The Complete Guide To Twitter Hashtags For Education

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Twitter_hashtags_for_education

What is a hashtag?

A word or phrase preceded by a “#.”

How do hashtags work?

Twitter can be a busy place with lots of tweets–and thus lots of “noise.”

A #hashtag is a way to aggregate tweets that are appended with a hashtag. Picture it like a magnet that attracts all messages categorized by that topical word or phrase.

Who can use hashtags?

Anyone. When you tweet and want your message to be part of a larger conversation beyond your followers, add a relevant hashtag from the list below to the end of your message, and you’ll automatically reach anyone who is monitoring the same hashtag. Cool, yes?

What else do I need to know?

  • Don’t hashtag spam–if your tweet doesn’t add to that hashtag’s topic, discussion, or user base, don’t add the hashtag.
  • Use more than one hashtag if it applies to more than one topic, but choose wisely. If you want that hashtag’s community to value your input, take care to keep that twitter stream nice, tidy, and free from “visual debris.”

Meeting Times

Many of the hashtags have “meeting times” where educators agree to “meet and tweet”–that is, send out messages on a topic at a certain time on a certain day.

If you do participate at the agreed upon time, you’ll see the tweets stream in live and participate in said conversation (via twitter) in what is nearly real-time. But if you can’t make it, the great part about a hashtag is that it does the sorting for you. You can search for messages assigned to a given hashtag anytime–tomorrow, Sunday night, or during your planning period next week.

Note, this list of hashtags will be updated periodically, including reorganization, and functional linking on all hashtags.

Updated: Added #edcamp, #ukedchat

Popular Hashtags

  1. #lrnchat (social media and education)
  2. #edchat
  3. #blendchat (blended learning)
  4. #mlearning
  5. #elearning
  6. #ipadchat
  7. #pbl/#pblchat (project-based learning)
  8. #passiondriven
  9. #ntchat (for new teachers)
  10. #gbl (game-based learning, from serious games and simulations to video games and more)
  11. #edtech (education technology)
  12. #ukedchat
  13. #edtech
  14. #elearning
  15. #mlearning
  16. #web20
  17. #flipclass
  18. #edchat
  19. #BYOD(Bring Your Own Device)
  20. #iPaded(iPads in education)
  21. #EdApps(education and learning apps
  22. #k12
  23. #cpchat
  24. #highered
  25. #21stedchat
  26. #reflectiveteacher

Trends

  1. #flipclass
  2. #digped
  3. #byod
  4. #1:1
  5. #mlearning
  6. #blendedlearning
  7. #flatclass
  8. #ipad

General

  1. #earlyed
  2. #elemchat
  3. #middleschool
  4. #highschool
  5. #commoncore
  6. #cchat
  7. #edreformtribe
  8. #edreform
  9. #parentpower
  10. #edpolicy
  11. #teacherquality
  12. #eddata
  13. #schoolchoice
  14. #putkidsfirst
  15. #parentalchoice
  16. #edleadership
  17. #eduleaders
  18. #achievementgap
  19. #edgap
  20. #inquiryed
  21. #ibpyp
  22. #edcamp

Content Areas

  1. #engchat
  2. #litchat
  3. #arted
  4. #musedchat
  5. #math
  6. #mathchat
  7. #science
  8. #scichat
  9. #sschat
  10. #histedchat
  11. #historyteaching

Digital Citizenship

  1. #digitalcitizenship
  2. #edtech
  3. #edtechchat
  4. #privacy
  5. #21stedchat
  6. #digcit
  7. #parenting
  8. #ettipad
  9. #internetsafety
  10. #cyberbullying

Literacy

  1. #literacy
  2. #multiliteracy
  3. #dyslexia
  4. #infolit

English-Language Arts & Literature

  1. #engchat
  2. #books
  3. #grammar
  4. #litchat
  5. #teachingenglish
  6. #amwriting
  7. #writing
  8. #writetip

iPad

  1. #tablet
  2. #mobile
  3. #byod
  4. #ios
  5. #ios6
  6. #ipad
  7. #ipadgames
  8. #ipaded
  9. #ettipad
  10. #ipadedu
  11. #mlearning
  12. #edtech
  13. #ipadapps
  14. #apple
  15. #apps
  16. #edapps

Science Specific

  1. #scienceed
  2. #scichat
  3. #science
  4. #physics
  5. #scienceteacher
  6. #technology
  7. #sciencenews
  8. #geology
  9. #anatomy
  10. #NASA
  11. #ecosystems
  12. #sciam
  13. #genetics
  14. #astronomy
  15. #scienceblogging
  16. #computerscience
  17. #STEM
  18. #CERN
  19. #climatechange
  20. #chemistry

Technology

  1. #google
  2. #apple
  3. #eltchat
  4. #elt
  5. #ipad
  6. #mlearning
  7. #1to1
  8. #iste

Equity

  1. #blackedu
  2. #latinoedu
  3. #nativeedu
  4. #urbaned
  5. #nclb
  6. #edadmin
  7. #schooldistricts
  8. #spedchat
  9. #dropouts
  10. #esea
  11. #teachered
  12. #schoolreform
  13. #occupyeducation
  14. #collegeaffordability

Design

  1. #archdaily
  2. #art
  3. #font
  4. #originality
  5. #ideas
  6. #apple
  7. #socialmedia
  8. #architecture
  9. #design
  10. #engineer

Homeschooling

  1. #homeschooling
  2. #hiphomeschool
  3. #unschool
  4. #hs
  5. #teachers
  6. #homeschool
  7. #unschoolers

Special Needs

  1. #ece
  2. #specialneeds
  3. #dyslexia
  4. #tck
  5. #toddlers
  6. #preschool
  7. #cerebralpalsy
  8. #spedchat
  9. #gifted
  10. #bilingual
  11. #autism
  12. #aspergers
  13. #teachpreschool
  14. #highered

Distance Education

  1. #disted
  2. #mlearning
  3. #onlinelearning
  4. #k12online
  5. #elearning

Home & Parenting

  1. #kids
  2. #cybersafety
  3. #SAHM
  4. #childcare
  5. #SAHD
  6. #littlekids
  7. #parents
  8. #badmommy
  9. #clothdiapers
  10. #dads4life
  11. #parenting

Curriculum

  1. #commoncore
  2. #cchat
  3. #books
  4. #literature
  5. #Business
  6. #writing
  7. #economy
  8. #geography
  9. #arted
  10. #biology
  11. #artsed
  12. #science
  13. #math

College

  1. #ACT
  2. #SAT
  3. #scholarship
  4. #highered
  5. #collegechat
  6. #collegebound

Groups & Chats

  1. #scichat
  2. #tlchat
  3. #educhat
  4. #lrnchat
  5. #gtchat
  6. #yalitchat
  7. #hsc
  8. #engchat
  9. #CollegeChat
  10. #edchat
  11. #musedchat
  12. #mathchat

Resources

  1. #savelibraries
  2. #printables
  3. #educationalvideos
  4. #edapp
  5. #lessonplans
  6. #edpolitics

Language

  1. #tesol
  2. #efl
  3. #ell
  4. #esl

Human Rights

  1. #diversity
  2. #heritage
  3. #health
  4. #race
  5. #eco
  6. #humantrafficking
  7. #slavery
  8. #aid
  9. #humanrights
  10. #education
  11. #sustainability

Library

  1. #library
  2. #digital
  3. #research
  4. #infolit
  5. #tlchat

Sources:

njimedia   onlinecollegecourses  insidehighered   onlineuniversities   onlinedegrees   cybraryman   edudemic   novemberlearning 

Why eLearning Is A Smart Option?

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Why eLearning Is A Smart Option?

Woman working on computer at home

eLearning, is becoming more and more with today’s technological advancements. It is considered one of the most practical, effective, and efficient methods for learning and education. It makes education easily available to a wider range of people from across the globe. eLearning can also help make learning a more fun, interactive, and interesting process.

While eLearning makes use of different forms of technology, the information is delivered to the target audience usually via the internet. The use of videos and voice-overs, for instance, is very popular because it humanizes the content and provides a more engaging atmosphere for the learners. Imagine having to go through an entire course by just reading concepts and ideas from a piece of paper, or even from your computer screen. Chances are your mind will begin to wander and you’ll likely lose interest on the topic before important points are discussed. With the usage of videos and voice-overs, eLearning becomes a more appealing — and sometimes, a more interactive — process. Being able to better visualize concepts through your computer/tablet screen will surely help in catching and holding your attention. Facts and ideas voiced out, rather than being printed on your screen for you to read and understand, will certainly help you better absorb information.

The use of videos could also aid in simplifying the learning process. Studies reveal that 12 minutes happens to be the maximum amount of time in which an individual’s attention could be effectively captured. An eCourse video effectively delivered within this given time frame will likely help ensure that all relevant information is conveyed.

One important technique in guaranteeing that eCourse videos and voice-overs are highly effective is through localization. A learner can better absorb information when it is delivered through means which are familiar to him/her. A learner will also better be able to apply his/her learnings if the circumstances or scenarios presented are those which he/she could associate with. For instance, an e-course using British or UK English will be much appreciated by an individual who is from, say, London, whereas this same eCourse may prove to be confusing for someone from the United States. The use of unfamiliar slang or phrases may make an individual instantly disengage or disassociate from the e-course if such language is not familiar or applicable to him/her. Similarly, choosing the right people to appear in an eLearning video is crucial in effectively getting your message across. For instance, a video aimed at learners from the Middle East or Arab Region would be better absorbed and appreciated if it would feature persons from that same region, rather than individuals from the Scandinavian region. This allows for the viewer to personally identify with the characters they are seeing, which can be more effective in learning, and this is what we call it; Contextualization and Humanization of the eContent.

Why We Need Gamification For Our Online Course Development

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Why We Need Gamification For Our Online Course Development

Flat design icons for web and mobile. Interaction hands using keyboard and mobile application.

Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems and increase users’ self-contributions. In this article, I’ll highlight why we need gamification for our online course development.

Gamification is a process that incorporates game mechanics into learning and accelerates the learning process while improving retention.

Gamification has been around for as long as people have played learning games in class, rolled the dice in trivia games or even thrown spears through rolling hoops. But gamification, as terminology and in practice, is seeing a revolution with the advent of eLearning. Its introduction has meant big advances in classroom education and even bigger advances in workplace training.

Maybe it’s time that you incorporated gamification and took your safety training courses online!

Here are 4 reasons why you should.

  1. The game of life.
    Gamification has been improving performance for a lot longer than many people realize. Many jobs utilize the motivation of awards and gamification. A firefighter is motivated to save lives, certainly, but in many ways being a firefighter isn’t that different from any other job. Promotions and increased salary are all part of leveling up, and excellence in service is often recognized by awards. Firefighters take part in annual games to showcase talent and improve skill. It’s only logical that we incorporate motivation and natural drivers of behavior into learning and working environments. Humans of ages past learned from first-hand experience. Sitting in a classroom and staring at a blackboard is far from stimulating or natural to the way we learn effectively. Thanks to gamification, we can find ways to make learning fun.
  2. Serious learning can come from games.
    War games are called games for a reason. By practicing routines and tactics that may later save lives, soldiers ensure that muscle memory will kick, later, when the stakes are lethal. Some games, like the ancient Mesoamerican’s version of racquetballwere played with the highest stakes of all. Participants entered play knowing that if they lost, their lives would be forfeit to ritual sacrifice. These and many of life’s other activities display game-like qualities—it’s just natural human behavior.
  3. Traditional rewards don’t motivate people as well.
    It’s hard to motivate people. Sometimes traditional rewards don’t cut it. Pontification, gamification nasty little brother, is responsible for a lot of boredom and dissatisfaction in the workplace. Pontification is when rewards are applied to boring and disinteresting activities, like putting a gold sticker on a difficult essay. The gold sticker doesn’t make the essay anymore fun. Gamification incorporates game-like activities into the process of learning, like a child tracing fish to form letters. By making the activity fun, we improve the satisfaction of performing it. In psychology, this is called the Over Justification Effect—when external incentives that have nothing to do with an activity, like points for completion, can actually decrease a person’s motivation to participate.
  4. What’s wrong with winning?
    Learning to win and learning the behaviors associated with winning are important, whether we’re at work or in the classroom. Sometimes playing games, chasing promotions and incorporating a little fun into your learning can be exactly what helps to win out over boredom

Ten Principles for successful eLearning

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Ten Principles for successful eLearning:

  1. PRINCIPLE 1: MATCH TO THE CURRICULUM
  2. PRINCIPLE 2: INCLUSION
  3. PRINCIPLE 3: LEARNER ENGAGEMENT
  4. PRINCIPLE 4: INNOVATIVE APPROACHES
  5. PRINCIPLE 5: EFFECTIVE LEARNING
  6. PRINCIPLE 6: FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
  7. PRINCIPLE 7: SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
  8. PRINCIPLE 8: COHERENCE, CONSISTENCY & TRANSPARENCY
  9. PRINCIPLE 9: EASE OF USE
  10. PRINCIPLE 10: COST-EFFECTIVENESS

Detailed Doc: Ten Principles for successful eLearning 

Helping Learners To Motivate Themselves!

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Autonomy

Providing learners with freedom of choice is one strategy for promoting learner autonomy. Educators commonly view this idea of choice through the lens of organizational and procedural choice. Organizational choice, for example, might mean learners having a voice in seating assignments or members of their small learning groups. The procedural choice could include a choice from a list of homework assignments and what form a final project might take — a book, poster, or skit.

Some researchers, however, believe that a third option, cognitive choice, is a more effective way to promote longer-lasting learner autonomy. This kind of cognitive autonomy support, which is also related to the idea of ensuring relevance, could include:

  • Problem-based learning, where small groups need to determine their own solutions to teacher-suggested and/or learner-solicited issues — ways to organize school lunchtime more effectively, what it would take to have a human colony on Mars, strategies to get more healthy food choices available in the neighborhood, etc.
  • Learners developing their own ideas for homework assignments related to what is being studied in class
  • Learners publicly sharing their different thinking processes behind solving the same problem or a similar one
  • Teachers using thinking routines like one developed by Project Zero at Harvard and consisting of a simple formula: the teacher regularly asking, “What is going on here?” and, after a learner response, continuing with, “What do you see that makes you say so?”

Competence

Feedback, done well, is ranked by education researcher John Hattie as number 10 out of 150 influences on learner achievement.

As Carol Dweck has found, praising intelligence makes people less willing to risk “their newly-minted genius status,” while praising effort encourages the idea that we primarily learn through our hard work: “Ben, it’s impressive that you wrote two drafts of that essay instead of one, and had your friend review it, too. How do you feel it turned out, and what made you want to put the extra work into it?”

But how do you handle providing critical feedback to learners when it’s necessary? Since extensive research shows that a ratio of positive-to-negative feedback of between 3-1 and 5-1 is necessary for healthy learning to occur, teachers might consider a strategy called plussing that is used by Pixar animation studios with great success. The New York Timesinterviewed author Peter Sims about the concept:

The point, he said, is to “build and improve on ideas without using judgmental language.” . . . An animator working on Toy Story 3shares her rough sketches and ideas with the director. “Instead of criticizing the sketch or saying ‘no,’ the director will build on the starting point by saying something like, ‘I like Woody’s eyes, and what if his eyes rolled left?” Using words like “and” or “what if” rather than “but” is a way to offer suggestions and allow creative juices to flow without fear, Mr. Sims said.

“And” and “what if” could easily become often-used words in an educator’s vocabulary!

Relatedness

A high-quality relationship with a teacher whom they respect is a key element of helping learners develop intrinsic motivation. What are some actions that teachers can take to strengthen these relationships?

Here are four simple suggestions adapted from Robert Marzano’s ideas:

1. Take a genuine interest in your learners.

Learn their interests, hopes, and dreams. Ask them about what is happening in their lives. In other words, lead with your ears and not your mouth. Don’t, however, just make it a one-way street — share some of your own stories, too.

2. Act friendly in other ways.

Smile, joke, and sometimes make a light, supportive touch on a learner’s shoulder.

3. Be flexible, and keep our eyes on the learning goal prize.

One of my learners had never written an essay in his school career. He was intent on maintaining that record during an assignment of writing a persuasive essay about what learners thought was the worst natural disaster. Because I knew two of his passions were football and video games, I told him that as long as he used the writing techniques we’d studied, he could write an essay on why his favorite football team was better than its rival or on why he particularly liked one video game. He ended up writing an essay on both topics.

4. Don’t give up on learners.

Be positive (as much as humanly possible) and encourage a growth mindset.

Relevance

Have learners write about how they see what they are learning as relevant to their lives. Researchers had learners write one paragraph after a lesson sharing how they thought what they had learned would be useful to their lives. Writing 1-8 of these during a semester led to positive learning gains, especially for those learners who had previously been “low performers.”

It is not uncommon for teachers to explicitly make those kinds of real-life connections. However, research has also found that this kind of teacher-centered approach can actually be de-motivating to some learners with low skills. A learner who is having a very difficult time understanding math or does just not find it interesting, for example, can feel threatened by hearing regularly from a teacher how important math is to his or her future. Instead of becoming more engaged in class, he or she may experience more negative feelings. These same researchers write:

[A] more effective approach would be to encourage learners to generate their own connections and discover for themselves the relevance of course material to their lives. This method gives learners the opportunity to make connections to topics and areas of greatest interest to their lives.

Building Student Motivation and Autonomy

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What Drives Us? The Surprising Secret to Building Student Motivation

During a recent discussion on The Dropout Epidemic: What We Can Do to Keep Students in School, Steven A. Levy raised the question of motivation. Pointing out Dan Pink’s research on the The Puzzle of Motivation, he unveiled an ideal framework on which to understand and apply these theories to education, driving students to continue learning, constructing their own individual paths to success. Pink outlines how our current system operates in opposition to what actually drives us to succeed, dulling thinking, and blocking creativity. He places an emphasis on three essential factors that he suggests lead to better performance and personal satisfaction.
1. Autonomy
The concept of autonomy is rooted in the desire to be self-directed, a craving common to us all. Dan Pink suggests that in order to drive people to succeed, autonomy is key. Google attempted to embrace this desire through its 80/20 rule for employees, allowing them to dedicate 80% of their time to the company, and the other 20% to personal passion projects. Although recently scrapped, the policy has urged many others to include autonomy in the workplace for idea generation. A similar concept has been applied to education, through the innovative Genius Hour movement. Through self-directed learning, students are encouraged to learn beyond the curriculum, developing their innate innovation and sparking their creativity. Adaptive technology is attempting to further embrace the autonomous nature of education by allowing students to identify gaps in their own learning, and to set personal, self-directed goals. With more power and ownership over their learning, students are engaged and motivated to reach every goal they set their minds to.
2. Mastery
We all harbour the urge to get better at what we do. We have seen higher education recognize the need for mastery through competency-based education, a concept that measures learning, over time. Encouraging students to demonstrate mastery of skills as opposed to memorizing and regurgitating facts, better learning ensues along with the motivation to succeed through critical thinking and innovation. Technology is making it easier to incorporate mastery in every learning environment with systems that provide personalized learning paths, and competency-based progression. This allows students to tackle every learning objective at a pace that suits them, with personalized resources to help them succeed. By encouraging and facilitating mastery, students not only gain more satisfaction from learning, they’re motivated by the urge to improve every time.
3. Purpose
Dan Pink defines purpose as “the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.” He goes on to explain how within business, the minute a company loses sight of its purpose, in favour of profits, it’s destined for failure. The same can be said for our education system, which values grades over learning. Without a clear purpose in mind, learning becomes mundane, compulsory and aimless. With such emphasis on grades, students are encouraged to strive towards a number or a letter that categorizes them, allocating their place in the outside world. With a larger purpose in mind, students are motivated to strive towards success, built around personal goals and aspirations, forging their unique place in the world. Simply put: A clearer purpose means more motivation.
While Pink’s research-based assertions prove accurate within the workplace, can we apply the same theories to education? If motivating students to learn is the ultimate goal, should we not spend time analyzing what builds motivation first and foremost? As Steven A. Levy points out, as it stands, students remain under strict schedules with little or no room for autonomy, the abundance of subjects makes mastery an impossibility, and the effort that they put in has no purpose other than passing a test for its own sake. With this in mind, it’s perhaps time we found out: What drives us?