Twitter Chat

The first chat that I took part in was #DENchat, which stands for Discovery Education Network chat. The topic of this chat was on keeping the fun in schools during test prep time. The title was, "Testing Time: Stress down, learning up!" and this chat was facilitated by Laura Parisi (@Lparisi). The chat was lively with lots of discussion. However, this chat was extremely hard to follow, but only because there were so many people that wanted to share info and collaborate. Something new that I learned about was called Genius Hour. We talked about the length of time that we take for test prep, the things we do during test prep time, the things we could do that are considered fun when we are not testing, and what assessments we feel are good assessments. I liked reading everyone's comments and ideas, and was able to learn something new. (Genius Hour) The second chat was #moedchat, and was moderated by Ted Huff (@tedhiff)and Brad Waid and Drew Minock (@2guysshow). These two men, Brad and Drew join numerous Twitter chats, and also have a Two Guys show where they chat with game changing educators and discuss augmented reality in education. Prior to this chat I had no idea what augmented reality was. There was a common craft video that I was able to watch that really broke it down for me. I honestly had no idea that these types of apps existed until this chat. As soon as I finished the chat I went straight to my classroom iPad and downloaded a few of the highly talked about apps. Some of these AR apps were Aurasma, Layar, ColARApp, and Daqri. Maybe some of you have heard of these apps and some of you might not have, but according to LayAR augmented reality is, "... cutting-edge technology that allows for a digitally enhanced view of the real world, connecting you with more meaningful content in your everyday life. With the camera and sensors in a smartphone or tablet, AR adds layers of digital information – videos, photos, sounds – directly on top of items in the world around us." Such an exciting, new technology that I'm ready to discover. Overall, I really liked the Twitter chats. I was able to collaborate with many others and gather a ton of information on the two topics that were discussed in these chats. I definitely plan on doing these chats at least once or twice a week. I think I would be crazy not to.