Are you a Twitter novice? Don’t have a Twitter account? Want to but kind of weirded out or uncertain about it? OK; now is the time to give it a try, because you can connect, with zero pain, to a whole bunch of other educators who, just like you, a few months or years ago felt the same way. And this week a bunch of them are in Atlanta for the #FUSE14 design thinking event. They are going to be tweeting madly about what they learn, and you can have a truly authentic role in that learning without leaving home.
I am not a Twitter teacher, but it is so darn easy I will help you with just a couple of steps and look forward to connecting with you next week during #FUSE14.
If you don’t have a Twitter account, it takes just a few minutes to set up. Here is a link to a YouTube video that walks you through the steps. You don’t have to go through all the detailed steps of setting up a bio until later if you just want to check it out.
Now that you are logged in, you will see your home screen like this:
All you have to do to connect with all the folks at #FUSE14 is go up to the Search frame and type in #fuse14. This is what will pop up:
THIS IS IMPORTANT: See up there near the top under “Results for #fuse14” where it says “Top/All? Click “All” to connect and see the tweets with everyone, not just a few people.
Now what? Now, every time anyone posts a tweet that includes #fuse14 anywhere in the body of the tweet, it is going to show up on this feed. The “#”, called a hashtag, is the special feature that keeps track of all of the tweets that are common to a particular subject: in this case that subject is the #FUSE14 conference. (For example, all tweets with “#EdJourney” in them are about my trip and my new book.) Go ahead and try it! Click on the little square with the quill pen in the top right corner to compose a new tweet. Just write something like “So cool to participate in #fuse14 from home” and post it. Now everyone in the world, in Atlanta at the actual event or at home like you, will see your tweet.
Now, don’t be a slug. When you see a tweet that provokes a thought in your head, hit “reply” and share your thoughts. REMEMBER TO PUT #FUSE14″ SOMEWHERE IN THE TWEET. Then we will all see it in this feed. If you see a tweet you like or think is profound, click on “Favorite” under the tweet. If you think the author’s ideas are worth sharing, click on “Re-Tweet”. Don’t worry if you are doing this a lot; it is OK. But come on: we all want you to share your original thoughts as well, so reply to someone or just write your own observation about what you see, about design thinking, or about forward leaning, student-centered learning in K-12.
And of course if you want to make sure someone sees your tweet, include their “handle” (mine is @GrantLichtman) in the tweet. Try it and I will give you a shout back!
Do you need to follow along all day? NO. Check in on the feed when you can; scroll through fast or slow; comment or reply if you feel like it. Click on links to see photos of what is happening in Atlanta. Come back later in the day, or in the evening; all of the tweets with #fuse14 will still be there for a long, long time!
If you want to get set up or check in now, there are already many tweets of those getting ready and excited about #fuse14; check it out.
See you in the Twitter feed of #fuse14 next week!
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