1.
Curation, Connectivity and
Creativity: Reflections on using
Twitter to teach Digital Activism
Dr. Paul Reilly
University of Sheffield
Social Media for Learning in Higher Education Conference
19 December 2019
@PaulJReilly

2.
Overview
•Used Twitter in PGT and UG
Digital Activism modules since
2012 (Leicester and Sheffield)
•Student feedback on use of
social media to provide resources
extremely positive (esp. hashtag
and screencasts)
• Several awards for teaching
innovation e.g. JISC,
Distinguished Teaching
Fellowship (Leicester)

3.
Hashtag as Backchannel?
•Bespoke hashtags for each class that are memorable
(not module codes) e.g. #actandprotest, #digiadvocates
•Students shouldn’t be compelled to join social media in
order to benefit from it – use Storify/Wakelet to create
public archive (engaging audience beyond class too)
•There will be more ’watchers’ than active participants
(that’s ok- they are not assessed on their tweeting)
•Hashtag also functions as tool for researchers to curate
resources for their own work (win-win?)

4.
Three ‘C’s of using Twitter to teach
Digital Activism
•Curating
resources
•Connecting
students
•Highlighting
Creativity

5.
(Real-time) co-curation of resources
e.g. blogs, reports, media coverage
• Students encouraged to share
links under hashtag
• Enables real-time case studies
to be integrated into teaching
e.g. ‘Arab Spring, OWS
• Encourages students to think
about how theoretical work is
applied to real-world examples
(and follow the news!)

6.
Connections within class (peer-to-
peer, students to teacher)
• Students encouraged to
use hashtag (if already on
Twitter – not mandatory
as tweets archived on
Storify/Wakelet)
• Some share results of
tasks (e.g. ‘how quickly
could you be found based
on your digital footprint’)
on Twitter

7.
Showcase creativity of students
(during class exercises)

8.
#Digiadvocates share their subvertisements
(February 2019)
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9.
#Digiadvocates share images of their ‘Protest
Selfies’ on Twitter (March 2019)
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10.
Conclusion
•Curation of resources probably the most significant
transformation in teaching Digital Activism – esp.
responsiveness to breaking news
•Highlighting creativity of students on hashtag also
contributed to positive module evaluations
•More watchers than active participants (teachers should
encourage more critical thinking about how platforms
exploit users than compel them to setup accounts)
•Difficult to prove Twitter improved educational outcomes
– but students who achieved distinctions contributed to
hashtags and used these resources in their assignments
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11.
Further information
•#actandprotest
•#digiadvocates
•Education Technology article on social media in HE teaching
•Screencasts in Media Studies
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12.
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