This presentation relates to a small pilot study, wondering about whetherTwitter might help teacher education students develop deliberate reflection while on practicum in 2009.

1. Twitter to Teach: Generating
self-reflective practices with
microblogging
Twitter as a data source
2010

2. Twitter to Teach: Generating
self-reflective practices with
microblogging
Twitter as a data source
2010

3. Wider Context
• 126 million – The number of blogs on the Internet (as tracked by BlogPulse)
• 84% – Percent of social network sites with more women than men.
• 27.3 million – Number of tweets on Twitter per day (November, 2009)
• 57% – Percentage of Twitter’s user base located in the United States.
• 4.25 million – People following @aplusk (Ashton Kutcher, Twitter’s most followed user).
• 350 million – People on Facebook.
• 50% – Percentage of Facebook users that log in every day.
• 500,000 – The number of active Facebook applications.
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 2

4. Wider Context
• 126 million – The number of blogs on the Internet (as tracked by BlogPulse)
• 84% – Percent of social network sites with more women than men.
• 27.3 million – Number of tweets on Twitter per day (November, 2009)
• 57% – Percentage of Twitter’s user base located in the United States.
• 4.25 million – People following @aplusk (Ashton Kutcher, Twitter’s most followed user).
• 350 million – People on Facebook.
• 50% – Percentage of Facebook users that log in every day.
• 500,000 – The number of active Facebook applications.
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 2

5. •“In a profession as challenging as teaching, honest self-reflection is key.
That means that we must regularly examine what has worked and what
hasn't in the classroom, despite how painful it can sometimes be to look in
the mirror.” (Lewis http://k6educators.about.com/od/professionaldevelopment/a/self_reflection.htm)
• “The capacity to reflect on one’s sense of self is an important component of
self-awareness.” (Johnson et al, 2002)
• “Students should develop self-reflection skills and appropriate views about
knowledge and learning, both for their own sake and because these skills
and views may be related to improvements in conceptual
understanding.” (May & Etkina, 2002)
• “...students’ metacognitive (ie self) awareness could enhance their self-
control” (Zimmerman, 2002, p. 65)
• “teachers must be able to construct pedagogical practices that have
relevance and meaning to students’ social and cultural realities” (Howard,
2003, p. 195)
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 3

6. Self-reflection as a focus
•“In a profession as challenging as teaching, honest self-reflection is key.
That means that we must regularly examine what has worked and what
hasn't in the classroom, despite how painful it can sometimes be to look in
the mirror.” (Lewis http://k6educators.about.com/od/professionaldevelopment/a/self_reflection.htm)
• “The capacity to reflect on one’s sense of self is an important component of
self-awareness.” (Johnson et al, 2002)
• “Students should develop self-reflection skills and appropriate views about
knowledge and learning, both for their own sake and because these skills
and views may be related to improvements in conceptual
understanding.” (May & Etkina, 2002)
• “...students’ metacognitive (ie self) awareness could enhance their self-
control” (Zimmerman, 2002, p. 65)
• “teachers must be able to construct pedagogical practices that have
relevance and meaning to students’ social and cultural realities” (Howard,
2003, p. 195)
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 3

7. Background
• Microblogging - in Twitter, a ‘tweet’ is 140 characters
• Negative press:
1. McFedries (2007): “most people just don’t see the point, and others dismiss it as a massive
time-suck… [because] of the unremitting triviality of most people’s updates”.
2. Lyons (2009) considers it “a playground for imbeciles, skeevy marketers, D-list celebrity half-
wits, and pathetic attention seekers”.
• Educational uses:
(a) Holotescu and Grosseck (2009): examined how participants in a tertiary course wrote public
messages, followed and contributed to discussions, monitored feeds, and continued to
collaborate and converse when course ended. This was seen as a “very important advantage”,
as was the “ambient awareness” of communicating in short posts.
(b) Aspden and Thorpe (2009): used Twitter to understand student learning spaces: used
phones to answer ‘Where do you learn?’
(c) Wishart (2009): used PDAs with initial teacher education students who “are expected to
acquire, decipher, and understand a wealth of information, both pedagogical and practical” (p.
266) as they navigate between university courses and practicum (school placement)
experiences.
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 4

8. Background
• Microblogging - in Twitter, a ‘tweet’ is 140 characters
• Negative press:
1. McFedries (2007): “most people just don’t see the point, and others dismiss it as a massive
time-suck… [because] of the unremitting triviality of most people’s updates”.
2. Lyons (2009) considers it “a playground for imbeciles, skeevy marketers, D-list celebrity half-
wits, and pathetic attention seekers”.
• Educational uses:
(a) Holotescu and Grosseck (2009): examined how participants in a tertiary course wrote public
messages, followed and contributed to discussions, monitored feeds, and continued to
collaborate and converse when course ended. This was seen as a “very important advantage”,
as was the “ambient awareness” of communicating in short posts.
(b) Aspden and Thorpe (2009): used Twitter to understand student learning spaces: used
phones to answer ‘Where do you learn?’
(c) Wishart (2009): used PDAs with initial teacher education students who “are expected to
acquire, decipher, and understand a wealth of information, both pedagogical and practical” (p.
266) as they navigate between university courses and practicum (school placement)
experiences.
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 4

9. Inspiration for study
The problem: How could student-teachers track their thinking/
ideas/issues over a practicum, & develop self-awareness as
educators (=deliberate pedagogical sense)?
•Changing the Twitter question - Aspden & Thorpe
•Using handheld tools - Wishart
• Reflective practices as teaching professionals - May & Etkina
and Howard
•Potential to use Internet/mobiles as almost-standard means of
communication
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 5

10. Inspiration for study
The problem: How could student-teachers track their thinking/
ideas/issues over a practicum, & develop self-awareness as
educators (=deliberate pedagogical sense)?
•Changing the Twitter question - Aspden & Thorpe
•Using handheld tools - Wishart
• Reflective practices as teaching professionals - May & Etkina
and Howard
•Potential to use Internet/mobiles as almost-standard means of
communication
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 5

11. Framework: nuts and bolts
•Second, 7-week practicum for secondary teacher education
students posted to schools everywhere
• 3 tweets per working day
•From phone or web
•Respond to questions like:
What are you thinking?
What are your students learning?
What are you learning?
What can you see?
What do you wonder about?
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 6

12. Framework: nuts and bolts
•Second, 7-week practicum for secondary teacher education
students posted to schools everywhere
• 3 tweets per working day
•From phone or web
•Respond to questions like:
What are you thinking?
What are your students learning?
What are you learning?
What can you see?
What do you wonder about?
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 6

13. Framework: Methods & process
• Ethical approval; open invitation to grad cohort; met
with volunteers to outline expectations, sign consent,
and establish accounts
•WCEL support through e-learning project; provided
expertise to establish Twitter account and processes
for posting from web and/or phones
•#uowteps; 8987 - collected posts to single account
• At end of practicum: gathered group for focus group
interview to review the experience, the experiment
and its potential; gave each participant a printed
version of their own tweets
•Analysed posts: synthesised categories and themes
arising from data
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 7

14. Framework: Methods & process
• Ethical approval; open invitation to grad cohort; met
with volunteers to outline expectations, sign consent,
and establish accounts
•WCEL support through e-learning project; provided
expertise to establish Twitter account and processes
for posting from web and/or phones
•#uowteps; 8987 - collected posts to single account
• At end of practicum: gathered group for focus group
interview to review the experience, the experiment
and its potential; gave each participant a printed
version of their own tweets
•Analysed posts: synthesised categories and themes
arising from data
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 7

15. Findings
•Categories:
Pedagogy, emotions, relationships, complexity/curriculum/
planning, reflections, social/other
•Over time, tweets concentrated on categories of pedagogy,
complexity/curriculum and planning
•Large number of tweets wondered at the complex and
contradictory nature of teaching and learning for example:
“...realised that some kids sit back and pretend they no nothing but when u give
them a task that can be done solo, they strutt it”
•Mutual support nimbly and quickly available - reduced feelings
of isolation; intensified sense of community
•Tweets quick to read and easy to empathise with
• Brevity a plus - to read and to focus thinking on constructing
messages
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 8

16. Findings
•Categories:
Pedagogy, emotions, relationships, complexity/curriculum/
planning, reflections, social/other
•Over time, tweets concentrated on categories of pedagogy,
complexity/curriculum and planning
•Large number of tweets wondered at the complex and
contradictory nature of teaching and learning for example:
“...realised that some kids sit back and pretend they no nothing but when u give
them a task that can be done solo, they strutt it”
•Mutual support nimbly and quickly available - reduced feelings
of isolation; intensified sense of community
•Tweets quick to read and easy to empathise with
• Brevity a plus - to read and to focus thinking on constructing
messages
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 8

17. Continued...
•Rigour of tweets (140 characters) initially difficult; focused
composition of tweets later appreciated - reflections on
reflections -
•Tweets forced participants to consider not just what they did,
but how and why - tweeting helped them know
• Half continued using phones; half used web to tweet - about
convenience and comfort and preference for full keyboard
•A few have become inspired to continue use with classes and/
or to link with other subject discipline teachers
• Tweets often sent during the following time periods:
8.15-8.30am, 12-1.30pm, after 3.20pm, 7-9pm.
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 9

18. Continued...
•Rigour of tweets (140 characters) initially difficult; focused
composition of tweets later appreciated - reflections on
reflections -
•Tweets forced participants to consider not just what they did,
but how and why - tweeting helped them know
• Half continued using phones; half used web to tweet - about
convenience and comfort and preference for full keyboard
•A few have become inspired to continue use with classes and/
or to link with other subject discipline teachers
• Tweets often sent during the following time periods:
8.15-8.30am, 12-1.30pm, after 3.20pm, 7-9pm.
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 9

19. So what?
Some learning uses for Twitter:
• Logging ideas/brainstorms for projects/plans; saved chronology helpful for later
review
• Gaining fast and nimble advice as problems, tasks or issues are negotiated and
solved
• Sharing sources and leads - photos, videos, pdfs, blogs, sites, articles, Slideshare,
retweets...
• Developing a community of like-minded people
• Fast conversation/discussion
• Rapid dissemination of information or feedback
• Real-time feedback during lectures/tutorials eg through Monitter
• How tweets can support others: educational Twitter uses
• Apps can be adapted for your own uses and which add functionality to Twitter: Polls,
groups etc
• And what some students say about using Twitter educationally
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 10

20. So what?
Some learning uses for Twitter:
• Logging ideas/brainstorms for projects/plans; saved chronology helpful for later
review
• Gaining fast and nimble advice as problems, tasks or issues are negotiated and
solved
• Sharing sources and leads - photos, videos, pdfs, blogs, sites, articles, Slideshare,
retweets...
• Developing a community of like-minded people
• Fast conversation/discussion
• Rapid dissemination of information or feedback
• Real-time feedback during lectures/tutorials eg through Monitter
• How tweets can support others: educational Twitter uses
• Apps can be adapted for your own uses and which add functionality to Twitter: Polls,
groups etc
• And what some students say about using Twitter educationally
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 10

21. enrite
n.wright@waikato.ac.nz
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 11

22. enrite
n.wright@waikato.ac.nz
© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 13 November 2007 11