Collaboration, Learning Community, PLE, Professional Development, Social Media, Virtual Communities

#Hashtag + Community = Learning?

Photo c/o Flickr User drips

Hashtag – The Definition [and then some]

I value my learning networks and those communities I engage, listen, follow and participate in online on a regular basis. In thinking about my PLN, I often rely on a few of #hashtags for information, resources, support and more! Here’s a quick visual c/o Wordle:

In thinking about my initial involvement with #hashtags and learning communities I often ponder people, categories, and the learning groups I am an active member in. Earlier in my involvement with a few #hashtag groups, I am reminded of preliminary tweets from various groups and consider newbie reactions to the community who might share initial uncertainty of involvement and question what is happening and how the conversation evolves:

It isn’t until later that I have engaged with these communities and realized the potential for my own learning and development – personally and professionally. This evening, I was fondly reminded of the impact and appreciation during the #AcAdv Chat and how a simple #hashtag can unite and connect an online learning community :

A question I threw out to my Twitter friends this evening was – “Pondering my hashtags this evening… what ones do you follow to learn, engage, connect, etc? Please share.” Here was the quick response:

A combination of ideas initiated after these immediate query & response on Twitter – is it the #hashtag, person or community you are engaged with? Will your #hashtag live on? How do you form effective learning networks on Twitter? What combination of people & #hashtags will meet the need in ones PLN? These are further investigation areas I will consider to ponder in my research and studies. Your thoughts and ideas are always welcome.

7 thoughts on “#Hashtag + Community = Learning?”

  1. Laura, I think you’re on to something and I share some of your thoughts. Personally, I don’t follow *anyone* in Twitter; I only “follow” hashtags. But even outside of my own personal preferences and biases I think there is something powerful going on with some of the hashtags that have grown into communities of their own. That’s one of the things I’m researching and why I’m doing some of the things I’m doing (http://mistakengoal.com/blog/2011/03/18/visualizing-sachat-data-first-draft/ is just the tip of the iceberg). Let me know if you want to chat about this further or collaborate in formally exploring some of these ideas!

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    1. Hey Kevin – thanks for sharing. This is some very cool research you are doing. Would love to chat further about it after I get back & regroup after the ACPA Convention. Talk soon!

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  2. What a great post. I’ve never really thought through some of these ideas – PLN or even hashtags that I follow.
    Thanks for sharing these ideas. I will process through some of this for me.

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