Learning more about Twitter from Susan Beardon on TLTG FridayLive! 11/20/2015

Learning more about Twitter from Susan Beardon this week (November 20, 2015) with the TLT Group on FridayLive!

Prior to the webinar Penny Kuckkahn shared an interesting dialog that took place between her son and daughter regarding Twitter. This short interchange sums up polar views about Twitter. Twitter may not be for everyone. I need to decide if it is for me and if so, in what regard. Thanks for allowing me to share this Penny.

Lainie and I subscribe to a service which allows us to watch all National and International skating throughout the world live streamed.  As we watch we usually follow the hashtag on twitter for the competition.

Conversation between my 17 year old son and 14 year old daughter

Philip: What is Twitter?

Lainie:  It this thing that you can post your thoughts and ideas using less than 160 characters

Philip: Why would you do that?

Lainie:  To let people know your thoughts and ideas

Philip:  That's just dumb

Lainie:  No it's not.  I can see what the coaches I have worked with think about the skater I am watching

Philip:  My first tweet - "Twitter just another form of gossip"

          My last tweet "So long Twitter I do not even need 160 characters"

Below is a mind map of my notes from the webinar.  Link to the mind map.
Also below is the transcript of the FridayLive! Twitter "conversation."

Brain Rules Exploration Activity in Adobe Connect

The TLT Group hosted a book discussion focusing on Dr. John Medina's book "Brain Rules." Steve Gilbert, Penny Kuckkahn and I developed the following activity in our attempt to help people connect to the book and model one of the Brain Rules, in this case #12, Exploration.  The activity took place in Adobe Connect.

We asked participants to chose one Brain Rule and then take 5 minutes to explore Dr Medina's website or any other resource. After reviewing material on the Brain Rule, identify one app or activity that connects with the Brain Rule in some way. We set up a new chat pod in a new layout for participants to post their contribution.
Below is a picture of the AC layout used.

After the activity we asked for feedback. In general participants liked the activity and the array of resources that were shared. They suggested we use music during the 5 minute exploration and no conversation. They liked the minute reminders we put in the chat. All in all it was a great success. This link will take you to a summary of the resources shared during the activity. This was a small group of 16 participants.

The image below illustrates the ideas offered by Brain Rule.  It is interesting to see the focus on Memory and Exercise.  Stress and Vision had the next highest votes.

Todoist - cloud-based task and project-management

I have been experimenting with Todoist to help me manage my tasks for the day.  I like that you can create your own projects and assign tasks to those projects. One of the things I would like to do with this project feature is to create a project that represents the breakthrough goal I am working on.  I think Todoist will help me see what kind of progress I am making toward this goal, help me keep the goal front and center.

I also like that you can collaborate on projects using Todoist. All people involved in the project must create an account. Once added to a project all people involved can add, assign, and modify tasks. Creating an account  is free.

Below is a short "How To" video.

Collect Ideas, Discuss, and Vote Using Tricider

The TLT Group has been exploring the app, Tricider for the past few weeks, thanks to an

introduction by Penny Kuckkahn. Tricider is an easy tool to collect ideas, discuss and vote. So it facilitates brainstorming and voting all in one. It also facilitates debate.

Tricider works great for teams in the work place and for students as a part of a class.  The app is free and no registration is required.

Here is an example of a Tricider we used at the end of a webinar.  We used it as a space for participants to reflect on this question "What advice would you share with students or colleagues based on the readings and today's discussion?  We were also experimenting with the Tricider app.

We used the voting feature the next week to encourage people to share their ideas for the webinar around this question "What is one tool or strategy you or your institution uses to support student learning?"  The idea with the largest number of votes was the recipient of a prize. 

Tricider addresses many of the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education:

• Encourages active learning.
• Facilitates contacts between students.
• Emphasizes time on task
• Respects diverse ways of learning

The TLT Group shares something from "the Bleeding Edge" and a Low Threshold Application(LTA) each week prior to the start of FridayLive! This information is also available for TLT Members after the session.  See the up-coming FridayLive!  lineup here.

Exploring QR Codes

Exploring QR Codes

http://www.qrstuff.com/qr_codes.html

More information thanks to Penny Kuckkahn

Installed my 1st QR Code Reader - Norton Snap, so I could retrieve the information above.

Now to create my own QR Code and then figure out how to incorporate into my teaching.  More to come