• Blog
  • About
  • Digital Portfolio
  • Presentations
    • Ontario Summit 2019
    • Petaluma iOS Summit >
      • You Can Explain Everything and Your Students Can, Too!
      • Getting Going with Google Classroom
      • Capturing Student Ideas with Visual Apps
    • ISTE15 >
      • Connecting the Next Digital Leaders
      • Hacking the Daily 5
      • Passion-Based Learning: Genius Hour, 20% Time, and Innovation Day
    • DENapalooza Vancouver 2015
    • PITA15 Whistler >
      • Passion-Based Learning: Genius Hour & 20% Time
      • Screencasting for Visible Thinking & Learning
    • CUE15 >
      • Hacking the Daily 5 - Rockstar Jam Session
      • Digital Citizenship for the 21st-Century Citizen
    • Odyssey15
    • iOS Summit Vancouver 2015
    • 2014 Presentations >
      • ERAC IL4K12
      • CUEBC14 >
        • Learn How To Drive: Storage & Collaboration in the Cloud
        • SAMR: A Technology Integration Model for Educators
      • SFU14
      • Union SD Tech Innovation Summit
      • CUE Rockstar Manhattan Beach 2014 >
        • Learn How To Drive
        • Screencasting for Visible Thinking and Learning
        • Hacking the Daily 5
      • CA GAFESummit 2014 >
        • Learn How To Drive
        • SAMR: A Technology Integration Model for Educators
        • Passion-Based Learning
      • JET14
      • MERITCon14
      • ISTE 2014
      • CanFlip14 >
        • Screencasting for Visible Thinking & Learning
        • Passion-Based Learning
      • Vancouver GAFESummit 2014 >
        • Learn How to Drive
        • Passion-Based Learning
      • Walnut Grove - Genius Hour in Elementary
      • Odyssey 2014 >
        • SAMR: A Technology Integration Model for Educators
        • Explain Everything! Practical Uses and How-Tos for Screencasting on Your iPad
        • So You Want to Mystery Skype?
      • Roseville GAFESummit - Passion-Based Learning
  • Contact
A Tech Teacher on a Mission

It Takes a Village to Raise an Edchat

7/10/2013

6 Comments

 
Over the past week and a half, I've been highly focused on the development of #bcedchat with my partner in crime and co-mod, Bryn Williams.  Through a lot of groundwork and endless promotion, our first chat on Sunday, July 7th was a success.  We received about 500 tweets in the hour of discussing our topic of summer professional development. Our inaugural chat played host not only to BC and Canadian educators, but many more others from all over the globe! 

As the culture of our chat begins to take shape, I've been actively tapping into resources in my PLN to help to better develop awareness and involvement in it.  Most recently, I was able to have a Google HangOut with Tanya Avrith and Holly Clark, who have co-founded #cdnedchat and #caedchat respectively. They have both been incredibly kind and supportive by sharing resources and words of wisdom as we move forward with this chat. 

If you are considering starting your own Twitter edchat in your area or about a specific topic, here is the information I've gathered so far that can help to make it successful.

Picture
1) PROMOTION

I cannot stress enough the importance of promotion as you begin a chat. Getting the word out to gain participation is imperative to a chat's success. Depending on the type of audience you'd like to draw in, the promo can look different. For a provincial/state-wide chat, it's best to get a small group of people that will help get the word out by tweeting and retweeting your posts. For a smaller chat (for example, specific to a school district) you may want to aim your promo tweets at the specific people that you want involved instead of sending out a blanket invitation. No matter your target audience, be sure to promo as often as possible (without being obnoxious) as tweets disappear down a Twitter feed relatively quickly. 

2) WEBSITE & TWITTER ACCOUNT


This step is probably more necessary for larger-scale chats that would host several participants. I developed a website for #bcedchat with a page for topic selection using a Google form which has been gathering us several new topics to choose from for upcoming chats. While I chose Google sites due to its ease of use with Google Drive, docs, and forms, there are many different site hosts you can choose from and alternate ways to run polls or topic suggestions for upcoming chats. We most recently developed a Twitter account for @bcedchat which we will use for promotional purposes as well as tweeting out introductory and closing comments in the chats themselves. 


3) CHAT COMMITTEE/COLLABORATION TEAM


This was something that came highly suggested by Tanya and Holly, as there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes of an edchat. Now that we have the chat started, it has become apparent that there will be weekly tasks of promotion, topic and question development, pre-scheduling tweets, archiving, and of course, moderating the chat itself.  Burn-out will most definitely occur if only one or two people are responsible for continuing to do all of this every week when real-life demands decide to strike hard.  Surrounding your chat with a great group of people to help run it when you can't is important not only for the chat, but for you, the founder.  Depending on the size of your chat, you probably don't need a lot of people for this job, but you will want to ensure they have a common vision in mind as you collaborate on a direction for the chat together. 



Thanks for reading - these are merely my reflections as Bryn and I have embarked on this journey with getting #bcedchat off the ground.  I'm sure that in a few weeks, I will be able to add so much more as we play with and learn about this process.  

6 Comments

    Author

    Victoria Olson
    A curious and passionate educator in Langley, BC

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Tweets by @MsVictoriaOlson

    Picture

    Picture

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2016
    January 2016
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013


    Categories

    All
    Assessment
    Augmented Reality
    Balance
    Blogging
    Camtasia
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Community
    Creativity
    Design
    Edcamp
    #EdFailFwd
    Education
    Efficiency
    Elementary
    Google Teacher Academy
    Guided Math
    Intermediate
    Ipads
    Multi Age
    Multi-age
    Pln
    Primary
    Pro D
    Pro D
    Pro-D
    Reflection
    Resource
    Screencasting
    Self Regulation
    Sharing
    Tech
    Things That Suck
    Think35
    Twitter
    Video
    #YourEduStory


    Want to subscribe to this blog? Enter your email address below for automatic email updates:

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.