Using Twitter to Support Teaching

Dominic Bygate d.bygate@herts.ac.ukJulie Vuolo j.c.vuolo@herts.ac.ukJon Urwin j.urwin@herts.ac.uk

Guy Saward g.r.saward@hert.ac.uk

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 is Twitter?

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.

https://support.twitter.com/groups/31-twitter-basics#

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.

How do I Join?https://twitter.com/

Your Twitter profile

What’s in it for me?

…and for my students?

Using Twitter for teaching

• Bahner et al (2012) used Twitter alongside Facebook as a push technology to deliver supplementary educational content to fourth year medical students as part of their elective ultrasound course.

• Tweets were sent out from a dedicated account at the same time every morning over the course of a 10 month period.

• Tweets consisted of images, questions and links to articles. • Analysis of a post-curriculum survey (completed by 27

users) indicated that they liked the concise nature of the Tweets although the link to the dedicated Facebook site was welcomed as a more discursive forum

An Example of how Twitter is being used:Eli Jacobs from the Business School

Uses Twitter in level 5 business ethics module for:• Announcements: Rooms, Dates, Work Placement Vacancies,

Reminders....• Connect students with unfolding bus ethics stories – through

news paper articles, videos, sites• Connect students with experts/organisations opinions &

activities• Recap/Reinforce lectures & tutorials

Scaffolding Learning (ScaLe) with Twitter University of Glamorgan 2010

• BSc Critical Care course and Pre-registration Nursing course

• Aim of the project was to explore the usefulness of ‘microblogging’ (Twitter) as a means to scaffolding learning and engaging students in critical thinking.

• Twitter used in two modes • live session in class –back channel discussions• out of of class - asynchronous

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/ltig/scale.aspx#downloads

Findings

• Stimulated teaching staff to think about new forms of interactivity and alternative methods of formative assessment;

• Enabled the project team to better understand learning styles and preferences in a Web 2.0 context;

• Facilitated the asking of questions that students felt they were not able to ask in class;

• Students valued being able to respond to questions and receive instantaneous feedback;

• encouraged reflection and posting of further questions;• Is an effective tool for teaching clinically focused material;

Twitter creates an online platform for communication that rivals conventional blogging and may facilitate the development of decision making and critical reasoning skills in students of nursing. Twitter was used both in and out of class

Integration with StudyNet

• Tweets can appear live on module homepage(s)– All tweets from a specified account– Tweets from anyone, but which include the

module hashtag (eg #UH7ABC123)

Demonstration:

Tweet-to-module

staff

news

(or other updates)

Getting Tweets out of StudyNet

student

publish

notify

RSS feed

mail

twitter.com/uh6com0265

facebook.com/uh6com0265

• Refuseniks: low/no usage, low integration

• Uninitiates: infrequent users, undecided about integration

• Separatists: frequent users negative about integration

• Agnostics: frequent users, still undecided

• Integrationists: frequent users, positive on integration

Student views on us in “their space”

usage

integration

Can type students on usage and desire for integration

eSCISM– LTI Innovation Project• We want to know–how students are using social networks– if they want StudyNet alerts in soc media feeds

• Quick answers:– lots of social media use, mainly Facebook –most like idea of social StudyNet updates

• Want to get involved? We:– can help you survey your students to see what

they want – can help you publish modules to social media– are looking for 2nd years for focus groups

• Contact Guy Saward (g.r.saward@herts.ac.uk)

Twitter on LTI Knowledge Exchange

http://tinyurl.com/cjwo3fz Hashtag #UHLTI2013

Some Tips

• Plan what you are going to do • 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.

(with thanks to ScaLe Project)

Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education (Chickering and

Gamson, 1987)

– Encourages Contact Between Student and Staff– Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation among students – Encourages Active Learning– Gives Prompt Feedback– Emphasises Time on Task– Communicates High Expectations– Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning

Discussion

How can we use Twitter to support our students learning?

TodaysMeetOnline chat room – can be used to harvest the back channel communication

http://todaysmeet.com/

What can and can't you say on Twitter?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17530450

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20782257 UH Social Media guidelines

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