Learning Network. As you share resources with your network, you will also have access to the materials they share. New to the PLN? Check out this guide from Edublogs!

PLNs need to be curated. I've followed a lot of people on Twitter - but, if after a while, I'm not finding their posts relevant to my interests, I might unfollow them. Another trick is to follow the major players that are retweeted frequently so that their tweets will show up in your feed. This way, you can retweet them directly, rather than through someone else you follow. To get started, look around at who is getting props for their tweets in the educational world. MediaCore's list of The 23 Most Influential Twitter Users in EdTech has some awesome suggestions.

What Are Those #s and @s For?

To those who knew "#" as the pound sign, the secret language of hashtags and @ signs can be a bit strange. But these symbols are what curate productive discussion on Twitter.

Hashtags, for example, are key to sifting through information on Twitter. As a social studies teacher and also as a member of my school's academic technology team, I have a few favorites that I keep tabs on. For example, searching for #sschat or #edtech will pull tweets that have been specifically flagged for those interested in information about Social Studies or Ed Tech, respectively, on Twitter. At specified times, these hashtags are also used for Twitter chats. Using a common hashtag, such as #ettipad when I was at the EdTechTeacher iPad Summit, meant that my tweets showed up for others who were following that same hashtag. The hashtag also allowed me to follow the discussions happening in other sessions at the conference; we were all connected as a community of professionals because we all flagged our content in the same way.

To get started with hashtags, take a look at this list of education hashtags. If you're feeling adventurous and want to try a Twitter chat, I recommend checking out #satchat at 10:30 am (EST) on Saturdays, or #edchat on Tuesdays at 12:00 pm (EST) or 7:00 pm for engaging, lively conversations about current educational trends, technology integration, and education policy. Follow along with the discussion by searching for the chat hashtag, or join in by using it in your own tweets.

In contrast, using the @ sign to tag other users, such as @Edudemic, flags your tweets for them directly. This makes the person or organization you mention more likely to respond directly. From there, you might engage in a deeper and more meaningful conversation, or your @mention might retweet your original tweet to all of their followers, thereby exposing you to a much wider community.

Together, hashtags and @mentions are powerful tools not only for gaining greater personal exposure but also for finding the key information you need most and connecting with likeminded educators.

Public Persona

A valid concern: by default, when you put yourself out there on Twitter, anything you tweet is set to public, meaning anyone can see it. You can, if you want, change your tweets to "protected", meaning that only those users you have approved will see your content. You can read more about public and protected tweets here.

Personally, I use Twitter to share articles related to teaching or blog posts that I've written. I don't update my followers on my status or whereabouts. For me, Twitter is a way of consuming and resharing information targeted to my interests. I favorite or retweet articles I want to read later, or tag colleagues to share content I think they might find interesting. My personal feed isn't a place where I comment on news stories, sports scores, or what awesome meal I'm eating, because I haven't chosen to use it in that way. If you're going to use Twitter for things beyond curating a collection of educational resources, I suggest having multiple accounts. Some people have one account as an educator, another for classroom activities, and another as an individual. You have to decide what works best for you - and what works in terms of your school's policies and your own level of comfort with what you share online.

The Ultimate PLN

The people in my PLN share amazing materials about all aspects of education. Articles about the teenage brain, project-based learning, or emotional intelligence show up in my feed because of the people I follow. Others share lesson plans or tips on technology in the classroom. Articles like this would have been buried in the vastness of the web for eternity - but I get to read them because they appeared in my feed.

As a teacher, I have made a commitment to Twitter-time. At some point during the day I will check Twitter and retweet a few things or add favorites to read later. My PLN cronies post links to the articles they've read, the trends they're following, and proud updates about their students' work and accomplishments. They ask for advice. They post questions. We collaborate across the country and continents, and I can engage as much or as little as I want.

For me, Twitter is a way of consuming information targeted to my interests. Using a hashtag like #sschat connects me to topics that will interest and intrigue Social Studies teachers - from all walks of life - and all because I know what to look for. Twitter isn't overwhelming anymore - it's incredible. I've connected myself to an extensive personal learning network of educators, entrepreneurs, and innovators through a little bird - and found it the best professional development I've never paid for. So, log in. Give it a try! Who knows what you might learn.

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Denise Scavitto teaches Social Studies and Humanities in Vermont in a 1:1 environment. She is jazzed about educational technology and the exciting possibilities of place-based and project based learning. You can follow her on Twitter @dscavitto.

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Teachers: Embrace Twitter for Professional Development

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This is a reprint of a piece Denise originally wrote for us in 2008, updated to reflect the latest and greatest Twitter know-how. I created my first Twitter account in 2008. Four years later, I finally made the commitment to using Twitter during an edtech conference, where I found myself frantically tweeting, retweeting, and refreshing my feed as I tried to take it all in.

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JOLT - Journal of Online Learning and Teaching

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The Journal of Online Learning and Teaching

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The Complete Guide To Twitter Hashtags For Education

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The Complete Guide To Twitter Hashtags For Education

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Twitter: A Cultural Guidebook by Keri-Lee Beasley & Jabiz Raisdana on iBooks

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Read a free sample or buy Twitter: A Cultural Guidebook by Keri-Lee Beasley & Jabiz Raisdana. You can read this book with iBooks on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac.

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http://www.klirenman.com/2013/08/using-twitter-in-primary-classroom.html?m=1

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A Social Media Story storified by Cathie Matthews

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What can a PLN do for you?

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What is the Importance of a Personal Learning Network?

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As discussed in a previous post, a personal learning network (PLN) is a customized social media platform for educators. But instead of sharing pictures, status updates, and liking each other's filtered profile pictures, educators can learn from people and resources around the globe to improve their teaching methods, stay up-to-date on the latest edtech trends, and receive endless outside support.

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