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December 20, 2015

Twitter Bootcamp: Resource for #HumanMOOC

The Week 2 topic for #HumanMOOC is social presence and community building. There's been some great social present via the #HumanMOOC hashtag at Twitter, so I wanted to offer as a resource to share for Week 2 the TWITTER BOOTCAMP that I am working on right now for a January Academic Technology Expo at my school. I hope the materials and activities can be useful to people who have never used Twitter before and even for people who use it a lot. I use Twitter a lot, and I am also learning new things all the time from other users.

So... if you have never used Twitter or have a dormant Twitter account, you might find the Bootcamp useful in developing a fun and productive Twitter presence in conjunction with #HumanMOOC. The materials go step by step, starting with the basics of Twitter (Stage 1 and Stage 2), some recommended tools and add-ons (Stage 3), and then a Twitter project — building a Twitter widget for your LMS or blog (Stage 4). You can contact me with any questions you have (@OnlineCrsLady), and you can also ask your #HumanMOOC Twitter Buddies (see below for more information about that Twitter list).

And... if you are a regular user of Twitter, you might find some new tips and tools in the Bootcamp materials. Even better, you could help me out by sharing YOUR favorite tips and tools, the key ingredients that have made Twitter a useful social learning space for you. Please comment anywhere with your input — the Bootcamp takes the form of a blog so you can comment on the posts there, or you can comment at this blog post, or at Twitter!

#OUTechExpo AND #HumanMOOC. The materials have a University-of-Oklahoma focus (that's where I work), and they are designed for our Technology Expo in January, so that's the #OUTechExpo hashtag that you will see mentioned.  Yet I am sure we could make good use of these materials for #HumanMOOC also — just jiggle the instructions in your mind, substituting #HumanMOOC for #OUTechExpo.

WILL YOU BE A BUDDY? If you are already using Twitter, you could help others in #HumanMOOC to get started in using Twitter and building their personal learning network. I'm making a list of Twitter Buddies for #HumanMOOC, and if you would like me to add your name to that list, that would be super! Being a "Twitter buddy" should not be much work; it's really just about being willing to follow people while they are getting started, replying to their tweets, sharing ideas, and answering questions. You can see the growing list of HumanMOOC Twitter Buddies below.

And THANKS in advance for any feedback people might have about the Bootcamp materials. All 40 posts are done, more or less (I just finished a couple of days ago on the first drafts for them all), and I am working hard on polishing them in time for my school's Expo in January. Some of the posts are in pretty good shape, and some still have gaps. Let me know if there is anything at all that is not clear or not working, and I'll try to be quick to fix it!

Meanwhile, I use Twitter every day and it's an invaluable tool for my own learning and also for my teaching. I hope it's something that can be useful for you too!


(see full-sized graphic at TeachThought)

BUDDIES WIDGET. Below is a widget with the #HumanMOOC Twitter Buddies list. The widget shows their most recent tweets; here is the Members list. Want to be a Twitter Buddy? Just let me know (@OnlineCrsLady).

Notice that this list is not just people's #HumanMOOC tweets; instead, the widget displays all their tweets (except for replies). That way you can see how people are using Twitter not just for the course experience, but in other ways too!