E-learning in Health 2011

Utilising Twitter as a Community of Learning
within Nurse Education
(An Ongoing
MA in Academic Practice Research Project)
James.M.Hewitt
Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Health, Psychology & Social Care
Manchester Metropolitan University
j.m.hewitt@mmu.ac.uk
follow @jiMMUni (http://twitter.com/jiMMUni) #nurseteaching
eLearning in Health Conference 2011
Aston Conference Centre

James.M.Hewitt, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health, Psychology & Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University
j.m.hewitt@mmu.ac.uk / follow @jiMMUni (http://twitter.com/jiMMUni) / #nurseteaching
Twitter - What’s Happening?
A relatively new Social Network Website (>200 million)
‘Web 2.zero-era’ (a Read & Write medium)
Rapidly becoming more popular, a ‘Micro-blogging’ network, limited to 140 characters – a Tweet
Follow people of similar / mutual interests
Information can be (immediate) bidirectional
Allowing rapid widespread dissemination of information
Communication tool that can be updated frequently
Can leave thoughts from the ‘mundane’ to the more meaningful in relation to personal & professional interests
Tweets are in reverse chronological order
Accessible via internet enabled computers & ‘Smart Phones’ (>90% mobiles sold are smart phones)
Constantly in the news – some negative & positive aspects
http://twitter.com/about
http://www.guardian.co.uk (2009) statistics

Communities of Learning / Practice (CoL / CoP)
CoL & CoP are
interchangeable terms
within Nursing
A platform for:
Collaborative learning / Promoting engagement / Development in practice & personal learning / Dissemination of new knowledge (inc. EBP) / Common values & beliefs
Problems include: inconsistency of members activity / mistrust
The 2 pedagogical learning views of ‘CoP’:
Constructivist
(derives from Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology):
The importance of the context of what is being learned in class & practice
Anthropological:
Learning from participation in a wider social network interaction
Wenger (1999)

Twitter as a Community of Learning
Enhances Blended Learning, it can be utilised to support students, these ‘Mashups’ include, for example:
Twit Board – Student Notice Board
Tweetorials– One to one support
Summing Up / Spinning & Weaving (@learninglines) – Students summarise an article in 140 characters (challenging)
Twit Links – Share a hyperlink (e.g. research )
Retweet(RT) - Share non-mutual followers thoughts, go viral!
Tweming – A ‘meme’ (#tag – ‘blogosphere’) can be created, acts as a bidirectional discussion area of themes, lasts for length of interest in #
Micro Meet – Discussions between all students (Group or Direct Messages)
Micro Write – Collaborative writing
(Problem Based Learning potential)
Students today are a digitally savvy population
(Thompson 2007)
It could foster informal cyber-teaching beyond the classroom with no time limit on participation, used as a ‘loud speaker’
Easy / Affordable / ‘Free’ once device has been bought
Students have a Common Purpose / Shared Vision
Learning with active participation / engagement
Wheeler (2008)

Ethical & Legal Issues
The Teacher
Who has the Intellectual Property Rights?
Who owns a Tweet?
- Free speech v’s. Academic discourse
What is public & private? ...
The tutor needs to be aware of what is posted,
whosees it & is offence
being caused? – liability
- Acting as gatekeeper,
moderating
the students contributions
The Student Nurse
‘Cyber-disinhabition’(benign & toxic), sharing information, could breach confidentiality (patient or personal)
Student passivity / varied IT skills
Time consuming / addictive
Can students differentiate between personal & the professional?
Is ‘Creepy Tree
House Syndrome’
a barrier?
(Haigh 2010)
Haigh & Jones (2005)
Waskul (1996)

Twitter - What is it?
Ethical & Legal Issues
What’s happening?
A relatively new Social Network Website (>175 million)
‘Web 2.0 - Era’ (Read & Write medium)
Rapidly becoming more popular, a ‘Micro-blogging’ network, limited to 140 characters – a Tweet
Follow people of similar / mutual interests
Information can be bidirectional
Allowing rapid widespread dissemination of information
Communication tool that can be updated frequently
Can leave thoughts from the mundane to the more meaningful in relation to personal & professional interests
Tweets are in reverse chronological order
Accessible via internet enabled computers & ‘Smart Phones’ (>90% mobiles sold are smart phones)
The Teacher
Intellectual Property Rights / Law
Free speech vs. Academic discourse
What is public & private? The tutor needs to be aware of what is posted, who sees it & is offence being caused
http://twitter.com/about
(Haigh 2010)
Waskul (1996)
The Student Nurse
Cyber-disinhabition’ (benign & toxic), sharing information, could breach confidentiality (patient or personal)
Student passivity / varied IT skills
Time consuming / addictive
Haigh & Jones (2005)
http://www.guardian.co.uk (2009) statistics
Communities of Learning / Practice (CoL / CoP)
Evaluation
Twitter as a Community of Learning
Students today are a digitally savvy population (Thompson 2007)
Can foster informal cyber-teaching beyond the classroom with no time limit on participation
Easy / Affordable / ‘Free’ once device has been bought
Common Purpose / Shared Vision
Learning with active participation / engagement
Enhances Blended Learning, it can be utilised to support students, these ‘Mashups’ include for example:
Twit Board – Student Notice Board
Tweetorials– one to one support
Summing Up / Spinning & Weaving – Summarise an article
Twit Links – Share a hyperlink (e.g. research )
Retweet(RT) - Share non-mutual followers thoughts, go viral!
Tweming – A ‘meme’ (#tag – ‘blogosphere’) can be created, acts as a bidirectional discussion area of themes
Micro Meet – Discussions between all students (can Direct M)
Micro Write – Collaborative writing (PBL potential)
Twitter is in it’s infancy. Micro-blogging is used to broaden participation, enhancing the student experience by creating a community of learners
Students are able to gain from the teacher, identify key learning materials enabling discursive debate & argue contentious issues
Collective enquiry can result into best nursing practice & professional interest into a CoP or a Professional Learning Community – nurse related
Participation can save student embarrassment, in and out of the classroom, every learner has a voice
CoL & CoP are interchangeable terms within Nursing
A platform for:
Collaborative learning / Promoting engagement / Development in practice & personal learning / Dissemination of new knowledge / Common values & beliefs
The 2 views of ‘CoP’:
Constructivist:
The importance of the context of what is being learned in class & practice
Anthropological:
Learning from participation in a wider social network
Wenger (1999)
Wheeler (2008)
It does require the teacher to encourage high quality Tweets
Teacher activity may be arduous & time consuming
Tweets require close supervision to ensure respect & confidentiality within the community of learners
Creepy Tree house syndrome
Feedback your thoughts:
#nurseteaching
Indicative texts (Reference List on separate sheet):
Wenger. E (1999) Communities of practice : learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. / Wheeler, S (2008) Learning with ‘e’s Available from:http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/01/teaching-with-twitter.html (accessed Nov 2010) Haigh, C (2010) Legality, the web and nurse educators. Nurse Education Today. 30, 6, p553–556.

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E-learning in Health 2011

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