Twitter in a new dress!

As I said in an earlier post, I'm taking a massive open online course called "Educational Technology and Media MOOC "ETMOOC". At the same time, I'm taking two other online courses; EVO 2013 Neuroscience in Education session and DiffiMOOC offered by the University of Alaska Southeast's School of Education. However, ETMOOC attracted my attention. Those people to whom I connected via Google + community are so awesome. They are multi-expert educators with a huge experience in different fields. How can I catch up all this flow of information, resources, tools, ideas, .... ? I attended one of the Twitter Live Chats today and can't keep up with all these tweets. I created a Twitter account 3 years ago. I sometimes use it to share some of my blog's posts or some resources that I find valuable for other teachers. I always ask myself "What is the potential of Twitter for me as a teacher and for students? I think that this course will provide me with some ideas for making use of this tool to the fullest. The coming weeks will bring more surprises.

Week 1 Task ... 

In the first week, we were asked to introduce ourselves using a variety of tools such as YouTube, Windows Movie Maker, Screenr,  xtranormal ... etc. I selected Smore to create a flyer including words, pictures, videos and links to other websites. I hope it would be a good intro to help others know something about myself and my projects. 

Digitizing Learning

Year 2013 seems so overwhelming and overcrowding. There is a variety of massive open online courses (MOOCs) that started at the same time. However, ETMOOC's topics attract my attention. This course includes not only some tools that can be a great potential in my EFL classrooms, but also sheds light on the theoretical background of a new theory that addresses the technological age. It is the Connectivism and connected learning. The 3 digital storytelling, literacy and citizenship are also of a great importance in this digital age. I need to know more about them and how to integrate such a new trend into my traditional teaching settings. The confusing side in this course lies in the use of a variety of tools at the same time to connect to thousands of people and to share my ideas and assignments with them. Among these tools are Twitter, Google+, Blog, BlackBoard Collaborate, and more in the coming weeks. I think that it needs time to be familiar with this new platform and then go a head participating, sharing and learning with this great team of members. 

Topics & Schedule

1. Welcome (Jan 13-19): Welcome Event & Orientation to #etmooc
2. Topic 1 (Jan 20-Feb. 2): Connected Learning – Tools, Processes & Pedagogy
3. Topic 2 (Feb 3-16): Digital Storytelling – Multimedia, Remixes & Mashups
4. Topic 3 (Feb 17-Mar 2): Digital Literacy – Information, Memes & Attention
5. Topic 4 (Mar 3-16): The Open Movement – Open Access, OERs & Future of Ed.
6. Topic 5 (Mar 17-30): Digital Citizenship – Identity, Footprint, & Social Activism

Links to this course tools:

1. The blog of the course
2. BlackBoard Collaborate
3. Twitter hashtag #etmooc
4. ETMOOC Google+ Community 
5. ETMOOC Google Calendar ... To add it to your calendar, please follow this link 

I'm looking forward to learning more and more during this experience. It is time to read, write, reflect, share and connect. If you are interested in the same course, let me see you there!