e Journey via Twitter

Twitter is quite a Buzz in blogosphere.I am a mathematics teacher. Teaching learning in mathematics is not just limited to the four walls of the classroom. Each day brings a basket full of amazing learning experiences.

How I came to know about twitter?

After doing a lot of research on using e tools and exploring open source software in teaching, I was curious to know about , how educators all across the globe are adapting to e learning environments? In my exploration, while surfing internet, I came across a social network of educators classroom 2.0 which is set up on a ning platform. I joined this network and within a week, I get connected to enthusiastic teachers who are passionate about teaching learning and using web 2.0 in their environments. Then I got inspired to create a group of passionate teachers and I started with my own network of Passionate Teachers (I will share more about this in my coming posts). This motivated me to explore more and learn about social networking and its use in improving the standards of education. I believe it is essential for not only professional growth of a person but also to bring satisfaction on what we are doing? On classroom 2.o , a technology instructor Elizabeth Devis initiated a discussion "Are you using twitter??" This term was new to me and in the beginning ,I was confused , also a little hesitated to write about what I am doing? I mean, I was not very much sure about using this application. Another teacher Kate Olsen motivated me and I started sharing on twitter.

Then in my journey, I looked for the profiles of other educators who were linked to those whom I was following. It is really amazing to see network of like minded people expanding. Within 15 days I get connected to around 50 teachers. Now, writing a tweet is like a fun filled activity with enormous of learning.

I noticed the following Plus Points:

• There is a full provision to get connected to passionate educators who are sharing their experiences and knowldege.
• You get an opportunity for learning from each other.
• You get a chance to know about latest useful e tools/web facilities in education.
• You get to know about good reading material/articles e.t.c.
• People are sharing links of resources created by them.
• Through this platform you learn to know about updates of what others are doing and using technology.
• You will surely realise the power of network when you explore it on your own. So , start twittering by clicking on Twitter Some useful tools linked withTwitter
• Twitter mail :When you give us your Twitter credentials it supplies you with a TwitterMail email address. For instance abcxyz123@twittermail.com. If you send an email to that address it will be posted to Twitter.com.
• Twitter Karma: Know about followers and friends following list on twitter.
• Twitter100: Gives a page upto 100 followers on one page...amazing
• Twitthis: It is an easy way for people to send Twitter messages about your blog post or website. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the webpage and creates a shorter URL using TinyURL.You may add this facility to your blog as I have added to my class blog.
• Twitter Searchengine : Searches your friends page on twitter.
• Twitterlights posts a tweet
• Tweetvolume :To know about how many times a word is there on twitter?
• Twitslikeme : To search people who are sharing, like you are sharing, on twitter. They say like this. I haven't tried.
• Snitter :An Adobe AIR-powered application for twittering.
• Twhirl : It is a desktop client for twitter, based on the Adobe AIR platform .
• Terramind: Searches your favorite items with terms /words.

Some useful videos about Twitter

• Twitter Office
• What is Twitter?
• Using Google Advanced Search in Twitter

I would like to thank the creators of these useful resources. Learning is a never ending ...journey is still on

Lizbdavis shared an information about her post on getting started with twitter .Here is the link. Thanks Liz.

Kolson29 shared this video link on twitter which "twitter in plain english" Thanks kate.

If you have any information related to twitter, feel free to add in comments. I will update.