Taking Part in #FLEdChat
The #FLEdChat Team
@TG_Neil @Celeste_Clemons @KristinCHarr @DKonopelko @kmichellehowell @dene_gainey
Thanks for agreeing to take part in #FLEdChat! Having many people active and involved in the conversation strengthens and defines our group. In order to support you we have listed a few basic ideas that might help you enhance your experience with the chat. Please ask any questions. We are happy to help!
Best of luck with the chat. Thanks for your contribution!
Organization
First of all, feel free to join in at any time. The moderator will direct the conversation to address the chosen topic as we move through the chat.
- Using Q1, Q2, formats allows the chat to be followed more easily and is easier to understand in the archive, especially when people respond using the same. Most chats start with an introduction and some general topic questions.
- e.g. Q1: How do you use tech in your classroom?
- e.g. Q2: What are the pros and cons of using tech?
- To respond to one of these questions, you should include A1: and #FLEdChat.
- e.g. A1: I use [insert amazing app] to help increase collaboration among the students and groups in my classroom. #FLEdChat
- After a welcome and a prompt for participants to introduce themselves, question generally go from 5 minutes to 10 minutes. We try not to let any akward twitter silence develop. Don’t get too bogged down in the introductions that you keep people waiting for the 1st question.
Content
Make sure you keep the focus of the conversation on topic by retweeting and following up on key comments. Often people will go off on tangents. That is to be expected and is part of the democratic nature of Twitter. However, the moderator should maintain the focus on the advertised chat topic.
-Retweet excellent contributions and resources.
-Ask for clarification questions if needed.
Negativity
This is very rare, but Twitter etiquette dictates negative comments and conversations move to a different medium. We welcome differing points of view but want to keep it positive and productive in our forum!
Helpful Tips
- Be careful not to reply or to like every contribution, if your tweet count is too high, you might get suspended. But do reply and/or RT as appropriate.
- It’s ok to offer links to your resources as appropriate to the chat, but be mindful not to make it an overt commercial. Keep “thought leadership” in mind as a frame.
- Look at our archives on www.fledchat.org many will give you a good feel of hosting.
Chat Roles
Moderators: Typically there is one Moderator who takes care of the responsibilities listed above. With a fast paced chat it may be helpful to have two people to keep it on track and productive. They may take turns asking questions and retweeting great ideas and links.
Welcoming New People/Greeter: One of our strengths is acknowledging and welcoming new participants. We want people to feel good about being in the chat and excited about coming back and joining the chat.
- The main task is to recognize new participants and say hi. With any luck several people will do this anyway.
- Also, keep track of how many new people there were and follow up with an invitation to the join us again.
Archiver: Archiving is a fundamentally important role for our group.
- Archiving using Storify is relatively simple and will be completed by one of the chat leaders.
- This is taken care of by @TG_Neil
FLedChat 