Twitter Chats

Summer gives educators some relaxed time they can use to search online for new ideas and interact with colleagues. Twitter chats offer an opportunity to meet both goals. I admit I have not been a huge fan of chats because in real time it seems an inefficient way to exchange information. Perhaps in the summer months, this is less of an issue. I have written about the mechanics of participating in a twitter chat elsewhere and provide some ideas about improving the efficiency of the time spent.

Sara Qualls has put a great deal of effort into a resource I would describe as All Things Twitter Chats. The resource describes tools to use when participating in a chat, but of greatest value is her large list of educational chats organized by day of the week. The list is a bit dated, but because the list includes links it is very easy to use a link to see if the chat is still active. Trying out these links is also an efficient way to evaluate whether you might find the style and focus of a given chat group of value.

My issue with chats is based on the experience of participating in quite a few which involves sitting through an hour answering and reading the answers to probably 8-10 prompts. The time to enter text from a screen or keyboard and wait for others to do the same to questions that may or may not be relevant reduces what I think I get from the time spent. A slow chat unfolds over a longer period of time, but allows the information to accumulate and be reviewed in a more efficient way. Examing past chats using the links Qualls has made available would provide a similar experience. You can quickly read archived chats to see what you can find.

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