Engage with @ArneDuncan during #StuVoice Twitter chat

The voice of students is of utmost importance and today those students are harnessing the power of social media to take a stand, be heard, and take action around the issues that affect them.  It seems Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his team are interested in listening.

Today, January 13, 2014, Secretary Duncan will be moderating a special one-hour #stuvoice Twitter chat to get feedback from students on how we can keep college affordable and how the Administration’s college rating system can be useful for students and families.

You can join tonight. 

Details...

What: #StuVoice Twitter Chat with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

When: 8:30pm EST Monday January 13, 2014

Where: Follow the Twitter conversation starting at 8:30pm on Jan. 13, with the #stuvoice hashtag and follow @ArneDuncan and @Stu_Voice.

For more information visit the Student Voice website http://stuvoice.org/, Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thestuvoice, and Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/stuvoice. You can also subscribe to the Department of Education’s Youth Voices newsletter, and follow ED Youth Voices on Facebook.

Being a connected educator means being in conversations that matter

One of the most important reasons to be a connected educator is that it allows us to have a voice in conversations that matter.  If you are digitally literate you enable your voice to be heard in important conversations on a local, state, national, and global level in ways that were never possible, just a decade ago.  

Have you ever thought…

if only policymakers like our education secretary were hearing from actual educators like [Deb Meier, Chris Lehmann, Angela Maiers, Dennis Littky, Will Richardson, or whomever you admire] maybe they would have a better handle on what our students really need for success?

Instead, we know from media reports that typically, educators do not have the ear of such policymakers.  Sure, there may be a PR event here or there where educators are tossed a bone, but we rarely hear of sustained, ongoing conversations between educators and those in charge of what is happening by those who make the decisions.  

Connected educators know that there really is no good reason for this, and social media is starting to break down those walls. They are doing great work and not afraid to share it far and wide. They are publishing books, contributing articles, blogging, commenting on education stories, connecting in social networking groups, speaking to audiences live and via video (i.e. TEDxEd), and, of course Tweeting about what they are doing.  

Unfortunately, it is rare to hear that policymakers are a part of these conversations.  

Last year it seemed that just might change when United States Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan declared our nation would recognize this work with Connected Educator Month. It will take place this October and is described on the USDOE blog as “a month-long exploration and celebration of online communities and networks dedicated to broadening and deepening educator participation in learning and sharing, and bringing online community and education leaders together to move towards a more fully connected and collaborative profession.”

Duncan is not just talking the talk.  He’s walking the walk. This week he picked up his game and I don’t mean on the basketball court. He actually began following some of education’s most influential Twitterati. I was tipped off when the following came up in my Twitter feed.

My reaction?