Wednesday, March 13, 2013

What's Working for You? #edtechex

I love connecting with other educators online, getting to know them and discussing educational philosophy.  I've discovered that Twitter and blogs are great ways to learn from like-minded people and get a sense that I'm not the only one trying to integrate technology into curriculum.

Recently, my role at school was changed, and I was able to participate in #edchat for the first time.  I was excited...but completely overwhelmed.  I would hop into the stream and hop out throughout the hour the first time I participated.  Now, when I can join the chat, I normally hang in there for the whole hour, unless I have more pressing matters on my desk.

But...sometimes...I get frustrated. Sometimes it feels like we keep saying the same thing.  Sometimes I feel that I am preaching to the choir, or sitting in the choir being preached at.  It's good to have affirmation, but we all think the same way (or at least similarly).  After all, we're all on Twitter... we are a demographic unto ourselves.  Chances are we like the way we teach and aren't fond of the way they teach.  We have no dissenting opinions because we are using a platform the dissenters wouldn't dream of using. 

Is this bad?  Not really, but instead of patting each other on the backs and pointing our fingers at them, I'm looking for something more concrete.

That's why I'm proposing a new hashtag.  #edtechex.  It stands for "educational technology examples" and I'm using it as a place to showcase excellent examples of technology use in schools.  It can be an app that you enjoyed, projects your students did, helping a colleague take a step toward tech integration awesomeness, or an article you read that you really envied.  

Personally, I'm interested in seeing great things that have grown out of your research, hard work, and student innovation.  Since you're online, I'm already guessing you lean toward technology integration, project-based learning, constructivism, and more progressive educational thinking.  Great.  Now, let's look at the concrete results of what you're doing out there. 

Will I continue with #edchat? Of course.  I'm still connecting with great educators and having interesting discussions, but let's get our hands dirty together. Shall we?  

Will you join the conversation with me in the comment box or on Twitter at #edtechex?  

6 comments:

  1. This is a great idea. I hope it takes off

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    1. Thanks, Jon. Join us and tell one of your success stories. I'd love to hear it.

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  2. This sounds good. We might want to crosspost at #edtech as well at first to spread the word. Since #edtech addresses all things related to tech in education (ranging from trends to success stories to policy debates and beyond) it would be nice to have a more focused hashtag for sharing experiences and ideas with specific tools.

    I agree with you about #edchat -- it can feel like an echo chamber at times. Then again, as you point out, affirmation is what we need sometimes. This inspires me to hammer out some blog posts that are rolling around in my head. I will make sure to share those.

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    1. Good idea. Just posted it on #edchat, but should remember to do that Tuesday. Wait... I'll be at a conference on Tuesday. Oh well.

      I'm excited with the excitement already this afternoon and hope some momentum picks up. Who knows... Maybe it will be a full-fledged Twitter chat some day. Guess I shouldn't hope for too much on the first day.

      Can't wait to read your posts. Thanks!

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  3. A great idea. The challenge with many chats is you discuss great ideas, but then never share any of the outcomes. Began discussing doing this with another Twitter user and calling it #extendedchat where we would do a "second round" of an #edchat topic with exemplars and artifacts for participants to review and evaluate. Might be done biweekly with moderators being the folks who share what they've done. This might also allow you to go beyond #edtech. Thoughts?

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    1. I'm glad we're of like mind, and it seems like there is some movement around the idea. I would love to grow this into an actual chat, but wondered about timing, etc. Biweekly may be the best idea. I also like the idea of rolling moderators.

      I'm getting great feedback on the hashtag, and I'm working on some tweaks. Mostly, I'm excited that there are numerous other teachers out there who want to share new ideas.

      Hope your day is awesome.

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