eBooks & Twitter:from L&T to research

Jenny Weight15 May 2012

Agenda

Intro to ebooks for T&L

From T&L to research: eBooks

Intro to Twitter for T&L

From T&L to research: Twitter

Some reading

eBooks

Are digital documents that may or may not be printable

They are distributed by the network

They are read on networked devices (computer, tablet, smart phone)

A good way to make a ‘textbook’

Textbooks?

An alternative to lecture material

Can be easily repurposed into the lecture

A codified, centralised resource for students

Which presents the ‘narrative’ of the course

And:

You are also codifying your own knowledge

How to make an eBook

Soft option:

A pdf file, uploaded to a web page (blog) (or into Blackboard if you want to keep it private)

Hard core:

Make a proper eBook using something like iAuthor, then publish it to the iBook store

Problem:

Ebooks won’t be accessible to everyone, so you probably always need the pdf as well

My pdf eBook

Soft option:

A pdf file, uploaded to a web page (blog) (or into Blackboard if you want to keep it private)

Hard core:

Make a proper eBook using something like iAuthor, then publish it to the iBook store

Problem:

Ebooks won’t be accessible to everyone, so you probably always need the pdf as well

My pdf eBook

My pdf eBook

My pdf eBook

iBooks (Apple’s eBook)

Pros:

You can include video, audio and interactive media

You can publish it in Apple’s iBook store (possibly for $$$)

iBook eBook

Cons:

iBook store approval process is time-consuming

Learning the layout software is more complex

Relatively few students will be able to read it

iBook eBook

iBook eBook

eBooks – from teaching to research

I published the pdf on my blog, advertised it via a tweet to a doco research hashtag, they blogged it and someone else scooped their blog and …

Bob’s my uncle, approx. 20000 hits on my blog page…

Makes it an easier job to go publish an article with the textbook under my belt, plus I’ve started to establish my rep.

Twitter for L&T

Joining Twitter is only the first part. I have two Twitter accounts, one for personal (@geniwate) and one for teaching (@Jenny Weight).

All students have to join Twitter. It’s best to get them following each other (and you)

However, what you really need it for everyone to use the course hashtag. You make this up yourself.

Hashtag for my course Transient Spaces is #transpaces

Warning: hashtags are not private. You can set up a private group but it’s a bit fiddly. I prefer to educate students to send private things (and assessment) by email

Twitter for L&T

The other thing you need is a way to read your tweets. Going to Twitter itself is not very efficient.

Hootsuite: the best way if you use a computer to read tweets

Twitter for L&T

TweetDeck: good if you use

your mobile phone

FlipBoard is good for an iPad

You can also put a Twitter

widget on your blog

Twitter from L&T to research

Unleash the power of the hashtag!

Good for trending topics, getting the pulse of current opinion

Eg, for my documentary on cyclists, I create and read a Twitter feed

about the

#cyclist hashtag:

Useful site for doing hashtag research

Unleash the power of the hashtag!

Good for trending topics, getting the pulse of current opinion

Eg, for my documentary on cyclists, I create and read a Twitter feed

about people

using the

#cyclist hashtag:

Combining Twitter and personal

publishing Use Twitter to publicise your projects to the relevant

interest groups

Do this by working out what hashtags they use on twubs, and who are the top users (tweeps) of those hashtags.

Then tweet to that hashtag/s, and direct message to the tweep/s

My students are doing this too

Watch your stuff go viral!

Resources

Kirsten A. Johnson (2011): The effect of Twitter posts on students’ perceptions of instructor credibility, Learning, Media and Technology, 36:1, 21-38