A 2nd Twitter Chat: Family Engagement: #familyconnect: Focus: LMS

We had another successful #familyconnect chat on Twitter about Learning Management Systems(LMS) and how they engage families and students!  Storify 2! to check out our 2nd storify!  

I felt that this chat was not as engaged as the previous one.  I sensed this because not many tweets were appearing.  I am wondering about the topic I choose and if it may not of been engaging or relevant enough for people to make a contribution.  I did notice however many people who were lurking and making contributions about resources and asking if this was going to be a weekly chat.  That was great, but also has me thinking about how can I continue to inspire others to join us weekly/monthly to engage in conversations about some of our most important stakeholders, our children and their families.

Our next scheduled chat is March 12th 7-8 PM, EST.  I am thinking that maybe this might turn into a monthly event!  We will see.  I am trying to encourage past and present parents as well as colleagues to get people engaged and sharing how they are connecting and the value it has and the positive impact.  Keeping my fingers crossed!   Stay tuned........

Wondering about.....
1. What makes a chat engaging?
2. What needs to happen before during and after?
3. How can I leverage the most from a chat as well as interaction?
Ideas......
1. Post questions ahead of time.
2. Have a co-moderator to support 
3. Divide questions and responsibilities before chat with co-moderator to keep the chat moviing.
4. Have resources tagged ahead of time to share.
5. Invite, share and advertise on all platforms involved in to promote.

Our 1st Conversation On Twitter: #familyconnect

Last night myself and Troy Rivera hosted our first Twitter chat about family and community engagement.  It was awesome!  What I noticed right away is how great people were about joining when they could and also the flow of tweets!  I was so inspired by others ideas.  Also I appreciated reading how many people are doing similar things to engage families.  That is awesome!  I think also having social media as away to connect and engage in online conversations people have an opportunity to ask questions and share as well as reflect.

As I read though all of the tweets I was really struck at the amazing ways people are presently engaging families.  Many people use Facebook, Twitter, Email, Blogger, Kidblog, BUT  many people also use face to face opportunities as well.  Some examples were celebrations of learning, shopping and being a patron in the community you teach, walking after school through neighborhoods.  I am thinking about the importance of having many different ways to engage.  In person is important as well as virtually.  Many people have mobil devices which are a great way to get up to date text, emails and other notifications. I am very inspired and excited to be doing it again next week!
I even created my first storify of some of the tweets from our discussion!  Learning lots through this experience.  Click here to read my 1st Storify from our chat!