Reflection on Twitter Chats

This week I participated in two different Twitter Chats.  I’m always interested in new and exciting ways to engage and motivate learners, so I really appreciated the content of both the Twitter chats.  The first chat I participated in was #edchat.  The topic was about the Flipped Classroom.  Even though the chat was fast paced, the information was plentiful and authentic.  I’m not sure how many educators were involved in the chat, because the tweets were coming in so fast from so many people.  I believe the benefit of this type of chat is the new innovated educators that you connect and collaborate with.   #Edchat moderator of this chat was Jerry Blumengarten. ‏ I was so excited to actually chat with @cybraryman1.  I have been using his website cybraryman.com for many of my resources in this course.  I started to follow him and Ryan Hill @ryanvhill.  I’m really glad that the archives for the Twitter chat are posted on the #Edchat wiki, so I’m able to reflect back on the chat. In that one hour of chatting, I think I gained more sources to utilize and connections made than a couple of days searching on my own.  The best part about participating in this chat is that these educators have either already tried or have evaluated the information. In both Twitter chats, I experienced difficulty manipulating Tweetchat.  Therefore, the next chats I will use Tweetgrid or something similar.  I believe the more experience I have with chatting on Twitter the better I will get and the more knowledge I will gain. 

The second chat was so different from the first.  This Twitter chat consisted of five precipitants including me.  Three were from our MBU#543 class.  The chat was for #web20tools and since we were the only ones in the chat, we decided to start our own discussion.  We would ask questions about different 2.0 tools or strategies we use within the classroom.  We chatted about certain tools we were interested in but have not implemented.  Even though there were only a few of us involved in the Twitter chat, the pace was much easier to handle and the information was still informative.  I did not follow anyone from this chat, because I’m already following the three from our class.  I still need more practice with Tweetchat to gain the full experience of twitter chatting.  I will continue to interact in Twitter chats to enhance my connections and education.