From RunningWitty, one of our learners, via email:
Dear Ms. G,
I have loved the 20 minute tweeting experience. It is really cool to be able to record thoughts about what you are learning and comment on other people’s thoughts. I have learned that connections can be made very well after a specific 20 minute period. I get to learn really interesting stuff from classes I am not even in as well as ask questions about information I never would have learned otherwise. The experience has made me critically think about what I am learning; reflecting has helped “stuff” to stick in my brain better.Thank you for initiating this awesome experiment!
The tweeting experience has enhanced my learning in two ways
1) I get to learn really interesting stuff from classes I am not even in as well as ask questions about information I never would have learned otherwise.
2) The experience has made me critically think about what I am learning; reflecting has helped “stuff” to stick in my brain better.Thank you for initiating this awesome experiment!
This week JB and I conducted a couple of Lunch and Learn sessions on Twitter for our colleagues. It was said, “Well, I’m set up. Don’t know how I’ll use it, but at least I have an account now.” I’d like to answer the questions “how am I going to use it?” by showing the development and growth of one young learner.
I thought it might be interesting to chart the growth and learning to use Twitter from the beginning (September 14, 2010) to now (February 4, 2011) of one learner, RunningWitty. As of right this minute, RunningWitty has 230 tweets under his belt. He began his tweeting as a guest blogger at TEDxAtl on September 14, 2010. Thanks to our friend and colleague, @Deacs84, he got off to a great, smart start.
Below is a small representation of his growth and learning to use social media for learning. I’ve taken slices of his tweets from each month. You can decide how much you think he has learned and grown. He and I agree that his learning has been enhanced. Do you think he is a global learner optimizing his digital lifestyle to have limitless opportunities to collaborate, create, and connect? I do.
September 2010
October 2010 
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
Worth repeating:
The tweeting experience has enhanced my learning in two ways
1) I get to learn really interesting stuff from classes I am not even in as well as ask questions about information I never would have learned otherwise
2) the experience has made me critically think about what I am learning; reflecting has helped “stuff” to stick in my brain better.
Experiments in Learning by Doing 
This is a pretty incredible testament of one student’s learning. What if we strove to do this with every student and digital portfolios? I’m thinking of students starting a blog fairly early in their school careers, and almost everything they do gets posted to the blog, and perhaps simultaneously, they learn something like twitter as well. How many connections would teachers be able to make when they see not just this student’s work in their class, but in other classes as well? How much learning could a student get from going back and re-examining work she/he created one, two or five years ago? Done right, I think these could become powerful vehicles for learning, and perhaps even incredibly valuable in the college admissions process. Could our students earn admission to college on the basis of their blogs and twitter streams? Quite possibly….
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