Slow #TeachAgChat During NAAE Conference

NAAE Conference Slow #TeachAgChat

     TeachAgChat is proud to host a professional networking opportunity for all members of the teach ag community during the NAAE 2016 Conference. This professional network opportunity will occur from Tuesday November 29th through Saturday December 3rd on the social media platform Twitter. 

What is a "Slow #TeachAgChat"?

     A "Slow #TeachAgChat" is very similar to the usual #TeachAgChat that occurs most Thursday's from 8 pm - 9 pm EST (Click here to see more #TeachAgChat info http://teachagchat.blogspot.com/). Instead of it occurring just during one hour though the "Slow" chat will occur during the entire conference.  So instead of one hour with eight questions, eight questions will be posted and can be answered over a period of five days. You can use the hashtag #TeachAgChat to join the live chat during the Conference. 

     To beat that you will be given the opportunity to post multiple times on Twitter regarding one particular question.  For example on Tuesday there will be one question posted. You will be able to answer the question multiple times during Tuesday at set times.  There will be at most two questions per day so there is no pressure to be on twitter for a long period of time during this conference. 

What are the Questions?

   For the Slow #TeachAgChat the following questions will be posted:

What's the Difference Between On-Site and Off-Site?

     To build a sense of inclusion and community those not attending the NAAE 2016 Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada can still participate in the #TeachAgChat by responding to the off-site questions.  Most of the topics the off-site questions aim to target are very similar to the on-site questions. The main differences is they are worded to improve the ability for those not at the conference to still have the same opportunity to Tweet out during the chats as those at the conference.  This way more than just attendees can experience this professional networking opportunity.

What are the Benefits to Participating in Slow #TeachAgChat?

     We are proud to announce that prizes will be awarded out during the event.  Each question both On-Site and Off-Site will have a randomly selected winner and win prizes from NAAE. Prizes include: NAAE Hats, NAAE Shirts, and a Grand Prize which will remain a secret for now. Additionally you will be learning the benefits Twitter has as a professional network tool to help connect with fellow agriscience educators from around the country. 

Now I'm Interested, How do I Participate?

     By using your own twitter account you can join the chat by answering questions which will be posted onto twitter for a specific time.  By posting on Twitter your response and using the hashtag "TeachAgChat" you will be put into the raffle to win the specific teach ag chat question.  Each On-Site and Off-Site Question will have one winner which will be randomly selected. Both On-Site and Off-Site winners will be rewarded as well as Grand Prize Winners will be selected Saturday Night from everyone participating. 

   We hope to see many participants for this great #TeachAg opportunity.  If there are further questions please feel free to reach out to Dr. Foster @FosterDanielD or foster@psu.edu .

November 10th - Teaching and Empowering the ALL w/ @universityofky

Host:

University of Kentucky AED 580 Class

Topic:

Teaching and Empowering the ALL

Prompts:

http://teachagchat.blogspot.com/2016/11/introducing-november-10th-teachagchat.html

Storify Archive:

Introducing November 10th #TeachAgChat Prompts

The Host's of the #TeachAgChat on November 10th Present:

Questions:
  
1) Tell us - Who are the ALL in our classrooms? Schools? Community? 
2) Where do I START in order to have a program that is inclusive of ALL? 
3) What can CREATE a welcoming environment to ALL? 
4) What WARRANTS student to avoid the program? 
5) How do I modify my CURRICULUM for ALL? 
6) How do I INCLUDE FFA for ALL to participate?  
7) How do we RECRUIT students who aren’t like me? 
8) How do I help ALL my students in their GROWTH for inclusion?
9) What RESOURCES can help me with ALL my students?


Hosted by Members of the University of Kentucky AED 580 Course.


Join Us on Twitter from 8 pm - 9pm EDT to learn more about Empowering All.

October 27th - Increasing Global Competency In Our Classroom w/ @TeachAgPSU #psuaged17

Host:

Penn State Agricultural and Extension Education 2017 Cohort

Topic:

Increasing Global Competency In Our Classroom

Prompts:

http://teachagchat.blogspot.com/2016/10/introducing-oct-27th-teachagchat-prompts.html

Storify Archive:

Introducing Oct 27th #TeachAgChat Prompts

The Host's of the #TeachAgChat on October 27th Present:

Hosted by Members of the Penn State Agricultural and Extension Education 2017 Cohort.


Join Us on Twitter from 8 pm - 9pm EST to learn more about Global Competency.

October 13th - #SAE: Think Inside and Outside the Box w/ @TeachAgPSU #psuaged17

Host:

Penn State Agricultural and Extension Education 2017 Cohort

Topic:

SAE: Thinking Inside and Outside the Box

Prompts:

Storify Archive:

September 29th - Local Program Success: Keys and Resources w/ @NationalFFA LPS Team

Host:

National FFA Local Program Success Team ( @NationalFFA )

Topic:

Local Program Success: Keys and Resources

Prompts:

https://t.co/zrLEshzWyP

Storify Archive:

Greetings from the #TeachAgChat Intern

Hello, I am George Dietrich a current junior in the Agricultural and Extension Education Major at Penn State University. I am the current Teach Ag Chat Intern.  I will be the one assisting with all chats over the following semesters.  Every now and again you will hear from me via emails or blogs pertaining to the #TeachAgChat. I hope everyone is excited for the next Teach Ag Chat as much as I am. Tune in on September 29th to hear from National FFA with LPS Tips. Same time, same place.

We Are!

Teach Ag PSU!

George Dietrich
Twitter: @TheGeorge4H

Teach Ag Chat Intern

Penn State University

Agricultural and Extension Education 

Food Science Dual Major

Class of 2018

Fall 2016 #TeachAg Chat Schedule

 We are excited to announce the 3rd Series of the #TeachAgChat for Fall 2016! #TeachAgChat was founded in Fall 2015 by #psuaged16.

Past "hosts" include:

• 2016 PSU Student Teachers (Founders)
• Tennessee Association of Agricultural Educators (TAAE)
• Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA)
• Southeast Polk Agriscience Department/FFA Chapter (Iowa)
• Idaho FFA Association
• National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE)
• Iowa State University, Agricultural Education Program
• Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE)
• Texas A&M University & Agricultural Experience Tracker (AET)
• University of Nebraska Lincoln, Department of Agronomy & Horticulture
• National FFA Education Resources Team
• University of Connecticut Agricultural Teacher Certification Program

The Fall 2016 Line Up includes:

If you are interested in hosting a #TeachAgChat in the Spring 2017, please email teachag@psu.edu

Top Tips: Hosting Tips from UConn

Follow these tips for a smooth sailing #TeachAgChat:

●       Review http://teachagchat.blogspot.com/ as soon as you start planning as there is LOTS of information that could be very helpful to begin preparation for a great chat.

●       Definitely recruit & “Agvocate” to get people aware of the #TeachAgChat so that you can maximize the information you are trying to get out. Invite participants early – send personal emails to invite participants for the chat.  Provide detailed information on the purpose of the chat and role of the participants you are inviting.  Some people may be unsure about your expectations for them, and others may need some guidance on using Twitter.

●       Participate in #TeachAgChat prior to when you host as participating in one makes hosting one a tad bit easier with understanding how it all runs.

●       Prepare your tweetdeck prior to the chat, so that you can see the #TeachAgChat tweets as they are coming in from around the country.

●       Scheduling tweets makes it very easy so that your answers come right out after the questions without rushing to complete them in time.  Preparing the answers prior to the chat makes it helpful to keep up with all the questions and responses.

●       Before the chat, prepare a shared document, like google docs, with all host members’ planned tweets so that you can share ideas, stimulate additional comments, and work around what others are going to be saying during the chat.

●       Try to retweet fellow participants to further the knowledge and continue the legacy of #TeachAgChat.  Connect with the other participants through your answers and vice versa.

●       Don’t forget to use the hashtag #TeachAgChat (and remind others to include it) during the chat and in all responses/ tweets.  Feel free to use other relevant hashtags as the chat continues as well.

●       Learn how to block a participant or mute them as some participants may come in and provide inappropriate or unrelated responses or questions to the chat.

●       Search for free analytics after the chat is completed using sources such as  http://Keyhole.co and www.hashtracking.com

Our results indicated approximately:

58 participants

265 original tweets
124 @message tweets
83 retweets
472 total tweets
111, 170 total reach
520,679 total impressions

A Huge Shout-out to Daniel Foster for assisting us in leading our very first #TeachAgChat

Top Tips: Hosting tips from the National FFA Education Development and Assessment Team

The Education Development and Assessment Team at the National FFA Organization hosted the #TeachAgChat on June 16 from 8-9 p.m. EDT. What a great opportunity to share resources! Based on the experience we had, we wanted to share a few helpful tips on how to prepare for a Twitter chat.

1.        Clear Instructions. Keep in mind you could have people join the chat who may not be familiar with Twitter.  Be sure to provide clear instructions that everyone can understand. 

2.        Be alert – It moves fast!  Stay focused on the tweets.  Some questions may have a ton of responses and others may not.  Keep your eyes on the tweets!

3.        Label the question.  Since the tweets can move rapidly, it is important to label the question with “Q” and the number of the question.  For example, label the first  question “Q1.”  The same for answers – if it is the answer to the first question, label it “A1.”  This will help keep the tweets organized.

4.       Hashtags. They’re important to keep people in the loop. Pro tip: Remember to include hashtags in your scheduled answers (especially #TeachAgChat).

5.       Tweetdeck. This resource will change your life! If nothing else, it simplifies monitoring/hosting a chat for you.

6.       Elicit the image. Sharp graphics are everything and help promote, draw attention and bring people to the chat. The clearer and more visual the graphic, the better.  

 

Huge thanks to Dr. Foster and The Pennsylvania State University for giving us this opportunity. We look forward to joining other chats in the future.

Sarah Dickinson (sdickinson@ffa.org) and Casey Zufelt (czufelt@ffa.org)

Top Tips: Hosting tips from Texas A&M & AET

Tips for an Ag Chat Session - Lessons from Texas A&M and The AET on Financial Literacy in SAEs

Use the following tips to make your session work.

#1. - Develop questions or areas you would like to cover, then break each one into smaller questions that cover the main point. Twitter sessions move fast and your space to respond is very limited. Breaking your ideas into smaller questions may help in developing shorter responses.

#2. - Be familiar with Twitter and Tweetdeck well before getting started. Tweetdeck is a great tool and essential for this session, so be sure to explore and even test before you actual session.

#3. - Dr. Foster has some great educational materials to get started, so be sure to also review these materials to get you prepared for the session.

#4. - Have references already open and prepared to use in links, which of course relate to your topics and questions. These materials of course need to be online to share, but also be prepared to use Google Shortener to have the URL address better formatted to link into Twitter.

#5. - Recruit and advertise to your contacts!  The sessions are in the evening and everyone is so busy that getting a large audience will be hard.  It sounds from previous experiences of others that connecting this session with a group or other meeting can help raise participation and value for the event.

So here are some ideas, see what you can do to have a great session and support the growth of agricultural education!

Top Tips: Hosting tips from Biotechnology: A World of Opportunity

Top Tips from Biotechnology: A World of Opportunity

We had a great on the 5/20 #TeachAgChat focusing on biotechnology education.  Really enjoyed being able to hear so many perspectives.  It is something we would definitely like to be a part of again.  

• As recommended in our advance planning, we contacted a number of different "experts" into the conversation.  
• I am glad that we contact plenty of folks - some of our experts didn't chat much during the #TeamAgChad (though they definitely enjoyed being a part of it - even just listening) and two had last minute schedule changes.  
• Based on input from past #TeamAgChat participants, I kept in touch with the experts and gave plenty of reminders.  I also mentioned them by name in Tweets leading up to the chat, thinking that might nudge them a bit more.
• We had a variety of experts, which I thought was very helpful.  
• We had three folks from 2 different Universities.
• Five industry leaders were involved, from a variety of areas within the seed industry.
• There were two high school instructors, one with a great deal of experience and one fairly new to biotechnology.
• There was one University professor that didn't Tweed - but he was sure to be an excellent resource.  So, he teamed up with another instructor who did Tweet and it worked well.
•  I wish that I could have done a better job of specifically calling out to those experts.  For example, when a specific question or comment came across, I would have liked to be able to direct that question a little better to a specific expert.
• Really glad that we used Hootsuite to schedule Tweets and TweetChat to follow the conversation during the Tweet. 
• I am echoing what NAAE noted in their blogspot:  "Pay close attention to the responses. The #TeachAgChat is a great learning tool for everyone involved. Make sure to have a follow-up plan for what you will do with the information you receive from the chat."  I did follow up with a number of people following the Chat.
• It took more times to prepare than I had initially expected, but enjoyed all of it - and felt that it went well when all was said and done.

Again, we really enjoyed the opportunity and feel that it was successful.  We didn't know quiet how we would measure success in this BUT we all agreed it was a success at the end!  See the full story at https://storify.com/biotech_edu/teachagchat.

May 19th - Biotechnology in #AgEdu: A world of opportunity w/ @Biotech_Edu

Host:

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Agronomy & Horticulture (@biotech_edu)

Topic:

Biotechnology in #AgEdu: A world of opportunity

Storify Archive:

May 5th- “Advancing Financial Literacy in #AgEdu with #SAE w/ @RogerHanagriff

Host:

AET, Texas A&M and Dr. Roger Hanagriff (@RogerHanagriff)

Topic:

Advancing Financial Literacy in #AgEdu with #SAE

Storify Archive:

Top Tips: Hosting a #TeachAgChat, by Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE)

Future #TeachAgChat Hosts:

CASE enjoyed hosting the #TeachAgChat on Using Inquiry-Based Learning to Elevate Learning in Your Classroom on April 21, 2016. We appreciated the wonderful conversations throughout the one-hour live event and were amazed by the total number of contributors! According to our hashtag review data, there were 95 tweeters who created over 500 original tweets!  When we added up the replies and retweets, there were over 800 total tweets! The #TeachAgChat total reach was over 28,000! We were stunned at the involvement and enjoyed hosting the #TeachAgChat.

Tips for Future Hosts:

1. Promote, Promote, Promote!
1. We used social media as the main way to tell people about the #TeachAgChat. We also shared the information about the chat in the Monday Morning Monitor and over US Agricultural Education and AAAE listservs. This is a great way to reach people who are interested about your topic, but may not follow on social media.
2. Be Visual
1. People like easy to read, quick information with images. There are a lot of “how-to” design types of resources online. Canva is a great website to create visual announcements, infographics, and social media images by using templates. It’s free!
3. Put people in a room together!
1. We hosted our twitter event during CASE Lead Teacher Orientation in Minneapolis. It was amazing to see people working together to create tweets. It elevated the energy in the room. Once they saw their tweets on TweetDeck, it encouraged them to participate more! We also provided a “how-to” participate guide for people who may not be as familiar with Twitter and/or TweetDeck to learn how to participate.

A few things we reflected upon after the #TeachAgChat:

1. We participated and watched #TeachAgChats prior to hosting the CASE chat to see what was working well. One thing we would like to improve upon for next year is using a hashtag reviewing website throughout the time we promoted the Twitter Chat event. This would help us see our promotion reach before the event.
2. We used Storify as a way to share the #TeachAgChat in review. It is a great way to share every tweet from the chat, some of which may have been missed by participants during the live Twitter event.
3. Get familiar with the hashtag impact data website you plan to use before the chat. Some sites have time constraints that can affect your results. Keyhole.co, Hashtracking.com and Hashtagify.me are three good sites to check out before your #TeachAgChat!

We really enjoyed participating in the #TeachAgChat! Good luck to future #TeachAgChat hosts and participants!

April 21st - Using Inquiry-Based Learning to Elevate Learning in Your Classroom w/ @Case4Learning

Host:

Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (@case4learning)

Topic:

Using Inquiry-Based Learning to Elevate Learning in Your Classroom

Storify Archive:

Questions:

April 7th - Experiential Learning; Hosted by Iowa State AEE

Host:

Iowa State University 450 Farm Class (@ISUAg450Farm)
OP McCubbins (@opmcubbins)

Topic:

Application of Experiential Learning

Storify Archive:

https://storify.com/RCMcLean/teachagchat-engaging-in-experiential-learning?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=email&utm_medium=email 

Questions:

Top Tips: ISU 450 Lessons Learned from Hosting

What we learned from hosting #TeachAgChat - ISU 450 Farm Students

On Thursday April 7th the Iowa State Ag 450 Farm PR committee hosted a #TeachAgChat focused on Experiential Learning in the classroom. We had a great time hosting and got to hear from many other Ag teachers and experts in the field.

How the chat went and what we learned:

1. We consulted with two individuals known for their work in the area of Experiential Learning. Both confirmed that they would assist us during the actual chat, however, only one individual actively participated. What we learned: it is very important to include experts in #TeachAgChat to help provide 'expert' advice to questions we may not have answers for. It is important to be in constant contact with your identified experts. However, as with life, stuff happens! We think it was a successful chat!

2. Getting the word out to our followers on Twitter and Facebook is important to having many different types of ideas and replies during the #TeachAgChat.  Actively advertising the event is helpful in gaining participants, and we could have done a better job making frequent advertisements, but overall, the event went well.

3. Because the topic we chose was more applicable to Ag educators, we had a tough time answering a few of the questions.  However, we had a unique perspective to use when responding to some of the other participants' answers.  It was also interesting to learn about the theory that goes into planning these activities.

This session of the #TeachAgChat went pretty well despite the low number of participants.  We look forward to participating in future #TeachAgChats and learning about information that will be relevant to our future careers.