Twitter and how the mathematical title of this post breaks down:

140 characters X who I am FollowinG + my FollowerS= an incalculable amout of shared resources, ideas, feedback, and collaboration…also known as “Professional Development”

I joined twitter last spring after after attending the 2008 ETC conference where I presented with fellow MSU MAET graduate cohort, Sergio Martinez. Many of the other presentations I attended referred to twitter, but I didn’t know much about it. I was curious, so I signed up and wrote one tweet on April 25th, 2008. However, I followed nobody and really had no idea what it was all about or why I would keep the account. So my account sat there waiting patiently for someone to follow me, or something to compell me to follow someone else…then it happened!

Five months after my first post I attended the Learning 2.008 Conference in Shanghai, China.  At the opening keynote, a twitter feed of the conference was being projected on a huge screen on stage. Everyone in the whole conference it seemed was on Twitter, connecting to each other through 140 character messages. Every few seconds a new message would pop up, information about sessions, notes from the keynote speakers, excellent information being shared freely. It was like a collective side conversation of the entire conference.  I wanted in!

I started by following colleagues who were also attending the conference, wrote a couple updates here and there, but mostly read what others were writing.  All of a sudden conference attendees I didn’t know started showing up as followers.  I felt a pressure to post something, but not just anything…something they’d want to hear. So, I waited. I read my feed full of tweets with links to great blog posts, free online resources, updates on other conference opportunities, invites for collaborations…Wow…what I had been missing all those months my account had sat there dormant within the twitterverse.

Slowly but surely I started to post things that I thought others might benefit from. From time to time it led to one on one connection with a follower halfway across the world interested in the same topic, idea, or issue in education. How cool is that!

Now, over a year later I follow hundreds of educators from around the world and have a sense of belonging to what one of my favorite authors and presenters, Seth Godin, would call a “Tribe.” Most of the people I follow I have never met in person. However, I had the priviledge to attend the Apple Leadership Summit in Hong Kong in April where I met mutual followers face to face who I have collaborated with through twitter. While “tweeting up” with each other for the first time, it felt as if we already had a mutual understanding and kinship through common interest and passion for sharing, collaborating, and seeking a global community of educators daring to challenge and shift the definition of teaching and learning in the 21st century.

Currently in my MAET courses we use Twitter to share in a similar manner tweeting resources, posting our work, and collaborating within a Twibe, a smaller community within the Twitterverse.  It keeps us connected outside of classtime and allows for a backchannel of ideas and excerpts during classtime.  Do a search on Twitter of #maety3_2009 and #maet to get a glimpse of what I am describing.

I have had a lot of conversations about Twitter throughout the months since September. Answering to eyebrow raised questions about why I use twitter and what it’s all about. To answer those questions publicly…no, it’s not just like Facebook…and no, I don’t tweet about what I am eating for breakfast. Some do, but I don’t follow them. My best description is that for me it is like a radio feed of professional development just waiting for one to tune into.  But, the only way to find out for youself is to jump in and try it!

Follow me on twitter: @saraebest

Credits: Thanks to my friend Linda Ledesma for her help in creating the mathematical formula for my title! I love how much she loves math!