Is Twitter Powerless Against Spam?

An interesting thing has happened to one of the weekly educators' Twitter chats that I attend: We've got SPAM! Over the past two or three weeks, what started as just a smattering of spam has turned into an all-out onslaught of off-topic, lewd, and derogatory images and tweets. However, we are educators - which means we love to solve problems. Our (awesome) moderators quickly chose a new platform, Google+, and those who already had an account were able to switch over easily.

Obviously, these incidents raise a few questions from the people involved, myself included:

• Is Twitter powerless against spammers? 
• Is Google+ a viable platform alternative for weekly professional development chats? 
• How can we merge the professional learning network developed on the original platform with Google+?
• Will we eventually have the same spam issue on Google+?

I am so excited to have an amazing professional learning network and am in awe of the work that they do. They will not be derailed by spammers. They will continue to meet weekly. They will continue to collaborate online. The only question is, which platform will we use?

Get it together, Twitter. We've got our eyes on Google+.

UPDATE: After weeks of intrusive posts by spammers, the most recent #satchat was nearly spam-free! So, the answer to my first question, is Twitter powerless against spammers, is no! Twitter has the power to stop the spam. I am interested to learn how it was addressed, and how much effort our moderators had to put into the effort. As far as the other two questions regarding Google+, I am still exploring how it can be used to continue my efforts to grow my professional learning network.

Google Forms Success!

I decided to continue my experiment with Google Forms by using it to create my Teacher Evaluation Form for my students to complete. The process of creating the form was quick and easy. I used Multiple Choice and Short Answer type questions. I created the form in about 15 minutes for the 25 questions. My students were able to access the form on their iPads and completed them in about 10 minutes.

Next, I quickly accessed the spreadsheet that showed all the responses and printed it for my department chair. Done! Now I am waiting to hear back from my department chair to discuss the results.

I plan to copy the form in order to use it for other classes as well.

I call this a Google Forms success!

Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs)

The year before last, my school installed interactive whiteboard (IWB) systems. We happened to purchase the ēno by Polyvision for the middle school as a pilot program, then purchased the Mimio system for the upper school the following year.

The IWB system has three distinct components as it relates to teaching: the projector, the interactive whiteboard, and the presentation software. The projector can be used as a ... well, a projector for showing the class images from a computer or tablet (we have iPads). The interactive whiteboard features allow a person to use a stylus at the board exactly the way you would use a mouse on a computer. The interactive software allows the teacher to create dynamic presentations for a unique experience each time the material is presented. (You can download software free at Promethean.)

Here are some problems and solutions we learned along the way while using the eno IWBs.

TodaysMeet for Twitter Basics

There are some amazing resources online for teachers who would like to get started using Twitter, but aren't quite sure how. When I first started using Twitter,  I would begin to read these blogs and get completely overwhelmed. How would I have time to tweet if I couldn't find the time to finish reading an article about tweeting?

Here I will put together some Twitter basics then explain how I have used todaysmeet to teach twitter basics to middle school students..

Create an Account

As always, create your account. Go to twitter - the link brings you directly to a page on which you can create an account. If you are trying to brand yourself, you will want to use a name that is recognizable and consistent with your brand. Same goes with your profile picture. Think before you create: This is how you are building your digital footprint. What footprint do you want to have?

Hashtags

Hashtags are user generated shortcuts so you can get right to the types of tweets (twitter posts) that you want to read. Including them in your tweets means that like-minded tweeps (Twitter + peeps = tweeps, your people on twitter!) can find your tweets easily as well. They look like #edchat (which is a great hashtag for teachers to search for).

The Not-Quite-Flapped Classroom Part 2

Perhaps you have already read about my first steps with The Not-Quite-Flipped Classroom and are wondering about my progress. I have continued my exploration of a hybrid classroom with mixed results.

Classroom Atmosphere

When my students know in advance that we are using personal iPads and video tutorials in class, they arrive and get right to work. Most students work alone, but others choose to share an iPad and are quick to borrow my headphone splitter. I allow students to pick their own partners for the most part.  Sometimes I step in and redirect students to more productive partnerships. Class begins quickly and efficiently.

Work Ethics

Students are able to concentrate without distractions on the video tutorials that I have created using educreations. They can really focus because they have blocked out external distractions by using earbuds or headphones.  Each student is able to get into the written work that is both the class assignment and the homework. This allows students to have less written work to do at home.

Tragedy in CT

My heart is so heavy for the students, families, and community in Connecticut.

If you are looking for resources for talking with children about this tragedy, please feel free to take a look at my Pinterest board, After School Tragedy.

Peace, prayers, love, and hope from me to you.

Pinterest Basics

I have been exploring how Pinterest can be used in education as a platform for digital curation on a zero dollar budget. In order to participate, you must first know how to use Pinterest. (Feel free to check out my Pinterest boards.)

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board. On each board, you can "pin" images from websites that link back to the original site. Once you create your account, you can create several public boards and up to three private boards. The public boards are ... well, public! Anyone can find the board, follow it, and repin from the board. Only you can access your private boards.

Getting Started with Pinterest

So, you have already created your account and a couple of boards. There are a few basic options for pinning to these boards.

Pinning Basics

Many websites already have a Pin button that you can select while on that site. You will get a pop-up that allows you to select the image and board that you want, as well as the option to tweet your pin. There is also a text box which you may use to add your own description of the site. Once you have completed these, select Pin.