Introducing tweetchats using #LTHEchat as an exemplar

Speed CPD!#LTHEchat

What's a tweetchat??

Websitehttp://lthechat.com/

Follow@LTHEchat

to find out more!

BREAKING NEWS....LEARNING AND TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION TWEETCHAT....#LTHEchat...

BREAKING NEWS....LEARNING AND TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION TWEETCHAT....#LTHEchat...

So what is a Tweetchat?

A Tweetchat is a virtual meeting or gathering on Twitter to discuss a common topic. The chat usually lasts one hour and will include questions to stimulate discussion.  

Tell me more about #LTHEchat

The Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (LTHE) chat is a collaborative project using tweetchats as a forum for synchronous discussion. Each will have a specific focus and it will be up to the community to decide what comes next. We will be inviting guest chat facilitators too and hope that you will join us for some speed CPD linked to learning and teaching in Higher Education. 

http://lthechat.com/

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: #LTHEchat = Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Chat

Participants in the tweetchat will include the hashtag in all tweets.

How are Tweetchats organised?A communication will be sent out by a tweetchat faciltator to say:• What the chat is about - the topic that week• What the chosen hashtag is - #LTHEchat• When the chat will take place including the date and time

(It is useful to state GMT or your own time zone if your chat is open to a wide and potentially international audience)

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.

#LTHEchat takes place on every Wednesday 8-9pm GMT

How do I find #LTHEchat?

You can view all the tweets containing #LTHEchat by simply searching for #LTHEchat using the search bar in Twitter.  

Tweets containing this hashtag will then appear in your timeline below.                                                                                                                                                                         

The format of a tweetchatTweetchats 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? #LTHEchat

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 #LTHEchat

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 tweetchats 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 tweetchat 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 #LTHEchat (or any search term) and bring up tweets containing this.

Useful tools to use in tweetchats

You can follow a 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.

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.  Here is the #LTHEchat link

Dashboards

Dashboards enable you to view different groups of tweets in columns. You can therefore set up a column for #LTHEchat which then shows just the tweets containing that hashtag.

Examples of dashboards are:

Hootsuite 

Tweetdeck

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)

The #LTHEchat Tagboard can be found here: https://tagboard.com/LTHEchat/194468

Storify

Storify is a free tool to curate the tweets after a tweetchat. It allows you to gather the tweets containing your chosen hashtag and then display these within a storyboard.

The #LTHEchat Storify page can be found here: https://storify.com/LTHEchat

New stories will be added after each #LTHEchat takes place

To find out more about #LTHEchat

Follow @LTHEchat on Twitter

Visit the website http://lthechat.com/

Follow #LTHEchat

If you would like to be a Guest Facilitator do get in touch!

The #LTHEchat Steering Group

Chrissi Nerantzi @chrissinerantzi – Manchester Metropolitan University

Sue Beckingham @suebecks – Sheffield Hallam University

David Walker @drdjwalker – University of Sussex

Peter Reed @reedyreedles – University of Liverpool