I have found Twitter to be a valuable tool for connecting and collaborating with other educators. I am frequently customizing my Tweetdeck client to follow hashtags that are relevant to projects I am working on.
I have found #EdChat and #EdTechChat as a useful catch all for many of the topics educators are discussing on Twitter. I can use this hashtag to quickly discover opportunities for learning as they are becoming available. Today there is quiet a bit of chatter about the coming ISTE conference on both channels. I also follow #CaEdChat and #IdEdChat to help keep my finger on the pulse of educational conversations in California (where I am new to that community) and Idaho (where many former colleagues are). I am happy to see today that Idaho folks are busy organizing for Edcamp Idaho (#edcampidaho) in three weeks. I helped get this annual event off the ground four years ago. To continue feeding my edcamp habit in my new location, I see on #CaEdChat that there is an Edcamp East Bay (#EdCampEB) on August 6. I am following #DTK12Chat as I am working this summer to help refine a project using design thinking. Here is an example of an inspiring project I found on that channel that brings together a number of elements I have an appreciation for: design thinking, social emotional learning and Minecraft.
Using Twitter in this way allows me to customize my professional development based on what is important to me at that moment. Customizing Tweetdeck columns allows me to tap into different streams of collective conscious that provide more information than I can digest. To the uninitiated, that can be overwhelming. Over time it becomes more acceptable as you fine tune the hashtags and make use of Twitter's list feature to identify thought leaders to help make sense of it all.
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