Twittering from #Moodlebootcamp

Currently I am sitting on the porch of my cabin at Moodle Boot Camp near Eatonville, WA writing a blog post.  This truly is a beautiful area.  I was lucky to be able to come here for a learning opportunity regarding Moodle, the learning management system that we will begin to incorporate in the fall for Great Falls Public Schools.

This is where I wrote this blogpost

I learned a few new things yesterday, but the one I would like to discuss is the  utilization of twitter at a fishbowl session we had as an end to our first day of #Moodlebootcamp.  I was using my cell phone (getting a few dirty looks) during the session to take notes using hashmarks and @replies as a method of organizing.  A hashmark in twitter is simply placing a pound sign “#”, before a set of text regarding the topic, which is what I have been doing with the phrase “#moodlebootcamp” each time I send a tweet with respect to my experience here.  What the hashmark allows me to do, is organize all the tweets that contain that phrase in one place on a page on the web.  My notes have been shared with anyone who wants to look at them or even add to them if they choose to tweet including the phrase #moodlebootcamp. Backchanneling is powerful learning tool and twitter allows me to have a backchannel whenever I want.  I knew the twitter names of a couple of the fishbowl participants so I was able to utilize those as well…I hope @orwinr and @jeffrobodine didn’t mind.  For myself, I managed to widen the conversation and pull in some information from my tremendous PLN (Personal Learning Network). I can now access my experience at moodlebootcamp using a hashmark on a word in a tweet.

Imagine taking notes in class, sharing them with everyone, and having people you respect and who respect you adding their comments to your notes.  I can do that with twitter.