using twitter to support teaching
DESCRIPTION
Using Twitter to Support Teaching. Dominic Bygate [email protected] Ashlesha S hukla [email protected]. What are we trying to do?. By the end of the session Participants will have : become familiar with some of the key features of Twitter - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
What are we trying to do?
By the end of the session Participants will have:
• become familiar with some of the key features of Twitter • seen how Twitter can be used to support students’ learning• have explored opportunities where Twitter and social media
can be used in teaching• seen how Twitter can be integrated into StudyNet• considered what support you may need to start using
Twitter in your teaching
What Can Twitter do?
• Find interesting people/organisations online, and follow their tweets
• Broadcast /receive messages containing information, links, photos and use tools to create an ever changing network of people and information
• Have a group activity in real time
https://twitter.com/DominicBygate
Twitter Basics # Users can group posts together by topics or type by the use of ‘hashtags’ – words or phrases prefixed with a # @ the @ sign followed by a username is used for mentioning a particular individual or group or replying to other users d the letter ‘d’ followed by a username allows users to send messages privately RT retweet - to forward a post/emphasise a tweet that has been sent to you, in other words, Twitter’s equivalent of quoting. RT@ followed by the name of the person who sent it to you. It goes to people following you
Features
• Tweets• Following• Followers• Favourites• Lists
How do get a Twitter account?
• https://support.twitter.com/articles/100990-signing-up-with-twitter#
• https://support.twitter.com/groups/50-welcome-to-twitter/topics/203-faqs/articles/13920-new-user-faqs#
How are people using Twitter?
According to Fitton et al. (2009: 12), Twitter is used: • To connect – most people use Twitter to forge
connections and be part of a community;• To record – some people tweet as a way of taking
notes on life;• To share – some people use Twitter to share what
they think, read and know; and• To stay in touch – people use Twitter to stay in
touch with groups.
Some Questions
• Who is your audience?• What exactly are you trying to achieve?• What commitment are you willing to make ?• Do have the resources you need to keep it
refreshed and relevant? For how long?• How will you measure success? Set a target
and a review point.
Twitter in Teaching
Twitter can be used in different ways: • Live session in class – back channel discussion• Out of class – asynchronous discussion• Out of class – synchronous discussion/meeting• Posting of information/news/alerts• Finding resources• Professional development• And more……
Twitter for teaching: Can social media be used to enhance theprocess of learning?
Chris Evans British Journal of Educational Technology (2013)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjet.12099/pdf
Real time scheduled meetings/ conversations
Integration with StudyNet
Integration with StudyNet
Tweets can appear live on module homepage(s) as one of – All tweets from a specified account eg @dominicbygate– Tweets from everyone which include a particular hashtag
eg #ltiworkshop– Favorite tweets – you select each tweet you want to favour – Lists - organise people you follow by theme/subject
• You need a Widget to put a Twitter feed on Studynet– Create a widget at : https://twitter.com/settings/widgets
Some Tips
• Plan what you are going to do, set tasks, ask questions etc. Ensure students have access to and can use Twitter.
• Agree ground rules• Use a warm-up question to both test the system and get learners
interested• Twitter works well when learners are involved in the discussion.• Try getting learners to discuss answers, ideas etc. between themselves.• Provide plenty of time for learners to respond to the questions.• Tweets can consist of for example; replies, images, questions, links to
articles/resources etc.
(with thanks to ScaLe Project)
Private vs Professional
TodaysMeetOnline chat room – can be used to harvest the back channel communication
http://todaysmeet.com/
Discussion
How can we use Twitter to support our students learning?
What Next?
References
Fitton, L., Gruen, M.E. and Poston, L. (2009), Twitter for Dummies, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Publishing.ScaLeProject:http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/ltig/scale.aspx#downloads