A few comments on today's class.
First, HootSuite is totally awesome. It makes a lot more sense organizationally than the basic twitter site. I've added a math and science education stream, and will maybe add a science news stream.
Also, google reader is neat. I've been meaning to get an RSS but didn't really know where to start or which one to pick. Google is always a solid bet; hopefully this will indeed save time and make checking blogs easier.
At the same time, I felt a bit overwhelmed by all of the technology today. It felt like a lot of information at once - not just information about the tech platforms and whatnot but also - suddenly I can check twitter for math and science updates all the time. It feels a bit overwhelming. To make the transition to HootSuite a bit easier, I expanded the columns so that only two appear on a screen at once, otherwise it gives me a bit of a headache (probably because of the information overload coupled with poor vision and some sort of motion sickness that gets activated when I read things that appear to be moving - even when the movement is just up/down as new tweets are displayed).
Perhaps contradicting myself now, I considered today getting a personal twitter account in addition to the professional one. How neat to be able to keep track of all of my favorite things in one location! I decided to hold off for now, because a) I feel a bit tech-overloaded as it is, and b) I'm not sure it would be healthy for my productivity (I know this was a 'mythconception' discussed in class, but I feel I would not effectively monitor and restrict my twitter usage).
Last, does anyone else think it's totally awesome that we get to review products and get published for it? Thanks for making that happen J&K!
Also, kudos to Antonia! I became convinced that twitter can forge and enhance professional relationships and act as an effective medium for sharing links and ideas.
ReplyDeleteAfter our meeting today, I came away with the same beliefs. I was a regular use of twitter before today. I was using twitter as a way to get real time updates of published current events or rumors of events occurring. I was interested in using twitter as method of networking, but I did not know where to being. I still would like to see J & K cover the use of twitter in the classroom for real time monitoring of student understanding and other creative uses.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you about being overwhelmed with all the technology that's out there. I left class yesterday wondering how I was going to remember everything that J&K taught us! Once I got home I started exploring the different edubloggers and checked my Twitter account several times (I agree, HootSuite is "totally awesome!"). I feel like this class isn't even a class sometimes because I find what we're doing so useful and interesting. It makes me excited for the year ahead!
ReplyDeleteI am super excited about the product review. I wrote about it in my class blog. I stayed after class with my partner and finished the review that day. I highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteI am having similar feelings about Twitter. I see how it can be useful, but I think I will have to have more exposure to it before I can utilize it as a tool. I quickly added applicable hash tags during the lecture, but I haven't been back to view the streams in HootSuite yet. To be determined!
Truth be told, we felt rushed, too. We mentioned to one another that by knocking off the 7/1 class and squeezing in tomorrow's, we lost some time that would let some new ideas marinate and make sense. We hear you! Keep holding our feet to the fire.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to read your blog a couple weeks after the class, as it helps remind me of all the great things we learned that day. I agree that HootSuite is an awesome application and is really helpful in keeping everything organized as I am quick to get overwhelmed with all the technology out there as well.
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