The document discusses the potential of using Twitter to build online learning communities between students, tutors, and academic staff, highlighting its advantages like engagement and remote accessibility. It details various strategies for effectively using Twitter in higher education, emphasizing active learning, peer support, and networking benefits, while also acknowledging challenges such as privacy and credibility. It concludes with practical tips for academics on how to leverage Twitter for community building and teaching enhancement.

1. Using Twitter to build online
learning communities between
student/tutor and tutor/tutor
LAL Staff Conference
Manchester, April 2018
@OliviaKellyOU
#OUNLALC

2. Reason for interest in using Twitter as an AL
• Low use of TGFs, looking for alternative ways to connect with
students and fellow academics
• Perfect for working remotely
• Follow me @OliviaKellyOU
• Feel free to tweet during or after the workshop, use hashtag
#OUNLALC so others can see your tweets and build our
community!

3. But can Twitter…….
build online learning communities
between student/tutor and tutor/tutor?

4. Introduction to Twitter
• What is it? (Social Network, tweets, microblogging) (Lifewire, 2018)
• Usage figures and demographics
o 330 million monthly active users
o Mostly used by millennials (usage drops with age, 31% new UG
OU students under 25 (Open University, 2017))
o Even gender split
o Over 500m tweets per day but 2 billion searches! (Newberry, 2018)

5. How does Twitter work?
• What is a hashtag?
• Examples of hashtags? #icebucketchallenge, #thedress,
#metoo
• How are they used?
• Anyone can easily search what you’re tweeting about
• Users can track a discussion and get involved
• Adds to the online learning community
• True distance learning!

6. How does Twitter work?
• What makes Twitter different from other social media?
• Fast moving, access to anyone, all about engagement and
connections, Twitter chats open to all (discoverability)
• Digital Scholarship
• digital media and social media are credible means of
research and more affordable and open methods for
scholarly communication (Hacker, 2012)

7. Current ways Twitter is used in HE
• How Twitter is used in tutor/tutor, tutor/student and student/student
exchanges.
• General university tweets – marketing
• Module hashtags – anyone can post useful resources, shown on module
website, info on tutorials, TMA deadlines
• Retweet fellow ALs – builds AL community
• Post info on own interests/research – establish yourself in academic field
• Livetweet during tutorials or students tweet key learning points using hashtag
• Live Twitterchats to debate topic
• Ask asynchronous questions within your tweet
• Student peer support

8. Build online learning community for students?
Hall & Dodd’s (2017) application of Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) ‘7 Principles for
Good Practice in Undergraduate Education’ to Twitter
• Encourage contact between students and faculty – share tweets of interest to
students, develop rapport with students online
• Develops reciprocity and cooperation between students – encourage students to
get to know fellow students via Twitter
• Uses active learning techniques – helps students in workplace and job
applications
• Gives prompt feedback – answer student questions and comments
• Emphasises time on task – remind students of TMAs and module activities
• Communicates high expectations – encourage students to follow peers and
academics in their field of study
• Respects diverse talents and ways of learning – encourage students to use Twitter
for research, recognises student’s enthusiasm for social media.

9. Build online learning community for ALs?
According to Jordan & Weller (2018) there is sporadic uptake on social networking
by academics with a mixture of beneficial outcomes and problems or tensions
through working online.
Benefits
• Establish public & cross-disciplinary
connections
• Rewards collaboration with
individuals rather than roles or
institutions
• Develops networks
• Openness and sharing
• Self-promotion
• Support with research
Problems
• Privacy
• Blurring of boundaries
• Lack of credibility
• Too much self-promotion
• Time pressures
• Plagiarism
• Risk becoming a target

10. Therefore, should Language ALs be tweeting?
• What benefits and problems do you foresee in using Twitter as one of
our teaching methods. Consider:
• Role of distance learning
• Online learning communities
• Remote working
• TGF participation
• Time involved
• Feedback in plenary discussion

11. Top Ten Twitter Tips for Language ALs
1. Authenticity before marketing – have personality, build community
2. Don’t just publish news – personalise for you and your followers
3. Use separate accounts
4. Be nice, be thankful, reply and retweet
5. Follow everyone who follows you! It’s for conversation & collaboration
6. Take part in Chats (#LTHEchat, #LALTCHAT)
7. Don’t tweet about your coffee – add value to your followers
8. Don’t only tweet your own content - participate and retweet
9. Don’t automate messages
10. Limit tweets to 5 per day

12. Thanks for attending
• Handout – summary of key points, Top 10 Tips and references
• Following conference I will tweet a summary of key points written in
handouts. Follow me on @OliviaKellyOU
• Tweet photos from the workshop
• Please tweet your key learning point
• Use hashtag #OUNLALC

13. References
• Hacker, (2012) The Challenges of Digital Scholarship, https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/the-
challenges-of-digital-scholarship/38103 (Accessed 12/04/2018)
• Hull, K. & Dodd, J.E. (2017) Faculty use of Twitter in higher education teaching, Journal of Applied Research
in Higher Education, Vol. 9 Issue: 1, pp.91-104, https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-05-2015-0038
• Jordan, K. and Weller, M. (2018) Academics and Social Networking Sites: Benefits, Problems and Tensions in
Professional Engagement with Online Networking. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2018(1): 1, pp.
1–9, https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.448
• Lifewire, (2018), What is microblogging?, https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-microblogging-3486200,
(Accessed 12/04/2018)
• Mansfield, H. (2009) 10 Twitter Tips for Higher Education, Universitybusiness.com, May 2009
https://www.universitybusiness.com/article/10-twitter-tips-higher-education (Accessed 14/02/18)
• Newberry, C. (2018), 28 Twitter Statistics all marketers need to know in 2018,
https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-statistics/ (Accessed 12/04/2018)
• The Open University, (2017), Facts and Figures 2015-2016,
https://www.open.ac.uk/about/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.about.main/files/files/uk_fact_figures_1516_p
df(1).pdf
• Zhang, A, 2018, Top Five Tips that will help you build an online community,
https://medium.com/@aiaddysonzhang/top-five-tips-that-will-help-you-build-an-online-community-
3d0d6581f977 (Accessed 13/04/2018)