A presentation on

2. Agenda
 Intro to ebooks for T&L
 From T&L to research: eBooks
 Intro to Twitter for T&L
 From T&L to research: Twitter
 Some reading

3. eBooks
 Are digital documents that may or may not be
printable
 They are distributed by the network
 They are read on networked devices
(computer, tablet, smart phone)
 A good way to make a ‘textbook’

4. Textbooks?
 An alternative to lecture material
 Can be easily repurposed into the lecture
 A codified, centralised resource for students
 Which presents the ‘narrative’ of the course
 And:
 You are also codifying your own knowledge

5. How to make an eBook
Soft option:
 A pdf file, uploaded to a web page (blog) (or into Blackboard if
you want to keep it private)
Hard core:
 Make a proper eBook using something like iAuthor, then
publish it to the iBook store
Problem:
Ebooks won’t be accessible to everyone, so you probably always
need the pdf as well

6. My pdf eBook
Soft option:
 A pdf file, uploaded to a web page (blog) (or into Blackboard if
you want to keep it private)
Hard core:
 Make a proper eBook using something like iAuthor, then
publish it to the iBook store
Problem:
Ebooks won’t be accessible to everyone, so you probably always
need the pdf as well

7. My pdf eBook

8. My pdf eBook

9. My pdf eBook

10. iBooks (Apple’s eBook)
Pros:
 You can include video, audio and interactive media
 You can publish it in Apple’s iBook store (possibly for
$$$)

11. iBook eBook
Cons:
 iBook store approval process is time-consuming
 Learning the layout software is more complex
 Relatively few students will be able to read it

13. iBook eBook

14. iBook eBook

15. eBooks – from teaching to
research
 I published the pdf on my blog, advertised it via a
tweet to a doco research hashtag, they blogged it
and someone else scooped their blog and …
 Bob’s my uncle, approx. 20000 hits on my blog
page…
 Makes it an easier job to go publish an article with
the textbook under my belt, plus I’ve started to
establish my rep.

16. Twitter for L&T
 Joining Twitter is only the first part. I have two Twitter
accounts, one for personal (@geniwate) and one for teaching
(@Jenny Weight).
 All students have to join Twitter. It’s best to get them following
each other (and you)
 However, what you really need it for everyone to use the course
hashtag. You make this up yourself.
 Hashtag for my course Transient Spaces is #transpaces
 Warning: hashtags are not private. You can set up a private group
but it’s a bit fiddly. I prefer to educate students to send private
things (and assessment) by email

17. Twitter for L&T
The other thing you need is a way to read your tweets.
Going to Twitter itself is not very efficient.
 Hootsuite: the best way if you use a computer to
read tweets

18. Twitter for L&T
 TweetDeck: good if you use
your mobile phone
 FlipBoard is good for an iPad
 You can also put a Twitter
widget on your blog

19. Twitter from L&T to
research
 Unleash the power of the hashtag!
 Good for trending topics, getting the pulse of current
opinion
 Eg, for my documentary on cyclists, I create and
read a Twitter feed
about the
#cyclist hashtag:

20. Useful site for doing
hashtag research
 Unleash the power of the hashtag!
 Good for trending topics, getting the pulse of current
opinion
 Eg, for my documentary on cyclists, I create and read a
Twitter feed
about people
using the
#cyclist hashtag:

21. Combining Twitter
and personal publishing
 Use Twitter to publicise your projects to the relevant
interest groups
 Do this by working out what hashtags they use on
twubs, and who are the top users (tweeps) of those
hashtags.
 Then tweet to that hashtag/s, and direct message to the
tweep/s
 My students are doing this too
 Watch your stuff go viral!

22. Resources
 Kirsten A. Johnson (2011): The effect of Twitter posts
on students’ perceptions of instructor
credibility, Learning, Media and
Technology, 36:1, 21-38