Day 4 Connected Educator Month: Hashtags

If you’ve completed the activities from day three and have been browsing through your Twitter stream, you’ve no doubt noticed the use of hashtags. Typing a pound sign followed by a word or phrase (such as #edchat, #plpnetwork or #CE14) into a tweet makes a special link that searches Twitter for that word or phrase. In this way, you can follow discussions, topics, live tweeting of conferences or events, or join Twitter chats (scheduled discussions of particular topics which are grouped together by hashtags for easy tracking). Visit this link for more on hashtags and Twitter chats, or check out this complete list of weekly Twitter chat times.

Here are some activities to get you started using and following hashtags.

• Check out the hashtag #CE14 (the official hashtag for Connected Educator Month 2014) to find out about events, join discussions, and discover other connected educators to follow.
• Join a Twitter chat during Connected Educator Month. Check out the calendar and click on “Twitter chat” in the list of event types to see all the chats that are happening this month. Connected Cafe Twitter chats will happen every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in October. They are sponsored by ISTE and will include Board members, yearly award- winning teachers, and the Center for Teaching Quality’s Collaboratory Teacher Leaders.
• Read educator Patti Grayson’s account of discovering hashtags and using them for her DIY professional development.
• If you want more on how to use Twitter for professional development, check out Middleweb’s excellent resource on Twitter for summer PD.
• Sign up for a Twitter application like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite (both sites have web-based, desktop, and mobile apps). These Twitter clients let you track hashtags, make lists of people you follow, quickly check your @replies and direct messages, and more.
• Start following a few hashtags. Start with #CE14 so you don’t miss out on Connected Educator Month discussions and announcements. Find more suggestions in The Complete Guide to Twitter Hashtags for Education.
• Try composing your own tweet using a hashtag. Stumped for ideas?

Just tweet this: I just learned all about hashtags from the Connected Educator Starter kit with #CE14 and @plpnetwork. 

This is from the Connected Educator Starter Kit

Sign up for daily email updates.