Image via CrunchBase
There is no denying that as new technologies go, Twitter is here to stay (as much as any web tech ever is). With a user base of 175 million, it regularly features in the news, albeit sometimes alongside disparaging comments about users posting what they were eating for breakfast. So is it actually useful, and something that you should be paying attention to? I think so, and here’s why.
What actually is it?
Technically, it’s a ‘microblogging’ tool. If that means nothing to you, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Basically it’s a place where people can post short updates (no more than 140 characters, think the length of a text message before the phones that allow you to type forever). These are (mostly) public on the web for anyone to see.
Why is it useful?
Different people have different ideas about this. Below are some of mine. Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments.
Twitter for CPD
I should probably point out first that my social media accounts (like my email addresses) have clearly defined purposes – Facebook is for personal conversations, and LinkedIn and Twitter are for professional ones. Rarely if ever do the two cross over, which keeps things nice and simple. This means I have a clear idea before I start of the kind of information I want to find on twitter – some people have more than one account to do this kind of filtering.
Although there is undoubtedly a lot of nonsense posted on Twitter, the power of the tool is in the ability to choose who you follow (following someone means you see their updates, or ‘tweets’). For me this is an organic process – over time I might meet people at conferences or see their twitter accounts on email signatures, or recognise names that are well-known in my field. The trick is to gather a list of people that are talking about things you will find useful or interesting (and of course this is why people would follow you, too…)
Following these people gives me a list of updates that I can quickly scan through when I have a few spare minutes (each one is only 140 characters remember), to get an idea of what’s new in my field. Having people follow me means I can post questions, and, if I’m lucky, get answers from someone who knows. It’s also a source of peer review, for everything from informal ideas to papers for publication.
Twitter for marketing
A number of companies, organisations and HE institutions have accounts on Twitter. This allows them to send out updates, as well as track what’s being said about them by other users. You can see some reviews of how universities are using Twitter on Brian Kelly’s blog: he’s covered 1994 Group Unis and Russell Group Unis.
Twitter for learning and teaching
Aside form simply keeping students updated and recommending resources, teaching staff are finding a range of creative ways to use twitter for learning and teaching. The most common ones are:
- ‘crowdsourcing’/collaboration. Using hashtags (a unique word or set of characters with a # sign in front of it) allows you to collect together tweets posted by a range of different users, as long as they all contain the same hashtag. This could allow you to collect resources and information from a group of students. A great example of this way of collecting information is Tim Burton’s collective scriptwriting project.
- ‘backchannels‘ and classroom voting. Having a hashtag for an event or lecture gives you the opportunity to display feedback from the audience during the event. Or, if this sounds a bit scary, you can use polling software like twtpoll to ask specific questions on twitter. Any student with a smartphone or laptop can access twitter in the classroom.
Follow the Learning Technology team: @LearnTechUoN
You can get some more ideas from the links below. Also, look out for training sessions from the LT team.
50 ideas on using Twitter for Education (Cooper-Taylor Training)
Eight Reasons an Innovative Educator Uses Twitter (The Innovative Educator Blog)
The ‘utility’ of Twitter in teaching and learning (JISC RSC)
100 ways to teach with Twitter (Emerging EdTech)
A couple of weeks ago lecturers from the School of Health and Information Services held a video conference call to colleagues in Malaysia. This was the first time we had all used Skype so I was nervous, but the call went perfectly. The audio was clear, the video sync’d to the speech and it was just like holding a normal conversation.
We also recorded the call using a Skype add-in called Vodburner which means the lecturers can look over the call and review the questions and issues raised.
Overall I was pleased with the way it went and I would encourage other tutors to try out Skype.
Online workshop: Introduction to Effective Distance Learning – Monday 11 April
by Helen Walmsley – Thursday, 17 March 2011, 04:04 PM
Online workshop: Introduction to Effective Online Distance Learning
Monday 11 April 09:00am – 17:00pm (BST) See your time here
Are you planning or reviewing your online distance learning provision? Would you like to explore ways of planning and designing the learning to save time, engage your students and be more effective? Would you like to reflect on a range of varied case studies and discuss them with other distance learning designers and tutors? There will also be chance to explore VLEs, social media tools, mobile technologies and test them out. This one-day workshop will include 3 sessions:
- Introduction to Online Distance Learning – models and issues
- Distance Learning case studies – a variety to explore, compare and review
- Tools for Distance Learning – delivery, communication, assessment and collaboration tools
Each session will be delivered with a combination of live web-conferences, forum discussions, group tasks and experimentation.
This workshop is aimed at practitioners new to, or with limited experience of delivering distance learning online. There will be an e-buddy system and plenty of support over the day. The facilitators are experienced designers and deliverers of distance learning.
If you would like to book a place, please email Gill Marino ldiadmin@staffs.ac.uk. The fee is £50 (free places available for staff and SURF associates)
Open Educational Resources 2011 (OER11)
Manchester Conference Centre
11 – 13 May 2011
http://www.ucel.ac.uk/oer11/
* * * Early bird bookings close Friday 25 March 2011* * *
OER11 takes place at the Manchester Conference Centre, in central
Manchester. Building on the success of OER10, the programme will consist
of a stimulating and engaging mix of over 70 refereed papers, workshops,
symposiums and demos all exploring and reflecting on the impact of OER on
HE within the conference themes.
Confirmed keynote speakers are: Martin Hall, Vice-Chancellor, University
of Salford; Diana Laurillard, Professor of Learning, London Knowledge Lab,
Institute of Education; and Bob Strunz, Chief Technical Architect, Irish
National Digital Learning Resources service.
Gordon Joyes and Angela Smallwood from University of Nottingham will be leading a discussion on the JISC funded e-portfolio implementation (ePI) study within the E-Portfolio Community of Practice in Cloudworks http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloudscape/view/2201 on the 5th and 6th April.
All those who have an interest in e-portfolio implementation are encouraged to visit and contribute in Cloudworks during the 2 days. We will explore four key questions in relation to e-portfolio engagement within institutions that have arisen from the ePI study of large scale e-portfolio implementations. These are:
1. Why should we expect practitioners and their institutions to engage with e-portfolios?
2. Why is e-portfolio implementation not straightforward and why is it different to VLE implementation?
3. What are the key factors for success for practitioners and for large-scale engagement with e-portfolios within an institution?
4. How can the support of senior managers be gained?
Click on the link for an interesting case study from Kardi Somerfield in the Northampton Business School. If you are interested in trying out some of Kardi’s suggestions for NILE styling then get in touch with us.
Click on the link for an interesting case study from John Page in the Nursing. If you are interested in trying out the ActivInspire Handheld Voting System then get in touch.
Click on the link for an interesting case study from Annie Turner in the School of Health. If you are interested in trying out the digital voice recorders then get in touch
Report on L&T experts group meeting 23rd March 2011 (#jiscexperts11)
Attended by Rob Howe
The main aims of the day were:
- To update the group on the findings from the Supporting Learners in a Digital Age (SLiDA) study
- To update and consult with the Experts on emerging findings from the Lifelong Learning and Workforce development programme
- To update and consult with the Experts on emerging findings from the e-Portfolio Implementations Study
Rhona Sharpe presented on the SLiDA project and interim findings. A number of breakout sessions allowed members to explore some key themes in more depth. I attended the session on ‘strategic emphasis on course design for blended learning.’ The group noted the importance of the correct departmental setup and good promotion of this. Robust technology should be available and staff need to be competent in its use — staff digital competence may need to be addressed (noted that there may be subject differences in enthusiasm and adoption). The use of the CAIeRO process at Northampton does help address a number of the previously mentioned issues. Case studies were noted as valuable but often difficult to obtain. Example from Winchester at wblb.wordpress.com
The group indicated that induction should not be an option and it does impact on retention.
Rhona concluded by indicating that the next digital literacy workshops are now advertised.
The next main block covered how technology is supporting lifelong learning and workforce development. Two points noted in the introduction were the need for flexible institutional policies and a policy on information sharing. Xcri was mentioned several times as a standard for sharing course information between sites. Other potential sites useful to follow up were the maturity toolkit and the Pineapple project. (Apel processes). The projects represented were:
- Workforce engagement in lifelong learning -maturity toolkit3 , Peter Chatterton, University of Bradford
- Partnership investigations into accredited prior/previous learning4, Neil Witt, University of Plymouth
- Middlesex University skills & education planning tool5 , George Dafoulas, Middlesex University
- e-Portfolio based pedagogy for SMEs6, Alison Felce, University of Wolverhampton
- Technology enhanced learning to support a welsh centre for workforce development and Building Capacity project7 , Loretta Newman-Ford, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC)
- Culture Campus Liverpool Portal8, Trish Lunt, University of Liverpool
A detailed discussion on the e-portfolio implementation study followed. This raised a number of questions which may be of use for Northampton’s own strategy within this area.
The final 3 sessions covered :
Circuit Warz – virtual worlds within Moodle
Aston’s development of a CMS similar to BITE
Concept linkage through C-link. This is a search and concept map builder which searches for links between two concepts and builds a map of the relationship. This tool could have potential use within a number of subject areas at Northampton.
Other points of note during the day:
The Jisc on air radio show – JISC’s L:earning and Teaching Radio show
Poss future call for digital literacy development site wide
