Technology in Education

I wrote an email to some of my colleagues at work today about a recent success story that I’ve had, in no small part because of Twitter. This incredibly simple social networking tool has proved it’s value to me several times since  I first logged on just over a month ago.

Here is the email body that I sent out this morning, as originally written.

I may have told you that shortly after creating a Twitter account I was contacted by a fellow that I opted to follow. He works for TechSmith (the reason I found him on Twitter at all) and offered his services if ever I had questions about Camtasia. I decided that I would take him up on his offer the other day and ask a question that I couldn’t find the answer to in any of the documentation or tutorials for Camtasia. Just a couple days later I received an answer from him in the form of a Jing recording. He used the free tool similar to Camtasia to walk me through some settings and processes in Camtasia that answered my question completely, accurately and in a very timely manner. This of course speaks more to this individual’s professionalism than Twitter but it provides a compass I believe by which we could guide our approach to the use of these social networking tools. I honestly believe them to be more than just a passing fad.

This example of how this one tool works is repeated again and again across the Internet. Blogs, twitter posts and social networks (Facebook, Ning, etc) are buzzing with professional contacts sharing ideas and assisting each other with problems as they share solutions.

What’s my point?

Really, I just wanted to give you a little success story and hopefully put in your minds that there is something to all of this social networking stuff. Maybe my little success story can spur some interest here.