What the little birdy tells me: Twitter in education

go.alt.ac.uk/twitterED #LSENetEd

What the little birdy tells meTwitter in education

Martin Hawksey@mhawksey

April 11, 2023 | slide 1


About the Association for Learning Technology (ALT)• ALT is the UK's leading membership organisation

in the learning technology field• Over 1,400 members from a wide range of

disciplines and backgrounds• We aim to improving practice, promoting

research, and influencing policy.• LSE is a Organisational Member and staff can

join as Associate Members for freealt.ac.uk


Things you need to know

• Hashtag for the session ‘#LSENetEd’

• Links and slides http://go.alt.ac.uk/twitterED

go.alt.ac.uk/twitterED #LSENetEd April 11, 2023 | slide 3

The Connected Age

http://vimeo.com/76178422

©EDUCAUSEhttp://vimeo.com/76178422




In the beginning…



In the beginning…



In the beginning…



In the beginning…



In the beginning…


Twitter Adoption MatrixIn-class Backchannel

Uses: ad hoc class discussion, real-time commenting, recording divergent viewpoints

Benefits: engages less vocal students, archives otherwise ephemeral comments

Outside of Class DiscussionsUses: extend class discussions, exchange comments about readings or questions about assignments

Benefits: community building, continuity between class sessions

In-class Directed DiscussionUses: Open or guided questions with student responses collected for later analysis

Benefits: engages all students in discussions in large lecture classes

Tracking Activities

Uses: find and follow instructor experts in the field, or key topics

Benefits: exposure to the lager cultural conversation about the class material

Lightly Structured ActivitiesUses: solicit course feedback, offer ambient office hours, poll class, language or writing practice

Benefits: flexibility, availability, scalability

Metacognitive/ Reflective ActivitiesUses: students report on self learning, articulate their difficulties, recap the most valuable lesson of the day

Benefits: fosters critical thinking

Institutional communicationUses: community outreach, alerts, announcements

Instructor CommunicationUses: announcements, syllabus changes, reminders

Pedagogical CommunicationUses: sharing timely links and resources

Student Activity

Dialogic

Monologic

Passive Active

Mark Sample’s (@samplereality) Twitter Adoption Matrix


Hawksey, 2008

Instructor Communication(Free SMS Broadcast)



Hawksey, 2008




Hawksey, 2008



The catch … supported UK carriers • Orange• Vodafone• O2• 3• Sure (CWC)• Lycamobile


Instructor CommunicationNetwork summary



Instructor CommunicationNetwork summary



Instructor CommunicationOutbox

• Using http://dlvr.it to turn RSS feeds into tweets

• Alternatively http://twitterfeed.com there are others


http://dlvr.it/

http://dlvr.it/

http://twitterfeed.com/




Hawksey, 2009

Lightly Structured ActivitiesElectronic Voting



Hawksey, 2009




Hawksey, 2009




Hawksey, 2009




Hawksey, 2009



go.alt.ac.uk/twitterED #LSENetEdhttp://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/uiSJlvek7RjJSNK


http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/uiSJlvek7RjJSNK

http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/uiSJlvek7RjJSNK


In class backchannelLecture capture enhancement


http://hawksey.info/ititle/ex/estict.html Hawksey, 2010

http://hawksey.info/ititle/ex/estict.html

http://hawksey.info/ititle/ex/estict.html








Open Directed DiscussionFlipping the bird

• Pre-recorded interviews• “as you listen please tweet your notes and comments

using the #phonar hashtag and don’t forget to storify the global set of notes/tweets afterwards.”

• More about #phonar http://youtu.be/lNmTKxeiC2Y


©Alan Levine 2013-11-06http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/10728065255/

http://twubs.com/phonar





https://storify.com/Jonathan_Worth

http://youtu.be/lNmTKxeiC2Y

http://youtu.be/lNmTKxeiC2Y


LEVEL2Social Learning Analytics


go.alt.ac.uk/twitterED #LSENetEd April 11, 2023 | slide 28©Tony Hirst 2010-10-12 [Original]http://www.flickr.com/photos/psychemedia/5076732134

[Modified] 2011-02-14 ©Martin Hawkseyhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/mhawksey/5446711248/


Social Learning AnalyticsPotential uses• Identifying disconnected students • Identifying key information brokers within a

class • Indicating the extent to which a learning

community is developing within a class• Identify groupings that could support learning

Ferguson & Buckingham-Shum, 2012

• See how conversations connect providing opportunities for situational awareness



Social Learning AnalyticsNodeXL



Social Learning AnalyticsNodeXL Reply Network



Social Learning Analytics – TAGS

April 11, 2023 | slide 32http://mashe.hawksey.info/2013/02/twitter-archive-tagsv5/

http://mashe.hawksey.info/2013/02/twitter-archive-tagsv5/










Social Learning Analytics#phonar

• http://hawksey.info/tagsexplorer/?key=tmT8RPk1-WB1IBUe4GM6-Iw&sheet=oaw• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqGkLMU9sHmLdG1UOFJQazEtV0IxSUJVZ

TRHTTYtSXc&usp=drive_web#gid=119 April 11, 2023 | slide 35

http://hawksey.info/tagsexplorer/?key=tmT8RPk1-WB1IBUe4GM6-Iw&sheet=oaw



https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqGkLMU9sHmLdG1UOFJQazEtV0IxSUJVZTRHTTYtSXc&usp=drive_web#gid=119

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqGkLMU9sHmLdG1UOFJQazEtV0IxSUJVZTRHTTYtSXc&usp=drive_web#gid=119


Live Examples

• Setting up TAGS for #LSENetEd• Example TAGS picking up poll data• Example TAGS picking tweets to page




https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqGkLMU9sHmLdFhMMmstVnJfRDFSdXZuNUZHbkNEaHc#gid=119



https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqGkLMU9sHmLdGt1VUltX2NuSVhodU05NlFlMm91WXc#gid=82



Live Examples

• Setting up TAGS for #LSENetEd• Example TAGS picking up poll data• Example TAGS picking tweets to page

Caution“We find that the search API over-represents the more central users and does not offer an accurate picture of peripheral activity; we also find that the

bias is greater for the network of mentions”


Gonzalez-Bailon, Sandra and Wang, Ning and Rivero, Alejandro and Borge-Holthoefer, Javier and Moreno, Yamir, Assessing the Bias in Communication Networks Sampled from Twitter (December 4, 2012). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2185134 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2185134








Why

• Mobility – crossing the dived between in and out of class

• Flexibility – not hard to add functionality and interface with Twitter service

• Learner communities – opportunity to share learning within cohort and further afield

• Light intervention – brevity of 140 characters allows less but more often

• Lifelong – connections made in the class can support further independent learning



Why not

• Distraction

• Reliance on 3rd party services

• Privacy

• Educational value

• Equality

• [Facebook] go.alt.ac.uk/twitterED #LSENetEd



Thanks!

Martin Hawkseymashe.hawkse.info

@mhawksey
