This week in Around Edublogs we have the list of the top blogs on Edublogs and a trip around Edublogs to find out what members have to say about Twitter.
The Top Ten Edublogs
The top ten blogs on Edublogs this week based upon traffic are:
- Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day
- Reflection 2.0
- The Edublogger
- Teaching Generation Z
- Hörbuch- und Podcast-Blog
- Mobile Learning
- Tama’s eLearning Blog
- always learning
- Betchablog
- Mobile Technology in TAFE
Discussing Twitter on Edublogs
Twitter, an online chat system, is one of the most popular social networking tools today. I thought I’d take a stroll through Edublogs to see who is discussing using Twitter and how are they using it for personal and professional needs, integrating Twitter into their blogs, and how they are incorporating Twitter into the classroom.
Betchablogs writes in “Twitter - Killer App or Overkill?” about the technical aspects of Twitter, listing interesting toys and clients for Twitter, describing it thus:
Having a likeminded group of fellow Twits from which to tap into some collective wisdom turns Twitter from a curious plaything into a rather amazing personal learning environment.
Not So Distant Future talks about “Twittering Your Way Down The Information Highway” describing it as:
Getting answers to that question on Twitter from South Korea, Australia, and here in the U.S. demonstrated to our own teachers how many “universals” there are in education, no matter where you go. And even though we had been brainstorming about this question during two days, some of the Twitterers still gave fresh answers that we hadn’t considered.
I know in my own building, perhaps teachers wonder how to find time for a tool like this or how I can find time to use it? My answer is–it saves me a tremendous amount of time. When someone comes to me with a question, if I don’t know the answer, I can throw it out to a wide network of educators in my network on Twitter, and almost always get an answer.
Techno Tuesday’s Cathy Nelson reports that Twitter is a library stuffed with information and resources which helped her preview blog posts, get advanced tips on upcoming blog posts and topics, tips to global projects, sports updates, and more. She describes it as a “cross between professional conversations and gabbing on the phone about anything.” Not long after, she credits Twitter friends as helping to save her from a nasty allergic reaction after a school remodel. Nothing like virtual life saving. :D
ICT in my Classroom has written a lot about using Twitter including an introduction to incorporating Twitter into your Personal Learning Network(PLN) and participation in the @ManyVoices Project, a “collaborative, creative writing project using Twitter” where each participating child writes an ongoing part of the story within the 140 character limit. Edublogger Tom Barrett also offers lessons in how to use Twitter better by understanding Twitter’s two networks for listening (lurking) or talking and GeoTweets - Inviting your network into the classroom, an exciting experience when Twitter and his PLN really impacted his classroom while learning geography and how to use Google Earth and Twitter.
On Frank’s Blog, also known as Faces of Web 2.0 - 21st Century Teachers, he shares Sage Lewis and 17 uses for twitter, two videos to improve your Twitter usage, and How To Use Twitter In The Classroom, which covers how the teacher and students use Twitter though class chatter, classroom community, and getting a sense of the world around them.
Mobile Technology in TAFE offers a variety of tips and techniques for using Twitter as part of your personal and professional networking, as well as how to incorporate it into your class, such as Are You Using Twitter Effectively For Your Personal Learning?, Getting More Out of Twitter, Help Me Get My Twitter Magic Back, and Tagging, Tracking and Using RSS with Twitter!
Apace of Change asks “Why Twitter?” and then answers the question well, describing the benefits of of a teacher using Twitter as:
- Network of students for sharing class resources that goes beyond social cliques
- Built-in peer support system for immediate questions about/help with work
- Easy way for me (or students) to send an “APB” or links to interesting/related sites
- Convenient multi-user communication - especially useful for group project collaboration
So enthused with the possibilities of Twitter, he started The Twitteracy Project (TTP), an expermiment in incorporating Twitter into the classroom, which ended with The Twitteracy Project is Dead, Long Live the Twitteracy Project, concluding that student motivation wasn’t high enough and logistics interfered with the project as many students had trouble using Twitter from home. Determined, he says he will attempt the experiment next semester, focusing more on getting past these two roadblocks.
Reflection 2.0 recently announced a Twitter Bookgroup where Twitter fans can recommend and read books and review and critique then. She even offers some tips and advantages of participating in such a global book group. This got the attention of eLearning Now who admits, “Finally an educational use for Twitter?” Reflection also offers some tips to help you control the overwhelming information on Twitter.
Many speak of the tremendous collaboration they get with Twitter. In a discussion on Twitter, the TeachingSagittarian asked for help finding student blogs for his students to read and comment on. The discussion led to a team effort to create YoungWriters07, a wikispace that teachers can use to find blogs to recommend to their students.
The TeachingSagittarian also featured Twitter Flickr Learning, another example of how teachers and fellow bloggers can network and correspond on Twitter, showcasing how a Twitter conversation between Chris Betcher and Sue Waters, fellow Edubloggers, resulted in a joint article comparing flickr and Picassa. He also wrote about “High Speed Conferencing thanks to Twitter“, using Twitter to create a true “un-conference” weekend stuffed with learning about software, programs, and tools to help educators without leaving the comfort of home.
The EdTech Bach also admits that Twitter helps discover neat tools to use with the web browser and Twitter, opening up a whole avenue of recommended resources from those with the experience and familiarity you need.
Jabiz Raisdana, the Intrepid Teacher, is teaching in Qatar and thought that he would never run out of blogging steam. He did and in All a Twitter, shares how Twitter brought back the inspiration and motivation for blogging, where the muses never sleep.
When Russel of Wise Provocation hit Twitter with a rant on blocking practice after a frustrating day dealing with a school system that puts such energy and money into blocking online access to viable tools and services. His Twitter friends stepped in with insightful questions and support which helped him get a better handle on his mood and thoughts about the issue.
At the Edubloggercon in the United States last year, Graham Wegner learned about how many bloggers were using Twitter to pass on educational news.
Educators I Follow on Twitter by son-of-a-ditchdigger lists the author’s favorite educators and their Twitter addresses. The list is hard to read, but if you are a Twitter fan, you might check out the list to see which educators you might want to put into your Twitter list.
Many Edubloggers linked to 30 Days with Twitter by Bob Sprankle on Moving at the Speed of Creativity as the inspiration on how Twitter could help them in their personal and professional development. At the end, he points to Twitter in the Classroom from Web 2.0 Primer, which lists examples of how many are using Twitter for educational purposes.
In a bit of Twitter fun, PodPirate Island’s Brian Van Dyck offers the Twitter 12 Step Program called Twits Anonymous (TA).
More and more edubloggers are discovering the invaluable service Twitter provides to them, as a social network, but more importantly, as a valuable tool for learning, for them and their students.
How are you using Twitter in your professional development and classroom?
13 responses so far ↓
1
Frank's Blog
// Feb 2, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Nice edublogs roundup of things twitterlicious. If connectivism is the new buzz word for 21st Century Teachers, then twitter is the ultimate tool to network educators, students and administrators. Twitter is responsible for a huge percentage of my bookmarked resources and online contacts. I rate it as the number 1 Web 2.0 professional development tool.
Frank
Faces of Web 2.0 ★ 21st Century Teachers
2
Stephen Downes
// Feb 3, 2008 at 8:39 am
> The Top Ten Edublogs
These are not the top ten edublogs, they are the top ten blogs hosted on edublogs.org
There is a significant difference, of course.
I would hope that the authors here will be careful not to use the term ‘edublogs’ to mean ‘blogs hosted on edublogs.org’ because there are many edublogs - including mine - *not* hosted on this site.
This, btw, is exactly the sort of bias that the criticis of this magazine warned against.
3
Lorelle VanFossen
// Feb 3, 2008 at 10:48 am
@Stephen Downes:
Bias? Transparency? Hmm. I’d call this another case of the name police. I can’t help that there are so many definitions for “well” and similar words, and we work hard to differentiate between Edublogs, edublogs, edubloggers, Edubloggers, and The Edublogger blog…and so on. I can’t help the confusion over the names. I’m not the name police nor the one in charge of names. Oh, if I were…I’d be the first to put “whelm” into the dictionary. :D So let’s assume that Edublogs with a capital letter represents the blogging service and the lower case e of edublogs are blogs by educators. Does that work for you? I’ll wrap it in a link when I can to help differentiate.
We also will not stop supporting those who blog on the Edublogs free blog service. From the beginning, I have stated that this magazine is for them and by them, but also inclusive of others. Edublogs is a community of bloggers, thus should have representation and recognition, the same as members of any association. Do you frown upon an actor because they are a member of the Actor’s Guild?
This column is called “Around Edublogs” which is a weekly look at what is going on within the Edublogs community of bloggers. Expect to find blatant promotion and coverage of Edublogs here. The rest of the articles will cover edublogs and Edublogs.
4
Stephen Downes
// Feb 3, 2008 at 11:37 am
I have no problem with you saying ‘around Edublogs.org’ or ‘the top ten blogs on Edublogs.org’.
But if you insist on using the word ‘Edublogs’ to refer only to blogs on edublogs.org then I’ll just put it down as another case where a commercial enterprise steals a word from the public domain and claims it as its own.
To this point Edublogs.org has been very good at respecting the edublogosphere that exists outside its borders. I would hope that this will continue.
5
James
// Feb 3, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Didn’t we discuss this before at some time Stephen? I started off calling the site edublogs.org (so people knew what the address was) but since then have been referring to it as ‘Edublogs’ or ‘edublogs’ pretty much all the time mainly for convenience & ease of use… haven’t you referred to it as Edublogs (with a capital) too?
I reckon that using a capital for the E is a pretty good description and when it’s prefaced by a word like ‘around’ or followed by ‘network’ or ’site’ that should be really clear too?
I don’t think we’re stealing a word either, really? The term ‘edublogs’ was hardly searched for at all 2.5 years ago and now it gets a mass of traffic, largely because of the use of Edublogs, which has aways been called that and which we’ve never tried to portray as the only place you’ll find edublogs… if you know what I mean.
And that’s not changing either, this post clearly begins ‘The top ten blogs on Edublogs this week’ which is pretty frank.
6
Stephen Downes
// Feb 3, 2008 at 4:46 pm
James writes: “I started off calling the site edublogs.org (so people knew what the address was) but since then have been referring to it as ‘Edublogs’ or ‘edublogs’ pretty much all the time mainly for convenience & ease of use… haven’t you referred to it as Edublogs (with a capital) too?”
Sure. And I have no problem with you calling the site Edublogs. But…
When you refer to weblogs on Edublogs as though they were the only edublogs, that’s different.
‘The top 10 edublogs’ is very different from ‘The top 10 blogs on Edublogs’.
James again: “I reckon that using a capital for the E is a pretty good description and when it’s prefaced by a word like ‘around’ or followed by ‘network’ or ’site’ that should be really clear too?”
Yes. Again, I have no problem with that usage.
The problem is with the Magazine referring to edublogs.org sites as though they are the only edublogs.
It’s a bit of a fine line, I know. But the Magazine should be clear about what it is covering. Thus far, it has used language suggesting it is covering all edublogs, but is in fact focusing on blogs hosted on edublogs.
Finally, James says: “I don’t think we’re stealing a word either, really? The term ‘edublogs’ was hardly searched for at all 2.5 years ago and now it gets a mass of traffic, largely because of the use of Edublogs, which has aways been called that and which we’ve never tried to portray as the only place you’ll find edublogs… if you know what I mean.”
I know what you mean. And historically, you’ve been very good about this.
That said, there were edublogs around before edublogs.org - my own being one of them - and it’s stealing if you appropriate for your exclusive use a word that was in common currency before edublogs.org existed, which it was.
And (humbly speaking) I would say I had a bit of influence in the use of this word as well.
So, to summarize:
‘Edublogs’ (the website) - fine.
‘blogs on Edublogs’ - fine
‘edublogs on Edublogs’ - fine
‘the edublogs’, ‘the Edublogs’ or ‘edublogs or ‘Edublogs’ used to refer exclusively to blogs on edublogs - not fine.
And that’s not changing either, this post clearly begins ‘The top ten blogs on Edublogs this week’ which is pretty frank.
7
Stephen Downes
// Feb 3, 2008 at 4:48 pm
oops, missed a bit:
‘The top ten blogs on Edublogs this week’ - fine
‘the top ten edublogs’ (referring only to blogs on edublogs) - not fine
(And if you wonder why I am such a stickler about this - it’s because the word belongs to the community, not to a company, and needs to be defended as such or it will be lost).
8
James
// Feb 3, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Yep, I agree entirely with all of the above, thanks for the clarification.
Oh, and you know I’m still a n00b at this lark anyway ;)
9
Weekly Digest: Starting Edublogs Magazine, Blogging Big and Small, and More « Lorelle on WordPress
// Feb 3, 2008 at 11:25 pm
[...] Around Edublogs: Twittering is a look around the the Edublogs Network of blogs which includes Edublogs Network of blogs at who is using Twitter for personal or professional reasons. [...]
10
Judy O'Connell
// Feb 4, 2008 at 4:00 am
I want to thank Stephen for all the points he has made…spot on, and said much better than I could. I think you’ve worked your way through and clarified the essential issues that caused me such concern in the first place. While you gave me a hosing down James, (and perhaps I didn’t articulate my thoughts as clearly as I should have) the key points made here by Stephen are at the core of the matter. So yes, be clear about how you use the term ‘edublogs’ and ‘Edublogs’, and remove the heading ‘The top ten edublogs’ - because they’re not! Though you clarify it in the next line, the title is still misleading, and it is the title that will be picked up in people’s minds - and search engines. As Stephen said “When you refer to weblogs on Edublogs as though they were the only edublogs, that’s different” and very misleading. After all the magazine will attract many ‘noobs’ in the blogosphere - not all of whom realise that there are other greater bloggers out there of the calibre of Stephen. Do the right thing and we’ll all be happy … and likely the magazine will be all the stronger for it.
11
James
// Feb 4, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Judy, while I respect what Stephen has to say I really wish you’d keep your sanctimonious claptrap on your own site.
12
Judy O'Connell
// Feb 7, 2008 at 11:52 pm
James, you have deleted my comment twice now, while leaving your impolite comment in place. I have removed all my posts related to this matter in the interests of harmony. I am not sure how you can justify your comment while continuing to delete my responses, in which I apologize to your readers for causing any upsets.
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links for 2008-02-12 « The View From My Window
// Feb 12, 2008 at 4:30 pm
[...] Edublogs - twitter Edublogs - twitter (tags: twitter) [...]
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