This week again fits in so nicely with what I am doing with my classes. I have to admit, though, that I am a little nervous about Twitter. I don't know why, but I feel uncomfortable sharing my every move with people. Don't look for some interesting tweets from me - I think I'm going to stay with something that deals more with my school and teaching than with me personally. Wouldn't want to bore anyone!!!
I have to admit that my opinion of Wikipedia has changed over the years. I think that when this wiki first was started, there was little control over the content, and how the articles were changed and updated. Now, I think that the administrators of the site realize what an awesome responsibility they have and how many people depend on the information in their wiki that they needed to do something about the free editing that was going on. I have explained to my students that Wikipedia is an excellent starting point, but that the information given needs to be verified by at least two more sources. Wikipedia can give you some great information, just take it with a grain of salt until you check it out. I have told my older students that a great way to find sources for their research projects it to check out the sources of information for the Wiki article. You get the information directly from the expert versus getting it second or third hand, and you can determine if it is a credible source yourself rather than depend on someone else's opinion. Wikipedia isn't an evil entity that is of no use academically. You just have to tread with care.
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Denise - I, too, am hesitant about using Twitter to post personal stuff. I know there are millions of people using it for just that purpose, but somehow I don't think people are going to be that interested in my day-to-day life. I know, I'm being that glass-half-empty person. I think I need more practice in using it. I've found some great ed-tech people to follow and have also started following presenters that I have liked at different conferences I've been to.
ReplyDeleteDenise,
ReplyDeleteI will not use twitter to tell people what kind of creamer I put in my coffee or that I am drinking it at a specific location. Blah, blah. Who has time for that? I will use it to try to get more useful sites that others have found to educate.
As far as wikipedia goes, even if its content was suspect - wouldn't that teach students to be discerning in their investigations of web sites? So either way it's a learning tool. I have found nothing but good info when looking at it.
Bill
Hi Denise -
ReplyDeleteI think Twitter got a bad rap a few years ago when so many celebs were using Twitter to update their every move and that is what usually sticks in people's minds when they think of Twitter. I think you'll quickly find that Twitter is all about who you follow and what you want to get out of it. Many educators have adopted Twitter as their MOST BENEFICIAL professional development & networking tool out there. I started slow with Twitter. I first found about 3 people that were tweeting valuable resources and information. From there I looked at who they followed and who was following them. I quickly was able to expand my network with very little effort/work. I also started following the authors of the blogs I frequent. Good luck! I hope you find it as valuable as I have this past year. Oh, one more thing that I've done is utilize my social bookmarking application to organize and store all of the resources that I find on Twitter. I'm not sure how I would be able to keep track of everything without a tool like Diigo. Have fun! :)