Michael Wesch speaks of the first people to dance in front of a webcam and share it with the online world. He connects this dancing to celebrating newfound online empowerment and network possibility.

Although the internet scares me sometimes (I struggle with technology), I do agree that online potential is something to celebrate! We spoke a lot in class about the rapid change that is happening from year to year in the technological world. The tools that I used in school differ greatly from those which my parents used, and the tools that my future students will use.

There are times at work when I am working on a particular project with students, that I clearly see the benefit of many online resources. On the other hand, I really prefer to run the other way at the mention of certain unfamiliar internet tools! I can be quite stubborn and have a tendency to cower at the thought of change.

Change is good though right? I think so. I also think that it comes with some risks. In particular, online participation is almost inevitable in our society and it can be consequential in a very negative way if precautions aren’t taken. Even with limited internet knowledge, I have the ability to reach out to people all over the world in a matter of seconds! If I am not careful about the things that I choose to share in this way, it may be too late to correct the issue by the time I realize that I made a poor choice. Today’s culture of participation is very dominantly online. Networking has its benefits, but it needs to be used with discretion. WE NEED TO PROTECT OUR KIDS!!

A few years ago, I would have laughed at you if you told me that I would want to focus on the internet in my classroom. Today though, I dream about informing kids of the wonderful array of resources that are at their fingertips. I dream about speaking to my class of the dangers of online networking and the precautions that need to be taken. I dream of doing my part to prepare children as they embark on their personal journeys through this ever-changing world.

Am I fully equipped and ready to fulfill these dreams? NOPE! That is what this class is for though, so I am confident in the ability of my future-self!

Imagine… you are entering the third Zoom chat for #edtc300; a class that is so far out of your comfort zone, that it feels as though your body is working ahead of your brain. It is as though the concepts of the class have you racing ahead in action, before understanding actually sinks in. Each time you prepare to engage in a class, you hope and pray that you will be able to figure out how to use the technology presented to you in a timely manner.

Fast forward… you are feeling confident, courageous, brilliant even! You have mastered the art of tweeting, blogging, chatting, and zooming… or so you let yourself believe. It is now time for the fourth Zoom chat. You feel good. You feel adequately prepared. You are wrong…

This week, we had to take part in a twitter chat for #edtc300. We were ensured that it would be okay, that we would have a test run, and that the overwhelming feeling would pass eventually. Although this may be correct, it did not sound promising to me at the time. I CAN’T do a twitter chat, I thought to myself as my classmates seemed to ease into the class chat. I can’t even find anyone’s names to add the proper columns to my TweetDeck! How will I conquer this step in my learning process??

As usual, it was not as bad as it seemed. After some assistance from my instructor, and some deep breathing, I was able to engage with my classmates in a totally new format with relative ease.

Baby steps. I made it through class and now it was time to explore the Twitter Chat world all on my own! This process did not go totally smoothly, but here are the steps that I took:

1. Search through list of twitter chats to pick one that I can attend.
2. Realize that almost none of the listed times work with my schedule.
3. Get frustrated.
4. Search for other lists.
5. Fail at properly using a time zone converter and temporarily give up.
6. Search the new list provided in our Slack community.
7. Choose the chat that interests me most.
8. Tweet to see if the #fcpslearn chat was still on and plan to attend.
9. Realize, once again, that I messed up the time zone.
10. Return to chat list.
11. Pick #2PencilChat and realize it is starting right then!
12. Frantically try to find out who the host of the chat is, in order to add the correct column.
13. Search the host’s name and find out that the chat name was sufficient.
14. Join the chat.
15. Answer the questions, to the best of my ability.
16. Try to respond to others’ insights, but settle for liking the comments that I agree with in my rush to keep up.
17. Complete the chat and breathe… breathe deeply!

In the end, that chat experience was pretty good. The topic was incorporating African American history in the classroom (in honour of Black History Month), but my takeaways are directly linked to incorporating First Nations history in the classroom.

This site gives many good examples of twitter chat benefits, as well as a list of rules to follow. Gaining knowledge from others and sharing my expertise are the two benefits that speak to me most deeply. I am passionate about expanding my personal learning network and I think that twitter chats will help me to do so. I am excited to keep trying these chats, and to discover the ones that I am able to participate in regularly.

I would love to hear from you! What are some of your favourite twitter chats?

Feedly… That’s a word that was completely foreign to me last month. Today’s status? It is a website that has made online networking SO MUCH EASIER for me!

Like any mature, logical student would do at the thought of trying something new, I panicked. At first, I felt as though this requirement would be impossible for me! I was told to download an RSS  and all I could think was this will be impossible to learn, it sounds scary, I don’t want to…

Okay, so I calmed down eventually and pulled up my socks so to speak. Do you want to know the truth? RSS sites are awesome! At least, Feedly is awesome… that is the only one that I have tried so far. However, I do plan on exploring other options moving forward to compliment my experience.

I chose to make three separate feed categories on my account. I have Education, Culinary Adventures, and Children’s ministry categories. I chose these things because they are my current employment focuses. I am an educator and a learner, a beginner caterer, and a Children’s ministry director. I am hoping that the resources I follow will help me learn in these areas, as well as give me opportunities to share rich resources with others… sharing is caring right?

Some of my favourite resources so far are Education Week, Educational Technology, Kids Ministry, and The Daring English Teacher.

Follow me on Twitter , where I will be sharing many of the great resources that I come across on Feedly…@danicafehr !