Slides of a short talk that I gave at the Higher Education Academy workshop on innovative approaches to student engagement

1. CAN TWITTER BE AN EFFECTIVE
TOOL IN STUDENT ENGAGEMENT?
NADIA AMIN & PHIL SAINTER
WESTMINSTER BUSINESS SCHOOL
(BUSINESS INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & OPERATIONS)
HEA ICS WORKSHOP ON INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO STUDENTS ENGAGEMENT
UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE, 23 JUNE 2010.

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3. CONTENTS
• What is Twitter?
• Twitter use in HE
• Our experience
• Recommendations
• Conclusions
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4. WHAT IS TWITTER?
• a micro-blogging social network to share
content via short messages
• Used by businesses, celebrities and media
• A post (tweet) is a 140-character message
• You can ‘follow’ people, and they can ‘follow’
you too
• You can protect tweets (privacy option)
• You can create lists and follow others’ lists
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5. Source: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/
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6. TWITTER ACCOUNT Num. of Num. of
following followers
Account Your
name & Bio
photo
Number
of tweets
Your
followers
Tweet
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7. TWITTER BASICS
• Tweets: 140-character message
• @replies: @anelkaofficiel
• RT (retweets): RT@anelkaofficiel
• Hashtags (#): #worldcup, #eng
• Direct messages: DM @anelkaofficiel
• Link shorteners for long URL: tinyurl.com,
bit.ly
• Photo publishing: twitpic.com
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8. TWITTER TOOLS
• Twitter Software
– Twitteriffic, TweetDeck, Hootsuite, Seeismic
• Twitter Mobile Applications
– for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Blackberry, Nokia,
SonyEricsson.
• Backup and utility tools
– Usage Statistics : Twittercounter, TwitterGrader
– Backup: TwapperKeeper, Twazzup, RSS feeds
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9. TWEETDECK
www.tweetdeck.com
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10. USING TWITTER IN CLASS
• Announcement board
• Collaboration
• Backchannelling
• Crowdsourcing
• Twitter polls
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11. THE TWITTER EXPERIMENT:
DR RANKIN UT DALLAS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WPVWDkF7U8&feature=related
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12. OUR PILOT EXPERIMENT:
• 20 students on “Digital Revolution” module
• Students asked to follow the tutor, each other
and others for one semester
• Twitter training was provided to all students
(only three were ‘experts’)
• Students invited to tweet on the subject
• Students asked to write a reflective statement
at the end
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13. STUDENTS FEEDBACK ON TWITTER
USE
• Quick, delivers messages • Takes time from studies to
faster (viral effect) maintain the account
• Excellent message dashboard • Does not replace email or VLE
for class communication and • Integration with SMS costly
feedback • Does not replace face-to-face
• Easy to use and learn contacts
• Improves the community feel • Dealing with twitter spam
within the group • Information overload
• Gives access to new sources • Privacy aspect
and contacts
• Can be integrated with • Requires motivation to use by
Facebook some, but can become
addictive for others
• Gives all students equal voice
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14. RECOMMENDATIONS
• Teaching Activities
– What is the reason of using twitter ?
– What teaching or learning activity it will support?
– Device assignments that make use of twitter
– Encourage twitter use by awarding marks, rewards for best
tweets, etc.
• Tutor’s use and motivations
– Familiarise yourself with twitter tools and etiquette
– Be proactive in ‘twitterspace’
– Combine with other tools if possible: Email, Moodle, Facebook
– Personal twitter account vs dedicated module name account
• Provide students with training, guides and support .
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15. USEFUL ON-LINE SOURCES
• The Twitter Guide by Mashable
http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/
• The Ultimate Twitter Guidebook For Teachers
http://edudemic.com/2010/06/the-ultimate-twitter-guidebook/
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16. http://hootcourse.com/
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17. USEFUL TECH-EDUCATORS TO FOLLOW
• @courosa: Alec Couros, Regina
• @drbexl: Bex Lewis, Winchester
• @timbuckteeth: Steve Wheeler, Portsmouth
• @jamesclay: James Clay, Gloucestershire
• @russell1955: Russell Stannard, Westminster
• @hopkinsdavid: David Hopkins, Bournemouth
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18. CONCLUSIONS
• If used in the right context, twitter can engage
students
• It is a free and easy to use platform with
plethora of tools
• We aim to conduct a larger pilot in 2010-11
– more staff and students on several modules
– examine pedagogical implications
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