The document provides information about #FOSchat, a Twitter question shower being held from July 13-17, 2015 to discuss flexible, open and social learning. Participants will read assigned texts and ask questions on the topic using #FOSchat. The question shower format allows anyone to pose questions and respond to others' questions to enable connected thinking. Useful tools for participating include Twitter, Tweetchat, dashboards and Storify to view and curate the #FOSchat discussion.

1. Check out
#FOSchat !
What's a Twitter
Question
Shower?
Follow
#FOSchat
13-17 July 2015
Follow
@FOS4L
to find out more!
BREAKING NEWS...FLEXIBLE OPEN SOCIAL LEARNING TWITTER QUESTION SHOWER...#FOSchat...
BREAKING NEWS...FLEXIBLE OPEN SOCIAL LEARNING TWITTER QUESTION SHOWER...#FOSchat...

2. So what is a Twitter Question
Shower?
A Twitter Question Shower is a virtual meeting or
gathering on Twitter to discuss a common topic. The
upside down tweetchat lasts one hour and will be formed
by participants showering each other with questions and
responding to each other's. It is chaotic and messy but
also great fun and enables connected thinking with
others.

3. Tell me more about #FOSchat
The Flexible Open Social (FOS) Learning chat is a
collaborative synchronous discussion. Preparation will be
required. Each day we would like you to read a specific
text from our reading list and prepare at least one
question you have related to this, which you will share
during the chat.
https://foslearning.wordpress.com/

4. Tell me more about FOS
FOS, is a new open course for professionals in Higher
Education who teach or support learning and are
interested in learning with colleagues from around the
world about flexible, open and social learning and
consider changes to their practice as a result of their
engagement and learning.
https://foslearning.wordpress.com/

5. How does this work in Twitter?
In order to be able to view tweets relating to the chat, a
pre-agreed hashtag is shared. A hashtag is a word or
series of letters and/or numbers preceded by #
For example: #FOSchat = Flexible Open Social Learning
Chat
Participants in the Question Shower will include the
hashtag in all tweets.

6. How are Twitter Question Showers
organised?
Communications will be sent out via @FOS4L to say:
• What the Question Shower Chat is about - the topic that day and links to the
required pre-reading and is linked to a specific topic.
• What the chosen hashtag is - #FOSchat
• When the chat will take place including the date and time
• Even if you haven’t done the pre-reading, you will still be able to participate, ask
questions linked to the topic and respond to related questions.
Communication about a tweetchat can be sent out as a tweet but may also be
placed on your website or blog and via any other communication channel you wish
to use.
#FOSchat will take place from Monday the 13th until the 16th of July 2015 8-9pm BST

7. How do I find #FOSchat?
You can view all the tweets containing #LTHEchat by
simply searching for #FOSchat using the search bar in
Twitter.
Tweets containing this hashtag will then appear in your
timeline below.

8. The format of a Twitter Question Shower
Like tweetchats the format will include questions and answers. However where it
differs is that anyone can pose questions based on the pre-shared paper or
other artefact - and anyone can answer those questions, or indeed questions the
questions.
Participants will get most out of the Question Shower if they have done the pre-
reading!
To distinguish between questions and answers, tweets should be preceded with
either a Q or A.
Remember, all tweets need to also include #FOSchat

9. The format of a 'traditional' tweetchat
Tweetchats often follow the format of a Q&A. The tweetchat facilitator will
prepare a selection of questions prior to the event. To help to highlight the
questions they can be preceded with Q1, Q2, Q3 etc. For example:
Q1 How do engage with CPD to enhance your practice? #FOSchat
If you wish to respond to a question within your tweet always include the
designated hashtag and precede your tweet with A1, A2, A3 etc. This helps
others reading see which are the questions and which are the corresponding
answers.
A1 I have made new professional connections through LinkedIn and joined a
Discussion Group #FOSchat

10. Do I have to tweet to take part?
The answer is no. If you just want to ‘listen’ in that is fine and a good way to
dip your toe in the water and get a feel for how question showers are run.
You can read the questions raised and answers by those who respond. As
you become more confident you can then contribute to the discussions taking
place.
If you can’t make the time slot then you can still follow the question shower
chat later by searching for the designated hashtag.
It is also possible to use the search facility in Twitter without an account. If
you go to https://twitter.com/search-home you can enter the #FOSchat (or
any search term) and bring up tweets containing this.

11. Useful tools to use
You can follow a Question Shower or tweetchat using your
smartphone, tablet, notebook, laptop or PC via
www.twitter.com and on smart devices download the Twitter
app.
Some find it easier to use a laptop or PC to open up two
tabs: one to view the questions and another to watch the
Tweetchat.
There are also other tools you may wish to explore.

12. Tweetchat
Using Tweetchat is a useful tool to view just the tweets for a chosen hashtag
in one space. You can also tweet from here.

13. Dashboards
Dashboards enable you to view different groups of tweets in columns. You can
therefore set up a column for #FOSchat which then shows just the tweets
containing that hashtag.
Examples of dashboards are:
Hootsuite
Tweetdeck

14. Tagboard
This displays tweets for any hashtag you wish to search for. Whilst you only get
a snapshot of the latest tweets, it does provide a nice view of what is being
discussed.
From the Tagboard you can reply, retweet and favourite the tweets you see (but
you do need to be signed in to Twitter)
Tagboard can be found here: https://tagboard.com/

15. Storify
Storify is a free tool to curate the tweets after a question shower or tweetchat. It
allows you to gather the tweets containing your chosen hashtag and then
display these within a storyboard.
The #FOSchat Storify page can be found here: https://storify.com/FOSchat
New stories will be added after each #FOSchat takes place

16. To find out more about #FOSchat
# Follow @FOS4L on Twitter
# Visit the website https://foslearning.wordpress.com/
# Follow #FOSchat
# Tweet a question!

17. Any questions please contact
Chrissi Nerantzi @chrissinerantzi – Manchester Metropolitan University
Sue Beckingham @suebecks – Sheffield Hallam University