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If you have a question about going to college online, Melissa can help. Get direct access to our expert on Twitter.
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Inside Online Learning
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The Latest
Crowdsourcing the Textbook: Terminology, Technology, and TechniqueWe've explored the benefits and challenges of eTextbooks here at Inside Online Learning, but haven't given much attention to how these books are prepared. Crowdsourcing is emerging as a strategy in which Instructors and …
Twitter Chat with Inside Online Learning
Welcome to #IOLchat on Twitter!
We meet weekly to discuss current issues in online learning. These chats are an opportunity for you to share your experiences and learn from others as well. The chat topics range from trends in online education to new digital tools. Melissa Venable, our Inside Online Learning blogger, hosts each chat and posts questions here in advance of the upcoming session, along with related information to help you get ready.
Our next chat will take place on Wednesday, February 22, 2012, from 12:00pm to 1:00pm ET.
Topic: Finding and Joining Online Learning Communities
This session is a follow up to our recent chat addressing techniques for community building and collaboration in online courses. Join us and welcome @CiscoCSR as a featured guest! Where can students and instructors find peers outside of their courses and programs? These groups can provide a different kind of learning support as well as open up professional networking connections. This week we will discuss ways to find these communities and participate in them to extend the experience of the online student and instructor.
Q1) What should online learners and instructors look for when connecting with peers, outside of their current courses and programs?
Read ahead: How to Find the Right Support Community from the Cisco Blog
Q2) What are the benefits of connecting with peers beyond those in your school or organization?
Read ahead: Exploring Online Community Social Relationships from ConnectedEducators.org
Read ahead: Networking is Out? Connecting is In! from Inside Online Learning
Q3) What are some recommended guidelines for participating in online learning communities?
Read ahead: Joining is Important to Social Learning from Dennis Callahan
We hope you will be able to join us!
You can replay our most recent chats below.
What is a live chat?
We will start with an introduction and them move into our topic questions as a guide for the discussion. Follow @OC_org and use the hashtag #IOLchat. You can follow the live conversation using your Twitter account or use a tool like TweetChat that automatically adds the chat hashtag to your tweets and allows you to see all participants, not just those you already follow with your account. Enter your Twitter ID and password to enter.
Other options are to follow the hashtag as a search stream with Hootsuite, TweetGrid, and TweetDeck.
What do you want to discuss during our next chat session? Send Melissa your topics/ideas: melissa@onlinecollege.org!
Recent Chats
- Our past chats can be found on the archives page.
Chat Tips:
- Feel free to listen-in for a bit before joining in, especially if you are new to Tweet chats!
- Let your followers know that you'll be joining a chat – both to invite them to join and a caution about an increased volume of tweets from your account.
- Use RT and reply to interact with other participants and respond to the moderator's question tweets.
- If you want to "listen in" but not participate, consider saying hello and letting the group know that you are there and hoping to learn more.
- The point of the chat is to share perspectives and experiences – add your unique voice.
- Remember that all of your followers will see your tweets!
Additional Resources:
- What is a Hashtag?
Other online learning and higher education chats you might like:
