The Skinny on #EdChat

The team at USC Rossier School of Education, who run the Twitter handle @USCTeacher, recently pulled together a resource guide for one of the most popular hashtags in education, #EdChat. The Essential #EdChat Resource Guide is a quick and simple guide, that provides the ins-and-outs of how to use #EdChat and what it can do for teachers, students, and education. New to Twitter? This guide shows you how to access past #EdChat discussions.
#EdChat started in 2009 by education pros Shelly Terrell (@ShellTerrell), Tom Whitby (@TomWhitby) and Steven Anderson (@Web20Classroom) when they started a conversation using the now famed hashtag. A brief history written by Anderson, shared that Whitby was a natural instigator of conversation, but wanted a way to capture it in shareable way. That is when Terrell, Whitby and Anderson held their first Twitter chat and have been hosting one every Tuesday since (with the exception of Christmas break).
My favorite part of this guide? The Twitter chat map for educators around the country (see below). Connect with educators in your state, neighboring state or nation-wide. Want to dive in deeper? There are Twitter chats on virtually every subject.
 
Twitter can be a great resource for information sharing, collaboration and PD and the use of hashtags can help tailor your search and connect with like-minded professionals, but getting started can be overwhelming. There really is no question to whether or not you should join Twitter, it is more of how to access it to the full extent. There are so many resources available to support the next step into Twitter, jump in!
For more information on tips and tricks on social media in education, read Getting Smart on Social Media.