Twitter for EducatorsATU Oct 10 2014

LeRoy Hill PhD @leroyh leroy.hill@acc.edu.ai

Workshop Objectives• Describe basic functions and terminology of

Twitter • Discuss impact for own personal digital

Identity & professional development• Identify uses of Twitter in in and out of the

classroom • Demonstrate use of Twitter in

Outline

• Activity 1 – Introduction (2 Min)• Activity 2 – Presentation (10 Min)• Activity 3 – Practice/Demo (25 min)• Activity 4 – Reflection (5 Min)

ACTIVITY 1 - INTRODUCTION

Go to http://hillconcepts.com/twitteredTell us what you know about Twitter

Password –

ACTIVITY 2 – PRESENTATION (10 MIN)

Take part, take notes, take in

Learning?

www.materialising-interactions.com 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_X0GJsTftDcs/S2FkxExL41I/AAAAAAAAAt4/wqjTpUqV07Y/s1600/connectivism.jpg

Social media is…

• a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” Kaplan and Haenlein (2010).

Photo credit http://bosmol.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2945559128_53078d246b.jpg

In other words

• Social Media is used to describe the continuous ubiquitous online conversations using:

• Social networking• Blogging• Microblogging• Podcasting• Synchronous chat• Video and audio• Wikis• Social photo and video sharing• And much more

Photo credit http://www.fanpilot.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/social_media_clutter1.jpeg

Social Media is not Social Networking

• Social networks represent the relationships and connections between individuals or groups (the nodes)

• Social media is the technology (tool) used to connect groups or individuals.

Time-Line

Twitter in Plain English

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

A CommonCraft Video

Twitter anatomyTwitter users have developed short-form syntax to make the most of 140 characters. Here are the

fundamentals.• Mention Once you've signed up and chosen a Twitter username, you and others can mention an

account in your Tweets by preceding it with the @ symbol, eg: "Glad your shipment arrived @janesmith!"

• RetweetWhen you see a Tweet by another user that you want to share, click Retweet below it to forward it to your followers instantly.

• MessageIf you want to privately Tweet to a particular user who's already following you, start your Tweet with DM or D to direct-message them, eg: "DM @joesmith234 what is your order number?"

• HashtagUsers often prepend # to words in their Tweets to categorize them for others eg: "Check out our new products for the Fallhttp://t.co/link2 #fallsale" Think of hashtags as the theme of your Tweet. Users can then click on a hashtag to see other similarly-themed tweets and find yours in search.

•

Twitter Glossary

• #• @• DM• FF• to follow• follower• following• handle• hashtag• HT• lists

• mention• MT• OH• reply• a retweet• to retweet• RT• trending• to trend• a tweet• to tweet

• Twitter• unfollow• URL• URL shortener

Note: There's a difference between a mention and a reply. Make sure you know which is which. 

Twitter Home Page

Your Twitter profile page

Tools for listening

• GoogleAlerts• Hootsuite • TweetDeck• Echofon• Formulists – Create Twitter Lists

More Efficiently

To follow or not….

• Look a member profile

• Look at who they are– following– followers

• Reciprocity?

Educational Hashtags• http://www.cybraryman.com/edhashtags.html

• http://www.hashtags.org/platforms/twitter/30-ways-to-use-twitter-for-education/

Photo via BigStock

#edtech

URL SHORTENERS

Twitter will automatically shorten URLs placed in tweets that are more than 30 characters. Some other shorteners:

– TinyURL.com– OW.ly– Bit.ly

Be aware that some users will question shortened URL.

Research on Twitter suggests

• use more adverbs and verbs • tweet on

Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the afternoon

http://ttadvertising.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/marketing-tip-tweet-smell-of-success

http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920021315.do

TWITTER ETIQUETTE• Watch your Language – include the

words via, @, RT, and please. – Say thank you for mention– Acknowledge someone’s effort

• Write professionally• Never RT praise replies. • Resist Twitting too much

Image credit: http://meghangargan.com/millennialmusings/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/bird.png

MISTAKES TO AVOID• Never RT something you did not read or follow

the link.• DON’T YELL!• Don’t believe the ‘get 100 followers a day’ spam• Follow someone that mentions you without

doing research.• Don’ beg someone to follow you.• Be slack about your Twitter security

• RT tweets that you suspect as strange• Use #hashtags inappropriately (eg. good

#morning #world this is my #news)• Don’t just repeat everyone else – be

topical & fresh• Send out a public reply that is supposed to

be private.

MISTAKES TO AVOID…

Using Twitter in the Classroom• Announcements• Supplemental information• Live microblogging• Connections/PLNs (e.g., Siemens, 2004)• Collect real world data• Twitter polls• Backchannel communication• Other? – see recommendations by Online Unversity

Ways to use Twitter in your classroom

Online universitues.com (2011)

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2011/12/60-inspiring-examples-of-twitter-in-the-classroom/

CommunicationExamples include:• Use Twitter as a bulletin board for students

• Parents can sign up to receive tweets from teachers, learning about activities, tests, projects, and more.

• Using hashtags on Twitter, students who were not able to make it to class can follow along and stay on top of the conversation.

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2011/12/60-inspiring-examples-of-twitter-in-the-classroom/

Communication…Examples include:• use Twitter to engage and discuss during class time.

Students can also tweet about what they are learning, difficulties they faced, resources etc.

• Twitter Pop quiz / poll.

Source http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/12/50-ways-to-use-twitter-in-your-classroom.html

Organisation

Examples include:• End of the day summary/reflections

• Organizing dispersed group into a collective

• Collating view & comments through the use of hashtags

Resources• Teachers use Twitter crowdsourcing for

recommended books, teaching tools, and ideas for lessons

• Use Twitter for data from foreign distant places eg temperatures, opinions, locations, and interesting facts.

• Find authors, scientists, or historians on Twitter and get connected; a great resource for the classroom.

Writing Skills• Students can tweet sentences using a particular

word to build vocabulary learning.• As long as students are held accountable for their

grammar, using Twitter offers a great opportunity for improving writing and punctuation.

• Use Twitter to teach students to be concise, summarizing major points without going over Twitter-imposed character limits.

• Ask students to unscramble anagrams, contribute synonyms, or give vocabulary definitions on Twitter.

Twitter Exercises• Inspirational quotes of the day• Conversations continue outside class• School trip tracking• Bringing characters to life• Class newspaper• Conference following• Bonus assignments• Reading assignment summaries• Link sharing• Trend mapping• Current events

• Researching locations• Twitter puzzles• Language learning• Twitter poetry• Twitter book club• Word tracking• A Twitter story• Sharing microreviews• Twitter haiku

Twitter art show • Collaborative event watching• Find foreign pen pals

Source: http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2011/12/60-inspiring-examples-of-twitter-in-the-classroom/

Your PLN

Let your tweets flow- Facebook

integration - LinkedIn

Integration

Registration followingListeningSearching

Activity 3

Activity 4 - Reflection

• Post your reflections at http://hillconcepts.com/twittered/

www.hillconcepts.comTwitter: @leroyh

THANK YOU