Thing #5

I have been using Facebook for a while now. It has been a valuable platform for discussion. I love to stay connected with friends and family. I keep up with my little sister on there. We don't see each other much and we can still communicate through this forum. My daughter, who is living in Michigan, has fun with the different game tools on there with me. I have found many professional friends on there. Many since changing schools, and now districts, are such awesome connections to keep.
Twitter is a little different story. I joined Twitter a few months back but just didn't keep up with it. Some of the conversations seemed just trivial in some aspects. But after reading this tutorial, I can see many uses this might be helpful with. I am thinking of the teachers and their busy schedules. This might be a forum where a school conversation can go on. Also, I can see the uses in informing parents and the school community of library happenings. So I have done an about face with my perceptions of this tool and would like to use it in the future.
As far as backchanneling, my mind went immediately to college. I can think of my physics and algebra classes. It would have been so nice to have someone helping to clarify the professors attempts to get some of these more complex subjects to me as I was listening, confused and trying to clarify while taking notes. So I can see how this might help some in the higher education echalons. I also can see ESL students benefitting from this. Many of our classes with needed content could be taught in English, with a person helping to clarify immediately in their own language.