Photo by "My Life Through A Lens" on Unsplash
Checking my lecturer’s profile for those she followed and adopting many of the suggestions laid out in our course notes, I began liking and retweeting with the best of them! After exploring information about digital curation for an assessment task, the fog began to clear a little further. I realised that it is not enough to just like and retweet, I must add value to what I have found, explaining why I think it to be useful. Additionally, posting my opinion, response to a question, or original content not only adds to my credibility as an educator, but is the ‘commune’ aspect of ‘community’. This is what I have found most difficult to my surprise. In real life, I am not short of an opinion, particularly in relation to aspects of my professional life such as elearning and learning design. However, opinions delivered online are permanent, which I think remains with me when I read an interesting tweet. Also, the web seems to be a no-holds-barred environment for those brave folk who hide behind their screens to attack others with opinions contrary to their own. While Twitter is a magnificent resource for keeping current with news and developments, the lack of decency displayed by some provides cause for pause. So while I am making inroads contributing through commenting and retweeting, I still need to get on board with contributing original commentary and content. The structure of Twitter and especially using Tweetdeck allows users to easily find content and thought leaders. Tweetdeck is a boon for those who find the Twitter flood of information overwhelming. Tweetdeck allows users to divide their screen into several columns (panes) of data, as you can see from the screen grab below. I have configured the window to suit myself, with panes including:
I also have turned off notifications, preferring to check in when it suits me. In this way I can take a sip from the stream now and then without my whole workday being hijacked. Checking the activity of each tweet (the little bar icon on each of your own tweets) allows users to view the popularity of each tweet, modifying the tweets posted if desired. (See the images below). As I mentioned earlier, starting off following a few people of interest, and checking out interesting tweets can lead to others, a great way to add to those you are following. I have found that once you begin interacting, others start to follow you. Some of the Twitterati I follow include @abcnews, @SBSnews, a number of respected journalists, and of course credible educators. Of these, I find @courosa, @shakeuplearning, @KayOddone, @langwitches and @kathleen_morris to provide insightful opinions and valuable content or commentary. To date, all of my followers are educators, or related to education in some way, which is unsurprising considering any original content or comments I have tweeted are related to this topic.
For newcomers, Twitter can be a scary place, but with persistence and careful management, you too can tame the beast and mould it to your will, opening an alternative information stream and outlet for your own expertise. #inf532 #aussieEd #edtech
1 Comment
Tanya Silver
22/5/2019 02:16:27 pm
Hi Karen,
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About meI'm a learning designer from Geelong in Victoria. I have worked in vocational education and training for many years, and for the last four have concentrated entirely on creating learning content to support teachers and students. Archives
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