Thing 2: Online Communities



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Online Communities are a great way to stay connected.  At first I was hesistant to join Twitter and Facebook because of privacy issues.  However, the more technology courses I took, the more informed I became on how to keep connected in a safe way. 

Using Facebook became a necessity to connect with family and friends who live out-of-state.  It also connected our family when my sister moved hundreds of miles away.  In my opinion, keeping safe online should always begin with the choices we make... So I am careful to "read the fine" print when posting online.

Twitter on the other hand did not really interest me until I began taking a school technology course.  Our professor had us connect with her on Twitter and we were required to "follow" edtucators who were focusing on Web 2.0 in the K-12 classroom/enviornment.  For me, this was an eye opener.   The connections I made with other educators has been fantastic.   Everyday there are new tech topics and things to learn from. 
 
Speaking of new tech tools, I tried the Paper.li and I love it.  It's my Tweet feed but in newspaper format.  Very Cool!