The panel hosted by Dr. Amy Scott Metcalfe at the University of British Columbia discusses the role of social media and digital technologies in advancing research in education. It features presentations from four researchers on using digital platforms, including Twitter, for academic communication, health knowledge mobilization, social justice, and online communities. The event aims to facilitate discussion on the impact of these tools at all stages of the research process.

1. Dr. Amy Scott Metcalfe
Department of Educational Studies
Faculty of Education
University of British Columbia
Using Twitter for Academic Communication

2. Digital and Social Media for Research
Purposes: A Panel
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Time: 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. Venue: University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, Scarfe Building – Room 310
What is the significance of social media, digital technologies and online platforms to advance
research in education? Digital and social media can play a role at all stages of the research
process, including the generation of research questions, data collection, analysis, academic
dissemination, and knowledge mobilization. This panel will bring together four researchers from
the Faculty of Education – two faculty members and two trainees – who will share their
experience using digital and social media for research purposes. Their brief presentations will be
followed by a period for questions and open discussion.
Panelists:
Dr. Mary Bryson (Professor, LLED) will speak about the use of Digital Storytelling as a method
for health knowledge mobilization
Dr. Amy Metcalfe (Associate Professor, EDST) will talk about her experience using Twitter for
academic communication
Dr. Chelsey Hauge (postdoctoral fellow, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality & Social Justice)
will share her experience using digital media production for social justice in the context of
international education
Ashley Shaw (PhD student in EDCP) will discuss her research in online communities,
including Facebook and MOOCs
Dr. Natasha Boskic, Senior Manager of Learning Design in the Faculty of Education, will facilitate
the panel.
http://yre.educ.ubc.ca/digital-and-social-media-panel/

3. @amymetc

4. Twitter for Academic Communication
• Dissemination of research
• Connecting with students beyond the campus
• Establishing and maintaining scholarly networks
• Conference communication
• Policy advocacy and activism
• Current events and news in academia
• Internal university news and communication
• Unit of analysis for research on higher ed
• Humour

5. Dissemination of Research
Gulson, K. N., & Metcalfe, A. S. (2015). Introduction: Education policy analysis for a
complex world: Poststructural possibilities. Critical Studies in Education, 56(1), 1-4.
My tweet
Publisher’s
tweet
Journal’s
tweet

6. Research in progress

7. Connecting with students
beyond the campus

9. Establishing and maintaining
scholarly networks

10. Conference communication

11. Policy advocacy and activism

12. Current events and news in academia

13. Internal university news and
communication

14. Unit of analysis for research

15. Humour

16. References
Ebner, M. (2013). The influence of Twitter on the academic environment. In B.
Patrut, M Patrut, & C. Cmeciu (Eds.), Social media and the new academic
environment: Pedagogical challenges, pp. 293-307. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Hoffmann, C. P. (2015). Success measurement of scientific communication:
The contribution of new media to the governance of universities. In I. M.
Welpe, J. Wollersheim, S. Ringelhan, & M. Osterloh (Eds.), Incentives and
performance, pp. 291-306. Springer International Publishing.
Holmberg, K., & Thelwall, M. (2014). Disciplinary differences in Twitter
scholarly communication. Scientometrics, 101(2), 1027-1042.
Mahrt, M., Weller, K., & Peters, I. (2014). Twitter in scholarly communication.
In K. Weller, A. Bruns, J. Burgess, M. Mahrt, & C. Puschmann (Eds.), Twitter
and society, pp. 399-410. New York: Peter Lang.
Weller, K., & Strohmaier, M. (2014). Social media in academia: How the Social
Web is changing academic practice and becoming a new source for research
data. it-Information Technology, 56(5), 203-206.