So, what exactly is a Twitter Chat? A Twitter Chat is basically that-- a chat that happens on Twitter. It is a little different than normal chats, because you don't go into a Chatroom to have the chat. The chat happens within the Twitter feed and with the use of a hashtag (#). The hashtag allows the answers to your questions to be seen by all the people in the chat. This post is designed to shed some light on the Twitter chat process and how it works, because frankly, I was confused to no end at the beginning. I was able to catch on merely by observing other people's answers, and simply trying something to see if it would work. Why Join a Twitter Chat? First, let's talk about why it is a good idea to join a Twitter chat. There are a few different reasons why it is a good idea to join a Twitter chat at least once. Whether you are an educator, stay at home mom, student, cook, blogger, in a religious organization, or someone just looking to communicate Twitter Chats allow you to connect and talk with other people from around the world. The Twitter Chats are usually designed around a specific topic, so if you want to know more about that topic, you can talk with others whom are interested as well to hear each other's thoughts and learn new ideas. Another reason why it is beneficial for you to participate in a Twitter Chat, is because as an educator, we often have little to no help within our classrooms and school sites. We need more people to conversate with, share ideas, and glean insight from. We cannot stay within the four walls of our classrooms and expect to challenge our mind or the minds of our students. Lastly, how does Twitter Chats benefit our students? Students can interact with other students across the United States and globe to share ideas on a topic in class, get help from, collaborate on a project with, hold interviews, and more. The world is ever evolving into the new generation needing to be able to communicate with everyone and expand their learning community to more than the city they were born in. Twitter Chats help with that. Where do I find Twitter Chats? Okay, now the big question: where do you find Twitter Chats? Twitter Chats may not be easy to find, but here are a few resources to help you easily locate a chat you might be interested in. Educational Chats Twitter Hashtags on Pinterest Cybraryman I highly recommend Cybrary man. He has a calendar with different time zones and the chats can be copied to your Google Calendar. A few words of caution, some of the chats cancel or are a little hard to find, so make sure you "search" for the Twitter Chat in your Twitter account. To do this: 1. Go to your Twitter account. 2. Find "explore" at the bottom of the page. 3. In the "Search Twitter" bar type the hashtag you want to look for. 4. Check if there is any notification about the chat. How do I Participate in a Twitter Chat? The next big question: how do I participate in a Twitter Chat? After I FINALLY found a chat to join.. Yes, I said FINALLY. A few of the chats I wanted to participate in either were not at the time the calendar said, or they did not have a chat (meaning I waited for 30 minutes and there was no people "chatting"). That is the reason for my caution above. Be sure to check that the chat you want to participate in is actually running at the time on the calendar. After I found a chat, my next stumbling blog was how do I participate. I figured out how to participate by observing other people's answers and using my best judgment. Here we go. In the pictures, look at the pink circles. These go with the steps. For this example, I am using the Twitter Chat #games4ed
The wonderful thing about Twitter Chats is that you can participate ANY WHERE you have internet connection. You can cook dinner, do the laundry, walk the dog, sit in an airport, or whatever task you are doing at the time. The chats are solely on Twitter and on your phone.
Hope you found this helpful! Enjoy chatting!
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