Coltt 2011 vallad

Tweeting and Turning: The Use of

Twitter in Education

Lisa Vallad

COLTT 2011 Conference

Lisa Vallad

Finance Training Specialist and CPE Program Manager at the University of Colorado, Office of University Controller

Pursuing Master’s of Education with a focus on Training and Development at North Carolina State University

Twitter: @valladls

Agenda

What is Twitter?

The Stats

Creating an Account

Using Twitter

Research

How is Twitter used in education?

In the News………

What is Twitter?

“Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting”.

Used by businesses, organizations, and individuals.

http://twitter.com.

The Stats

460K New Accounts Daily

155M Tweets/Day

200M Registered Users

That would make Twitter the 5th largest country in the world, behind China, India, USA, and Indonesia.

Creating an Account

Creating an Account

Creating an Account

Confirm Your Account

Sign-Up for Mobile Notifications

Download App to your Smartphone

Update your Profile

Photo

Bio (160 Characters)

Tweets

“Small bursts of information”

Limited to 140 characters

PUBLIC and available to anyone interested in them

How do you Tweet?

http://Twitter.com

On the Home Page, in “What’s Happening”

Mobile

Text Tweet to “404-04” (after you have established your mobile device on http://Twitter.com)

Smartphone App

Timeline Page

Click “Write”

Following

Following someone on Twitter means:

You are subscribing to their Tweets.

Their updates will appear in your timeline.

That person has permission to send you private Tweets (direct messages).

Followers

Followers are people who receive your Tweets. If someone follows you, they:

Become your follower and will display in the “newest follower” section.

Receive your Tweets on their home page, phone, or any application that they use.

The Jargon

Mention

You and others can “mention” an account in your Tweets by preceding it with the @ symbol, i.e. “Thanks for the birthday wishes @valladls”.

Retweet

When you see a Tweet by another user that you want to share, click Retweet below it to forward to your followers instantly.

The Jargon

Message

If you want to privately Tweet to a particular user who’s already following you, start your Tweet with DM or D to direct-message them, eg: “DM@CU_CPE_4CPAs when is your next course offering?”

Hashtag

People use the hashtag symbol # before relevant keywords in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets to make it searchable. Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets in that category.

Twitter in Education

In the Classroom

Live Twitter Feed (Using Hotseat, TweetDeck, etc.) during class to field students’ questions

Extra credit opportunities

Reminder of deadlines

Supplement to Learning Management Systems (LMS)

Engagement in distance education

Twitter in Education

Educator Professional Development

Follow conferences you are unable to attend

Networking

Follow Professional Organizations

10 Twips (Twitter Tips) for Education

Have personality and build community.

Don’t use Twitter for RSS or “News” unless you call your profile “News”.

Have multiple Twitter accounts, representing different segments of your organization.

Be nice, thankful, reply and retweet.

Follow everyone who follows you.

10 Twips for Education

Use “favorites” to organize the chaos and feature your most important tweets.

Don’t tweet about your coffee, the weather, or how tired you are.

Don’t only tweet your own content.

Send messages, but not via auto-responders.

Limit your tweets to five per day.

In the News………

New York Times

“Investment Values Twitter at $8 Billion” – 7/7/11

“Obama to Host Twitter Town Hall” – 6/30/11

For Rep. Anthony Weiner, Twitter Has Double Edge” – 5/31/11

In the News……..

Fox News

“Republican Presidential Field Participates in First-Ever Twitter Debate” – 7/20/11

In the News………

BBC

“Surrey Police Hail Car Crime Twitter Campaign a Success” – 7/19/11

References

Bradley, P. (2009). Whither twitter?. Community College Week, 21(19), 6-8.

Mansfield, H. (2009). 10 Twitter tips for higher education. University Business, 12(5), 27-28.

M., E. E. (2009). Higher ed: A-Twitter or not?. University Business, 12(9), 14.

Thames, G. (2009). Twitter as an educational tool. Journal of Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 22(4), 235.

Young, J. R. (2009). Teaching with twitter: Not for the faint of heart. Chronicle of Higher Education, 56(14), A1-A11.

Welcome to Twitter

Twitter: valladls

[email protected]