Twitter: How do I love thee, let me count the ways!

     I have always been enthusiastic about Twitter for professional use, ever since attending a "You Are Not Alone: How to Grow Your PLN" session by Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like a Pirate. (For notes from that 2014 ICE conference, click here.) Twitter has been my go-to source when I am looking for like-minded educators, innovative schools, answers, resources, or just plain inspiration. My handle is @AClasky. 

     Until now, however, I had avoided the Twitter Chat, a format that seemed a bit chaotic. But happily, that is changing. The other night I participated in my first Twitter Chat, #atchat, about Assistive Technology.  It was helpful to enter the hashtag in the Twitter search field, and then click  the Live tab at the top. 

      [Image Source: screenshot by A. Clasky]
       
Search for a group's hashtag and then click 
Live during a Twitter Chat.

    

      The moderators were Karen Janowski, an Assistive and Educational Technology

 Consultant from the Boston area and Mike Marotta, an Assistive Technology Consultant and Trainer from New Jersey. Karen invited newcomers to introduce themselves. And then a lively, general session ensued which included a discussion of favorite apps and resources discovered this year, how relevant or not handwriting is today, challenges faced so far, and favorite articles and blogs. Questions were labeled Q1, Q2, etc, and answers followed suit, A1, A2. Karen reminded us to use the #atchat hashtag when responding. It's easy to forget to do that because the pace can feel pretty lively! 

     The tone was upbeat and friendly and it suddenly felt like I had a circle of dedicated and highly knowledgeable educators to turn to if I ever had an assistive tech question or issue.   One tweeter mentioned that Osmo now has a Numbers component--who knew?! It struck me that here is a group of teachers who are passionate about their field, and after teaching all day they are chatting about it online at night! Several times we were reminded that the group was looking for new moderators, that this is a job that rotates and is shared. Mike collected all of the #atchat tweets in Storify, and tweeted it out the next day. Next time I plan to explore a tool like TweetDeck to help me see tweets  more steadily throughout a chat rather than in bursts. I hope my future chats are as accessible, convivial and practical as #atchat!

      [Image Source: screenshot by A. Clasky]

It can be gratifying to widen your PLN
 and discover new resources during a Twitter Chat.