Control Alt Achieve: Bluesky Starter Tips for Educators

Social media always seems to be changing. Many tools have come and gone (I still remember with fondness my Google+ account) but many more still have come to take their place.

Recently Bluesky has exploded in popularity, adding millions of users over the last few months. Most importantly for me (and maybe for you) many of these users are educators.

Over the last few months I have been thrilled to see how many educators have joined Bluesky. Even better, many are actively posting and participating. In some ways it feels similar to "old education Twitter" for those of us who remember that.

If you haven't joined Bluesky yet, I would encourage you to consider it. The site makes it super easy to connect with others and customize your feed so you see just what you are interested in, making it a more personalized and valuable experience.

To help you get started, I have listed some helpful tips and resources below that got me going with Bluesky. Please share your suggestions as well, and I hope to connect and learn with you there! You can find me at https://bsky.app/profile/ericcurts.bsky.social

✍️ Sign Up

The first step is to sign up for a Bluesky account if you haven't yet:

Go to the site at https://bsky.app/
Click "Sign up"
Enter your email, password, and birthdate
Choose the "handle" you want to use on the service
Upload a profile picture
And finally you can optionally choose some interests to help customize your feed

One key way to connect with others on Bluesky is to include a detailed profile description. This can help you be found by others who share similar interests or job roles. Some things to consider including in your profile description could be:

Your role or expertise - 5th-Grade Science Teacher | HS Principal | EdTech Coach
Educational interests - STEAM | AI in Education | Project-Based Learning
Special skills or certifications - Google Certified Educator | Magic School Pioneer | MIE Expert
Conferences - ISTE | FETC | TCEA
Links - Your blog, website, etc.
Location - If you feel comfortable sharing
Hobbies and interests - Orienteering | Coffee lover | Soccer fan
Relevant hashtags - #EduSky | #UDL | #eSports

Below is my current profile description. It is just an example and will certainly continue to change over time:

EdTech Coach, Year 33 in education, AI Strategist, Author, Blogger, Speaker, Google Champion, Grandpa, Boardgamer, NYT Crossword fanatic, Nerd, all resources at www.controlaltachieve.com #EduSky #EduSkyAI #EdTech #GoogleEDU

👋 Introduce Yourself

Once you have an account on Bluesky, be sure to let others know so they can connect with you. When you do make a post, be sure to include the following hashtag:

#EduSky

This tag is a great way to connect yourself with the education community on Bluesky.

Also, Karly Moura was kind enough to create a Canva template that anyone can use for introduction posts or to share on other platforms. You can access that here:

https://tinyurl.com/movetobluesky

📋 Add Yourself to the #EduSky List

To help educators connect, Alice Keeler has set up a Google Form for any educators in K-12 or Higher Ed. This is an excellent way for you to connect with other educators. You can access the form at:

https://tinyurl.com/EduSkyForm

Note: To complete the form, you will need to make a post on Bluesky that introduces yourself as an educator and that includes the hashtag #EduSky

Once you are verified, your information will get added to the #EduSky spreadsheet here:

https://tinyurl.com/EduSky

➕ Follow People

Next you will want to start following people of interest to build your network of folks to communicate and learn with. A great way to find educators to connect with is to use the spreadsheet mentioned above:

https://tinyurl.com/EduSky

The first tab titled "EduSky" has a randomized list of every educator who filled out the form and was verified. The tab includes each person's role in education, so you can more easily find people you would like to follow.

There is also a tab titled "Sorted" which lists people chronologically based on when they were added, in case you are looking for new people.

Either way, simply click on anyone's profile link and then click the "+ Follow" button to follow them.

https://bsky.app/profile/ericcurts.bsky.social

🎒 Use Starter Packs

Another great way to find people to follow is by using "Starter Packs". This is a neat feature of BlueSky where someone can put together a list of recommended people based on a topic or theme.

In the same spreadsheet mentioned before…

https://tinyurl.com/EduSky

There is a tab titled "Starter Packs" which lists a wide range of educational packs.

Simply click on the link to open a pack that looks interesting.
You will now see a list of all the people in that pack.
You can follow people individually.
Or you can click the "Follow all" button to follow everyone in the pack at once.

Another amazing resource for Starter Packs is the Bluesky Directory at:

https://blueskydirectory.com/starter-packs/all

As of the time of this writing this directory has over 100,000 packs.

Simply type in a keyword to search such as edtech, principals, elementary, or such.
You will now get a list of matching Starter Packs.
You can click on any to explore the pack and follow any or all of the people.

I did a search for "edtech" and found 406 related Starter Packs. I explored several of the packs and connected with lots of awesome folks.

💬 Join EduChats

Another great way to connect and learn with people is through EduChats.

These are scheduled events for conversation on a particular topic such as AI in education, Elementary Math, eSports, English Language Learners, and such.
Each chat will have a dedicated hashtag to be used during the conversation such as #EduSkyChat, #EdTechChat, #SSchat, #DOKchat or such.
The chat will be scheduled for a particular day and time, usually repeating weekly.
Most chats run 30 minutes to an hour.
Someone will serve as the moderator for the chat.
The moderator will post questions through the chat.
Each question will start with "Q1" or "Q2" or such to number the questions.
When you respond to a question, start your response with "A1" or "A2" or such so people know which question you are answering, and be sure to include the hashtag for that chat.
Be sure to follow people of interest in the chat. This is a great way to build your network of people you want to learn with.

A great way to find EduChats is in the spreadsheet mentioned before:

https://tinyurl.com/EduSky

There is a tab titled "EduChats" with a wide range of chats including descriptions, dates and time, hashtags, and more.

📰 Add Feeds

One of the best things about Bluesky is the ability to customize the content you see. Social media can be a firehose of posts, but feeds allow you to channel that into easy to process sections. These feeds will appear as tabs at the top of your homepage in Bluesky. Clicking on a feed will only display content from the feed.

One way to add feeds is to go to the "Feeds" section of Bluesky.

Simply click "# Feeds" on the left side of the screen.
In the "Discover New Feeds" section, type in a keyword to search.
Click on the matching feeds to see which ones you like.
Click the "+" button or "Pin to Home" to add that feed.

Another great option is to access the spreadsheet mentioned earlier:

https://tinyurl.com/EduSky

There is a tab titled "EDUfeeds" with a wide range of education-themed feeds that you can explore and add.

🐦 Refollow Twitter People on Bluesky

If you have used Twitter before, you may have built up a great list of people that you follow there. Potentially many of those people may also have Bluesky accounts. It would be great to be able to follow those same people on Bluesky now.

Thankfully there is a free tool to help you find any of your Twitter follows who also have Bluesky accounts.

The tool is called "Sky Follower Bridge" and is a Chrome Extension that can be installed from here:

Sky Follower Bridge Extension

There is an excellent 1-minute video that explains how to use this tool to refollow people from Twitter on Bluesky here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d9inBJao1M

🏁 Conclusion

Hopefully these introductory tips will help you get off to a great start on Bluesky. Please let me know your suggestions for other ways to make the most out of this platform. And please feel free to follow me on Bluesky at:

https://bsky.app/profile/ericcurts.bsky.social

I would love to connect with you and keep learning together!