Archive | Novice

In this session, participants will learn how to use three social media tools that can increase student engagement and critical thinking skills through connecting, collecting, and curating information. Twitter will be used as the connection tool, Tweetdeck the collecting tool, and Scoop.it will be the curating tool. Participants will be given suggestions for finding and following people, organizations, and hashtags in Twitter. In addition to definitions and examples, posting guidelines and ideas will be shared. The specifics for downloading and setting up Tweetdeck to collect and follow tweets and hashtags will be covered. Last, I will teach participants how to set up Scoop.it for curating information from the Web that students have identified, analyzed, and evaluated. Students utilize their critical thinking skills during the curation process and build repositories of information, accessible to them and their network.

The secondary gain from connecting, collecting, and curating with Twitter, Tweetdeck, and Scoop.it is the development of a Professional Engagement Network (PEN). Referred to as a Professional/Personal Learning Network (PLN) in many circles, the PEN emphasizes the process of engaging with and contributing to the network in addition to learning from the network.

There is a huge perk for you as an instructor as you develop your PEN by using Twitter, Tweetdeck, and Scoop.it … now you can connect to others in your field, while collecting and curating information for your own professional development and your students’ learning.

Interactivity
Participants will set up Twitter, Tweetdeck, and Scoop.it profiles, locate people to follow, practice Tweeting, organize and personalize Tweetdeck, and practice curating posts with Scoop.it.

During the presentation, participants will brainstorm ways to use these tools in their teaching. Q/A will be conducted as the last activity.