a whole new dianne

YES, Absolutely!

I have been using Twitter; for professional and personal reasons since the summer of 2007. I currently follow 579 people, 750 people follow me and I’ve had almost 4,000 updates (3,946 right now to be exact!). I use Twitter, mostly, to tap the collective brains of the people in my network and to also provide them resources and glimpses into my life as an Instructional Technology Specialist. When I have a question, I ask it on Twitter and get a response (or 10 or more!) within SECONDS. When I’m doing something cool with students and teachers, I post it on Twitter and often solicit questions. When I’ve found a really cool resource, I share it on Twitter for my network to benefit from.

So, what is Twitter exactly? Well, at the very basic level, Twitter users answer the question, “What are you doing?” But, as explained above, it can be much much more than that. In my opinion, Twitter IS the people you follow and the people who follow you – your Personal Learning Network. Someone who joins Twitter and only has 5 followers and only follows 5 people will NOT, in my opinion, get the most out of Twitter. You need to build your network to allow for the magic to happen. Start by following a few people (you can follow me:diannekrause , then see who they follow, and start following a few of them. Eventually people will start following you and you can then decide whether you want to follow them back or not. The glory is that you have total control who is in your network, at all times.

Of course, Twitter can also be a huge time suck if you allow it to be. No, I do not read ALL the Tweets (that’s what individual messages are called) that come through my account, but I do read the Tweets from the people in my most immediate Personal Learning Network – mostly educators and people like me from Pennsylvania. To help out in the organization of all this information and status updates, I use a 3rd party application called TweetDeck; to separate all the Tweets out into groups of my choosing. There are many such applications out there so you do not have to always navigate to Twitter.com to read your Tweets.

So, is there a place for Twitter in education? YES! Check out these resources to see how, and how you can get started with Twitter yourself. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask!

• Nine Reasons to Twitter in School
• Twitter, A How-To Guide for Teachers
• Twitter for Teachers
• What is Twitter? Wikispace
• 100 Twitter Tools to Help you Achieve your All Goals

Check out this cool presentation…

See you on Twitter, hopefully!!

http://www.fliggo.com

This is one that MANY teachers have been waiting for – no more need to use YouTube or TeacherTube for your (or your students’) videos! Fliggo allows you to essentially create your own “YouTube” to use however you wish. You can create a community site to allow multiple people (or students) to upload videos or a video blog site to upload your own videos. You also have options to keep it public, moderated, or private, perfect for our educational and privacy needs.

In order to experience Fliggo myself, I created a video blog site for the videos I’ve created. Check it out at http://diannekrause.fliggo.com.

OR, watch this 2 minute introduction to how to get started in creating your own video sharing site!

This video can also be viewed more clearly from the Fliggo site. Click “View Demo” once you are there.

This week I will be offering workshops after school for the employees of my district to revisit some of the basics of the Mac OS and to review some tips and tricks.  In preparing for the presentation I thought about the members of the staff who cannot be there and, upon the suggestion of my friend Debbie, a technology assistant, I have put together an eToolBox page to highlight the Macs, give some tutorials and help to those coming from a PC environment and to provide a place where employees of my district can access tip sheets and directions on various things dealing with their Macs.

In addition to these lists of resources there are also 2 presentations in Smart Notebook form for the “Meet your Mac” and “Meet your Mac.. Again!” sessions. 

http://etoolbox.wikispaces.com/mac

I have created 2 new eToolBox pages that highlight 5 Web 2.0 tools that the teachers in my district are starting to use with students.

The first page highlights and provides information on Digital Scrapbooks.  If you visit the page you will see resources to aid in the use of Mixbook, Scrapblog, Glogster, and Notaland.

The other page focuses on Imbee.com, the first free social network made just for kids elementary and middle school aged.  Check it out to learn more about Imbee and to watch “The Imbee Show”, created and produced by 3rd graders at an elementary school in my district.

At PETE & C – last session for me!

Keynote at PETE & C with Rafe Esquith.

A teacher for life, Rafe Esquith has taught hundreds of children to believe in themselves. Let him inspire you today with his presentation that includes life in and out of the classroom. Rafe includes stories about classroom management, Shakespeare in the classroom, problem solving, history, and rebelling against a system that loves to crush creative people. Discover why Forbes Magazine called him a “modern day Thoreau, who teaches the value of hard work, honest self-reflection, and the courage to go one’s own way.

At the PETE & C Conference with Linda Nitsche.

My session at the PETE & C Conference.

To see the complete session presentation, resources and links visit http://moourl.com/ning

At PETE & C Conference, presenters Linda Nitsche and Chris Champion