Tag Archives: facebook

G+ Circles

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Sorry for the delayed follow up since my last post. I decided to fly home to visit my family but the day before I arrived Chatham was in the eye of a storm and my parents power has been out ever since. “Welcome home!”  Should be back up tomorrow so I will follow up on Nings then.

For today I am sitting in a Tim Horton’s to update you on G+ Circles. I have to confess that Google Circles could very well be the resolve to my previously mentioned issue with using Facebook as part of my PLN. Essentially, with G+ Circles I can add people to a circle, much like you add friends in Facebook, but instead of having a mass collection of “friends” you can group people. I can have a G+ Circle for work colleagues, alt. educators, friends from MET, etc. My actual “friends” stay in Facebook and my professional friends and colleagues stay in G+ Circles. It has potential. Unfortunately it still means being even more dependent on Google but that may be a non-issue for most. (It’s the whole issue of all of your eggs in one basket – lots of people love this, others wonder what could happen if Google decides to put a price on their services). Something to think about I suppose.

Here is a great video to explain how Google Circles works and how it can resolve the Facebook issue.

So, now that we understand what Google Circles are, I have to confess  I like it! It is another way to connect and collaborate with people – that I know, and those that I don’t know – but who share similar interests.  (It would also be a useful tool to get students working together in groups).

I am including a link to Edwin Watson’s video that explains how to get started with Google+ and set up and use Google Circles. There are also a number of Google Circles already in progress on a variety of educational topics for you to join. Here is the best site I have found for breaking down a large handful of G+ Circles for Educators.  Check it out.

The biggest thing to keep in mind when creating your PLN is that it is just that – PERSONAL – the choices you make are yours. There is no one, cookie-cutter version of a PLN. Take your time, think about what you want to do? Why you want to do it? And how the tools that are out there can make it easier for you to achieve your goals.  (-:

Aggregators…what to consider

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So, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks searching out information on aggregators. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had downloaded Google Reader to my phone during a previous course in order to follow classmates’ blogs but otherwise I hadn’t really used an aggregator before.

In a recent discussion thread posted in my ETEC 590 class I asked people what they used as part of their PLNs and if they had aggregator preferences what were they.

I had a universal response on Tweetdeck. It seems that anyone who uses Twitter, organizes their incoming tweets using Tweetdeck. So, here’s what I discovered.

Tweetdeck is great – for computers – not so for phones, tables, etc. Essentially, when Twitter bought Tweetdeck they decided to focus their energies on creating a better mobile version of Twitter and so canned the mobile version of Tweetdeck. Thankfully Tweetdeck options for home are still available, and according to some reviews, better than ever. icopilot1  has been kind enough to give a video walk-through of the new Tweetdeck.

So, I signed up, which was super easy and I set up a few columns using hashtags such as #edtech, #bced, #cdned, and #alted. Tweetdeck automatically includes other columns like timeline what you would see if you stick with just twitter), interactions (tweets whenever your #name appears), and activities (basically whatever anyone else that you follow does i.e. “#jimsmith followed #becool”.  Personally I find activities and interactions a little unnecessary.  After a couple of days I deleted them to make way for more columns on subjects of interest to me.

So what do I think? Well, in three words or less – I LOVE IT! At first it is a little overwhelming. I felt like a trader sitting down to my computer with my morning coffee but I absolutely see the value of staying up to date, adding favourites to the ones I want to get back to. It is a great way to get a lot of information without committing an incredible amount of time.

There seems to be only one other giant alternative to Tweetdeck for home and that is Hootsuite. It does have a mobile option as well.  Steve Dotto has a great Youtube ssummary of Hootsuite here. It has LOTS of capabilities and would definitely be worth checking out if you want to have multiple people using the same account. It also has collaboration options with: Facebook, WordPress, Google, LinkedIn etc. All I can say is do your homework. I personally DID NOT want an aggregator with imposed relationship with Facebook or Instagram or other tools like that. So, that said, I opted for Tweetdeck.

As for the lack of Tweetdeck for my smartphone – I haven’t resolved that yet. I have been using the Twitter app on my android and so far that is enough for me. I can’t miss something that I never tried.

Others who are accustomed to Tweetdeck seem pretty devastated by it’s demise. However there are lots of other options available. You just have to look around and do the research. Many of the existing products may be linked to other social media providers like: Facebook, Instagram, There are other options out there like: Tweetcaster (all mobile options, free but includes banner ads, get rid of ads for $4.99), Twitterific (iOS),  Plume (android and costs $4.99 but looks awesome), Tweetbot (iOS equivalent to Plume – $2.99).

As I said, for now I am sticking with twitter’s mobile version but I am really interested in Plume.

There is still much work to do…Now I’m on to a means of replacing my Google Reader and how to find bloggers worth connecting with on a regular basis.  More to follow.

Making connections

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So, I sat down with my original list of people/areas I want to connect with, and compared it to the list of web tools that have been recommended by a host of people, including Will Richardson.

I have concluded that there are a handful of tools I will use to  get and stay connected. Those tools are:  microblogs, blogs, wikis, social bookmarking tools, podcasts, and webinars.

After reading pages and pages of how to create a PLN, I came away with two strong messages. 1. Each person’s PLN is unique to them, and 2. Start small so as to not get overwhelmed.  So, that said, I am going to ensure that I take the time to think through my PLN choices carefully to ensure that whatever I create is both manageable and sustainable.

That said, there is a lot of ground to cover  and not a lot of time to cover it in so below is a list of how I will spend the next nine weeks setting up my PLN.

Week 5-7. Twitter/RSS /Aggregator. During these three weeks I will be focused on setting up a Twitter account and finding relevant tweeters to follow. As well as looking for bloggers who are talking regularly about issues that matter to me. In order to subscribe to their blogs, I will need an RSS aggregator as well.  As I mentioned in my last post, Google Reader is folding at the end of this month so I will need to do some research and determine the best tool for this. (I have been looking at desktop home page options and web-based options as well. I have not come to any definitive conclusions at this point).

Week 8. Week eight will be spent working on my second Commentary which I believe will have something to do with Facebook and the pros and cons of using it as a professional networking tool. (I have to confess, right now I am dead set against the idea of using Facebook as a PLN tool. As a teacher, I feel like there are aspects of my life that I simply want to be just for me – and Facebook is one of them. Not that I am on Facebook that often, but I do have an existing account and it is a social networking tool that I use solely  for family and friends, and I want to keep it that way. At least for now.)

Week 9. Podcasts. I really do not have any experience with podcasts so this will be new to me. Although I do have an iTunes account and have seen the iTunes U option so I at least have a place to start from.

Week 10. Social Bookmarking. Will Richardson noted that he had wanted to go with Delicious but at the time he was going to publication Delicious was in jeopardy, so he went with  Diigo.  I already have a delicious account but am interested in some of the additional features that Diigo offers like highlighting and sticky notes. So, I may be changing my choice of social bookmarking. Truth be told, I have really only been using the bookmarking aspect of delicious, and not bothered with the social aspect of the tool at all. That needs to change. I need to make connections with others who have found great sites and resources in areas of interest to me.

Week 11. Webinars. As far as professional development goes, webinars sound like a great way to connect in a pseudo-f2f environment. I like the idea of it, but much like podcasts, I have no experience, beyond meeting up for live chats in my MET courses.

Week 12-13. This time will be spent creating my Assessment Rubric to be used to evaluate my PLN presentation, finalizing my PLN presentation, and writing my final reflection. Busy, busy, busy!

Let the PLNing begin!

Building a PLN with web 2.0 tools

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Chapter 2 of  Richardson’s book on PLNs offers up tips for “jumping in” to the world of PLNs.  He recommends five specific web 2.0 tools to initiate connections: 1. Twitter, 2. Blogger , 3. Google Reader, 4. Diigo, and 5. Facebook.

Richardson’s suggestions got me looking for other recommendations on the best 2.0 tools for the task.   While many recommended the same tools as Richardson, others offered even more possibilities. Both Lisette Casey, and Lisa Nielsen, aka the Innovative Educator recommend joining a professional social network like Edublogger or Classroom 2.0. Like Richardson, Nielsen stresses the need to use a tool like Google Reader to follow a handful of bloggers.

The problem I have discovered is that Google Reader is shutting down  July, 2013. So, I will need to seek out some alternatives to manage my deluge of incoming information. From what I have read so far, some viable options are: Netvibes, the Old Reader, Feedly, and Pageflakes. I will keep you posted on this.

Sue Waters, better known as The Edublogger, has created a valuable wiki for those about to take on the challenge of creating a  PLN. She offers step by step tips on setting up a twitter account, starting a blog, subscribing to blogs, using social bookmarking tools (like Diigo mentioned above), and joining an ning (which turns out is what sites like Classroom 2.0 and Edublogger are apparently!)

Both Eric Patnoudes and  Kate Klingensmith recommend attending webinars (web 2.0 Live or Edtech Talk Live) and backchanneling conferences as means of building your PLN. I confess, I had no idea what backchanneling was. I thought it meant sneaking in the back door of conferences I couldn’t afford. In a way it kind of does. Read more about it HERE.

Finally, Katie Morrow’s slideshare offers up all of the above, as well as teleconference tools like Skype, and podcasting (iTtunes U or Education Podcast Network). Something I had not even considered!

What I have discovered over the last few days is that PLNs are as unique and personal as the people that are creating them. There is no “one size fits all” model of PLNs.

I came across Skip Via’s podcast about PLNs which sums this past week’s reading perfectly. So I will leave you with this as I begin to allign my list of PLN needs (posted last day) with the web 2.0 tools at my disposal.