Use Tweetchat to take part in Twitter discussions

All it took was a set date, a topic, and a hashtag, namely #edchatsa. SA teachers who were on Twitter were then notified that a tweetchat for SA teachers would take place every Monday night from 8:30pm – 9:30pm; and so our regular and popular tweetchat was born! Arthur Preston from Elkanah House put this all into motion. Very soon teachers told other teachers and so the news spread and the numbers are growing steadily. If you would like to know more, Arthur has set up a website http://edchatsa.co.za with all the necessary information. This website is also the place where we go during the week to vote from the choice of topics for the following Monday night’s chat. A new development is that the chats are being summarised each week by volunteers using Storify. You’ll notice these summaries on the website.

What is the point of a Twitter chat for teachers?

There are quite a few educational Twitter chats that take place around the world, the two most well-known (to me) being #edchat and #ukedchat. Basically educationists get together to air their views and opinions on matters of education. Education world-wide is going through a major revamp and rethink! It is vital to cross-pollinate with teachers from other locations and share ideas and is so worthwhile when teachers prioritize and make time for this valuable interaction. 

How does one follow a Twitter chat using Tweetchat.com?

The best application for following a twitter chat is Tweetchat. (http://tweetchat.com.)
Sean Hampton-Cole, one of the #edchatsa tweeters kindly sent me a PowerPoint on how to use Tweetchat which I am embedding below.

How to use Tweetchat for a twitter discussion

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Benefits of using Tweetchat

• You can tweet to the chat without typing the hashtag, as well as retweet, reply to and favour others’ tweets as you chat.
• You can adjust the refresh speed to 5 seconds which is the minimum available
• You can keep everything on one screen easily so as to focus on the discussion that is taking place.

Join us on a Monday night

So why not open up Tweetchat on a Monday night, type in the hashtag #edchatsa and join the conversation?