tweeting for change

AECT - Jacksonville 2011

Tweeting for Change

Beth Rajan Sockman Ph.D.Patricia Green

John Scognamiglio

QuestionsWhat is Twitter?

How is it used? Then… in Education?

How can it be used to connect researchers and practicing educators?

What is the preliminary experience of using Twitter to connect research to practicing educators?



What is Twitter Twitter is a social network, micro-blogging site, founded

by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams in March 2006 (launched publicly in July 2006), that connects friends through sharing short messages about the latest information regarding what is interesting known as tweets.

Each Tweet is 140 characters in length. Twitter is based in San Francisco, but it is used by people in nearly

every country in the world. It now comes in the following: English French German Italian Japanese Spanish

http://twitter.com/about




Essentials of Twitter Use

Account - http://twitter.com/

Follow people

Retweet

Subscribe to LISTS Hashtags - #Hootsuite

http://twitter.com/

http://twitter.com/

http://twitter.com/

http://hootsuite.com/dashboard


Twitter Overview - Use Businesses:

Share information with people interested in products and services, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and influential people.

Social Change: “The instruments of social media are well suited to making the existing social order more efficient” (Gladwell, 2010) .http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=1

Education: In classrooms – high school & college for classroom & backchannel conversations – Large lecture

Education - PLN – Personal Learning Network for educators

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=1

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=1


In Education: PLN – Personal Learning NetworkEducation – See Hashtag list

What you do not see – researchers

Myth in education: # hashtags change quickly

Hashtags in education do NOT change very quickly.


Teacher Twitter InfoTeachers Guide (K-3)

Teacher – How to & Why (Shawn Urban)

Blog – Advocating for Twitter – By Higher Ed- Tom Whitby

http://www.k-3teacherresources.com/teachers-guide-to-twitter.html

http://shawnurban.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/twitter-and-professional-development/

http://tomwhitby.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/twitter-simply-complicated/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter


Hashtag Tracking: Analytics http://www.hashtracking.com

#EDCHAT HashTracking.com Report

1,000 tweets generated 1,239,080 impressions, reaching an audience of 776,280 followers within the past 24 hours

COMPARE:

#edchat #edresearch #edtech

http://www.hashtracking.com/

http://www.hashtracking.com/fast-report/?hashtag=edchat

http://www.hashtracking.com/fast-report/?hashtag=edresearch

http://www.hashtracking.com/fast-report/?hashtag=edresearch

http://www.hashtracking.com/fast-report/?hashtag=edtech

http://www.hashtracking.com/fast-report/?hashtag=edtech


ProblemEducational researchers and teachers

do not regularly communicate, especially outside of “class”.

Cathy Seeley (Using research to improve teaching.)

The challenge many of us have faced is that researchers often communicate in a language for other researchers, and teachers don’t have the time or interest to read lengthy research reports that may not be immediately usable.

Educational Researcher

Teacher


Connect Researcher with Practitioners


Question:What is the experience of the first researcher

in using Twitter to connect research with

practitioners?


MethodGrounded in an action research scenario

(Stringer, 2007).

First author has begun tweeting with the guidance of the other authors – Feb. 2011

Recorded and analyzed experience

Desire: Connect with practitioners so that they may find

research valuable to inform practice.


THEMES


#1 Internal Resistance (Gleicher’s formula): Plumbing the depths of internal resistance allows for continual use and growth.

Felt very intimidated – new environmentMoving very fast & didn’t want to add another thing

to my world (Twitter in Higher Education, 2010)

Stars of Tweeting: Fear!

Afraid I could never be as great as others… Shell Terrell - http://twitter.com/#!/shellterrell

http://twitter.com/%23!/shellterrell

http://twitter.com/%23!/shellterrell


Gleicher's Formula

D x V x F > RD = Dissatisfaction with how things are now

V = Vision of what is possibleF = First, concrete steps that can be taken towards the vision

If the product of these three factors is greater thanR = Resistance then change is possible.


Culture


#2 “How to Knowledge” (Rogers, 1995): Writing for the micro-blogging environment requires skill that needs to be cultivated.

Looked at links from Tweets

WOW! Others tweeter were great because they were pumping out very practical ideas. Not because they had professional looking materials:

http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/blogs-i-recommend/




#3 Gaining “How to Knowledge”: Using hashtags and blogging to incorporate twitter allows for valuable qualitative information. Most tweets actually referred to other

websites – blogs, wikis or information

Employing other social networking tools into Twitter increases the tweeters’ voice.


Creating a page with a purposeWhen setting up your twitter account use your real

name and link company related websites to your page. Design your page with professionalism as your focus!

Include your Brand Name(s) and/or Your Given Name.

Pages must be well maintained and professional.

Contains a balance of conversational and individual Tweets. Twitter is about conversation.

Include Multi-Media

It is a good idea to put your Twitter page link in as many places as you can so as many people as possible can find you on Twitter.

Highly effective twitter pages have backgrounds that reflect a clean and professional image. Use an attractive background graphic

Be professional in your tweets. People follow you for a reason.

Include your telephone number and email address as part of your background


#4 Defining success: Success and failure on Twitter differs from traditional academic environments.

Beware: Many companies will follow you.


Building Twitter PresenceBefore you begin…

Large Twitter Followers Success

The number of followers you have on Twitter does not mean you are popular or that people are interested in what you have to say.

What really counts is the number of conversations you are having. Are people listening to you? Are people responding to what you are saying?

Use Twitter to provide valuable information and build positive relationships

http://www.communityspark.com/a-beginners-guide-to-building-a-presence-on-twitter /

http://www.communityspark.com/a-beginners-guide-to-building-a-presence-on-twitter/




#5 MY PLN -Undiscovered benefit: Benefit from the PLN aspect in terms of evolving technology NOW - Twitter using Hootsuite

http://hootsuite.com/dashboard


Personal ConclusionMaintain Desire: get research out to

motivated practitioners

Reward: my PLN

Difficult: desirable followers

Action Step: integrate with BLOG – get out the work of graduate students on more research


Read – Can we connect?Dear Teacher Blog Post

Teachers/Administrators are encouraging other teachers to be on twitter.

Would it be beneficial to be in the same place?

http://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/dear-teacher-who-wasnt-on-twitter/


ReferencesFormula for change. (2011, November 4). Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_for_Change

Gladwell, M. (2010, October 10). Small change: Why revolution will not be tweeted. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com

Greenhow, C. (2009). Tapping the Wealth of Social Networks for Professional Development. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(8), 10-11. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Miller, S. (2010). Enhance Your Twitter Experience. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(8), 14-17. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Seeley, K. (n.d.). Using research to improve teaching. Retrieved from http://www.nctm.org/about/content.aspx?id=908

Stringer, E. (2007). Action research Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Twitter in Higher Education 2010: Usage Habits and Trends of Today’s College Faculty. (2010). Faculty Focus. http://www.facultyfocus.com/free-reports/twitter-in-higher-education-2010-usage-habits-and-trends-of-todays-college-faculty/

Young, J. R. (2010). Teaching with Twitter: Not for the Faint of Heart. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 75(7), 9-12. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Young, J. R. (2009). 10 High Fliers on Twitter. Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(31), A10. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_for_Change

http://www.newyorker.com/