Undoubtedly the educational community's use of Twitter has been one of the brightest stars of the Twitterverse. I assume there are some other communities where Twitter has similarly been fruitful.
But that is not the Twitter known to most people. I neither approve nor disapprove of the plans that Musk has for Twitter (nor do I really know what his plans are), but there is little doubt in my mind that the current Twitter environment that most people are familiar with is not healthy for a functioning democracy. I reserve my judgement until I see what he does.
My hope for all of us is that he leaves the education community alone.
Do you remember the good old days when we used to read each others blogs and comment, then post them on twitter? Now I almost never write a post and rarely read them.
I've dropped almost all of my social media. The good communities have grown impersonal and the bad communities are very bad.
I signed up for a new account on twitter a couple of months ago to start something new, but before tweeting anything all the people they suggested I follow were extreme right wing politicians and "news" corporations. Not mainstream anything. I've noticed youtube has started feeding me similar garbage as I have started watching more of their shorts. (It certainly isn't as if any of my likes or interests would lead to that).
I have to assume the social media landscape is flailing around looking for ways to make money and so far the funding sources are not good.
> Do you remember the good old days when we used to read each others blogs and comment, then post them on twitter?
I do, yes, absolutely, with a tear in my eye. I can only allow myself so much nostalgia, though, especially about the form that kind of community takes. If it's in a different form somewhere now, then I can feel great about that. I'm just not finding it is the thing.
I am 99% sure I first came across #VNPS on twitter. This led down a wonderful rabbit hole that revolutionized my classroom for the past 5 or 6 years. No one in my building was even aware of it or wanted to try.
One thing I miss about the old days is that people used to share lesson materials they'd made that they were proud of. It anchored discussion so people weren't just talking past each other with ideologies, and it gave new entrants a way to break in: share a cool activity, or a specific insight about an activity someone else had shared.
I'm not sure that'll work in TikTok; not sure what platform makes that work best. Your old blog was a thousand times more helpful to me as a teacher than my masters' degree was.
Twitter will definitely improve without censorship. I don't think there will be any negatives for teachers or anyone trying to get unfiltered information.
I have mixed feelings. I've never really loved Twitter. Although I like #mtbos, it really doesn't feel like a community to me. I like Facebook groups. They feel like communities to me. Also, I'm an older dude, 57. Seems like younger folks like Twitter more, but I don't really see the appeal. And, there was a period of time where my students were on Twitter, but now they all use Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok. Right now, I don't think it's really wise to install the Tik Tok app on your phone, register and use the app regularly. Although Twitter and Facebook are already a bit like Big Brother, it seems like Tik Tok has asked them to hold it's beer. I don't like the idea of giving China more access to my info than they already have. For me, Facebook is very tolerable. I don't get besieged with right wing ads. And I am able to be a part of multiple communities. And the communities are productive. Including the math communities.
If Musk wants to make Twitter into Parler or Truth Social, then I want no part of that and I will delete my accounts- personal and private. Right now, Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, is working on a new protocol via a company called BlueSky (https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-jack-dorsey-launches-beta-bluesky-social-app-2022-10). It sounds like it has some potential. It's blockchain based and does not require a company to run it. I don't know if this is the answer or just another way for misinformation and hate to be spread. Too soon to say.
If we really wanted to, we could just have our own math teacher forum. It's not like it would require massive drives or bandwidth- there's just not that many math teachers in the US (there's not billions or even millions). And, Dan, if you're still at Desmos, maybe Desmos could create that forum? Although I also understand the desire to just focus on one thing.
I stopped using Twitter shortly after watching Robert Kaplinsky get flayed online. At first there was some appropriate negative feedback, but it devolved quickly. It feels to me that Twitter shifted, even within the math ed community, towards gaining status through moral signaling. To me it felt like those tweets came to dominate the platform, and it was not good for my own mental health and view towards educators to watch so many be so demeaning to to their peers.
I work with new teachers every day. To my surprise, my new teachers applying Building Thinking Classrooms joined Facebook, not Twitter, to find community. They tell me problems and solutions they are hearing from teachers in that group almost every time we meet.
For me, it is hard to imagine anything replacing my twitter teacher community. It will keep me there longer than I otherwise would stay, because I so value the learning partners and friends I have found there. I do a better job for the teachers I serve because of the things I continue to learn from math friends on twitter. It is not long ago. It is last week, yesterday. It is worth staying to see what can survive.
I’m in wait and see mode. It’s easy to imagine the lovely feast of food for thought that Twitter has provided quickly rotting and swarming with flies. I have caught whiffs of stench, but honestly that smell has been there for a while. I’m hoping the feast will continue, even if there are a few more sour grapes.
I think what people want is conversation connection and learning, which isn't what they are doing over at Tik Tok, YouTube, even Instagram and Pinterest. At those sites they take content and try to match it to users so they stay on the site add much as possible. Twitter was all about connections and conversations (remember when there weren't pictures?), but they have been shifting more towards a social media kind of model for a while. They've been trying to include more media, trying to use algorithms to keep people on, and using technology to cram ads everywhere. I still look at Twitter and see the conversation, but I do a lot off deliberate moves to get that. I am selective with following, I mute a bunch off people, I turn off the 'home' sort. This conversation has been starting to outgrow Twitter for a while. Given the importance the new ownership is placing on profit, the conversation will soon need a suitable home. Reddit seems like a place built for conversation and gives users a lot of chances to customize what they see. Discord is something built for conversation but I don't know much about it. Somebody could make some custom site whose sole purpose is for math teachers to talk and share. If that somebody is reading this, let me know how I can help.
> Somebody could make some custom site whose sole purpose is for math teachers to talk and share.
This is an interesting idea. My colleague Denis has tried this a bunch using different platforms none of which have really taken off. Lots of possible reasons for that, none of which contradict your main hypothesis. I hav a guess, though, that teachers, like many folks, want to gather where everyone else is gathered and create sub-gatherings from there.
I have never been on twitter. I am not sure exactly what your post is saying/looking for. I doubt if I will ever join twitter though--I guess if I was on it I might have a better understanding of your post.
Undoubtedly the educational community's use of Twitter has been one of the brightest stars of the Twitterverse. I assume there are some other communities where Twitter has similarly been fruitful.
But that is not the Twitter known to most people. I neither approve nor disapprove of the plans that Musk has for Twitter (nor do I really know what his plans are), but there is little doubt in my mind that the current Twitter environment that most people are familiar with is not healthy for a functioning democracy. I reserve my judgement until I see what he does.
My hope for all of us is that he leaves the education community alone.
Do you remember the good old days when we used to read each others blogs and comment, then post them on twitter? Now I almost never write a post and rarely read them.
I've dropped almost all of my social media. The good communities have grown impersonal and the bad communities are very bad.
I signed up for a new account on twitter a couple of months ago to start something new, but before tweeting anything all the people they suggested I follow were extreme right wing politicians and "news" corporations. Not mainstream anything. I've noticed youtube has started feeding me similar garbage as I have started watching more of their shorts. (It certainly isn't as if any of my likes or interests would lead to that).
I have to assume the social media landscape is flailing around looking for ways to make money and so far the funding sources are not good.
> Do you remember the good old days when we used to read each others blogs and comment, then post them on twitter?
I do, yes, absolutely, with a tear in my eye. I can only allow myself so much nostalgia, though, especially about the form that kind of community takes. If it's in a different form somewhere now, then I can feel great about that. I'm just not finding it is the thing.
I am 99% sure I first came across #VNPS on twitter. This led down a wonderful rabbit hole that revolutionized my classroom for the past 5 or 6 years. No one in my building was even aware of it or wanted to try.
One thing I miss about the old days is that people used to share lesson materials they'd made that they were proud of. It anchored discussion so people weren't just talking past each other with ideologies, and it gave new entrants a way to break in: share a cool activity, or a specific insight about an activity someone else had shared.
I'm not sure that'll work in TikTok; not sure what platform makes that work best. Your old blog was a thousand times more helpful to me as a teacher than my masters' degree was.
> Your old blog was a thousand times more helpful to me as a teacher than my masters' degree was.
🥲
Twitter will definitely improve without censorship. I don't think there will be any negatives for teachers or anyone trying to get unfiltered information.
I have mixed feelings. I've never really loved Twitter. Although I like #mtbos, it really doesn't feel like a community to me. I like Facebook groups. They feel like communities to me. Also, I'm an older dude, 57. Seems like younger folks like Twitter more, but I don't really see the appeal. And, there was a period of time where my students were on Twitter, but now they all use Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok. Right now, I don't think it's really wise to install the Tik Tok app on your phone, register and use the app regularly. Although Twitter and Facebook are already a bit like Big Brother, it seems like Tik Tok has asked them to hold it's beer. I don't like the idea of giving China more access to my info than they already have. For me, Facebook is very tolerable. I don't get besieged with right wing ads. And I am able to be a part of multiple communities. And the communities are productive. Including the math communities.
If Musk wants to make Twitter into Parler or Truth Social, then I want no part of that and I will delete my accounts- personal and private. Right now, Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, is working on a new protocol via a company called BlueSky (https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-jack-dorsey-launches-beta-bluesky-social-app-2022-10). It sounds like it has some potential. It's blockchain based and does not require a company to run it. I don't know if this is the answer or just another way for misinformation and hate to be spread. Too soon to say.
If we really wanted to, we could just have our own math teacher forum. It's not like it would require massive drives or bandwidth- there's just not that many math teachers in the US (there's not billions or even millions). And, Dan, if you're still at Desmos, maybe Desmos could create that forum? Although I also understand the desire to just focus on one thing.
That's all I got.
I stopped using Twitter shortly after watching Robert Kaplinsky get flayed online. At first there was some appropriate negative feedback, but it devolved quickly. It feels to me that Twitter shifted, even within the math ed community, towards gaining status through moral signaling. To me it felt like those tweets came to dominate the platform, and it was not good for my own mental health and view towards educators to watch so many be so demeaning to to their peers.
I work with new teachers every day. To my surprise, my new teachers applying Building Thinking Classrooms joined Facebook, not Twitter, to find community. They tell me problems and solutions they are hearing from teachers in that group almost every time we meet.
For me, it is hard to imagine anything replacing my twitter teacher community. It will keep me there longer than I otherwise would stay, because I so value the learning partners and friends I have found there. I do a better job for the teachers I serve because of the things I continue to learn from math friends on twitter. It is not long ago. It is last week, yesterday. It is worth staying to see what can survive.
I’m in wait and see mode. It’s easy to imagine the lovely feast of food for thought that Twitter has provided quickly rotting and swarming with flies. I have caught whiffs of stench, but honestly that smell has been there for a while. I’m hoping the feast will continue, even if there are a few more sour grapes.
I think what people want is conversation connection and learning, which isn't what they are doing over at Tik Tok, YouTube, even Instagram and Pinterest. At those sites they take content and try to match it to users so they stay on the site add much as possible. Twitter was all about connections and conversations (remember when there weren't pictures?), but they have been shifting more towards a social media kind of model for a while. They've been trying to include more media, trying to use algorithms to keep people on, and using technology to cram ads everywhere. I still look at Twitter and see the conversation, but I do a lot off deliberate moves to get that. I am selective with following, I mute a bunch off people, I turn off the 'home' sort. This conversation has been starting to outgrow Twitter for a while. Given the importance the new ownership is placing on profit, the conversation will soon need a suitable home. Reddit seems like a place built for conversation and gives users a lot of chances to customize what they see. Discord is something built for conversation but I don't know much about it. Somebody could make some custom site whose sole purpose is for math teachers to talk and share. If that somebody is reading this, let me know how I can help.
> Somebody could make some custom site whose sole purpose is for math teachers to talk and share.
This is an interesting idea. My colleague Denis has tried this a bunch using different platforms none of which have really taken off. Lots of possible reasons for that, none of which contradict your main hypothesis. I hav a guess, though, that teachers, like many folks, want to gather where everyone else is gathered and create sub-gatherings from there.
I have never been on twitter. I am not sure exactly what your post is saying/looking for. I doubt if I will ever join twitter though--I guess if I was on it I might have a better understanding of your post.