Twitter in US Higher Education

Kelvin Thompson, Ed.D.University of Central Florida

Twitter Defined

Twitter is a free, public microposting service (140 characters) accessible via web and mobile devices.http://twitter.com

Estimated that 1/3 of US higher education faculty use Twitter (Faculty Focus, 2010)

Educator Uses of Twitter

Announcements from Teacher

Friendly reminder that Modules are closing tomorrow, September 9th at 11:59pm. Good luck!

Status Updates from Teacher

On my way to class. Running few mins. late. Pass the word.

Educator Uses of Twitter

Teacher modeling of professional interactions in discourse community (Personal Learning Network)

@djadjas I was honored by your translation--and I love that photo. I look forward to learning from and with you.

@George_Haines Interesting question--thanks. Better foundation for what? It all depends on what we think we're building, and why.

Educator Uses of Twitter

• Teacher-supplied links to supplemental content resources (may be scheduled in advance to coincide with course topics)

“5 Examples of How Schools Are Using Social Media to Enhance Learning” http://bit.ly/bFTLrj via @pparris9 #eme5050

Creative Commons: An Educational Primer http://t.co/lK0swbm #eme5050

Educator Uses of Twitter

Student questions or feedback

Will there be a Week 12 update this week or did I miss it? (Totally possible.)

That’s fine. We can still do the replies and scoring for today. Plus time to read the text.

Educator Uses of Twitter

Mini-learning network: all contribute ideas or content

Implementation Methods

• Include in syllabus teacher’s Twitter profile URL– http://twitter.com/kthompso – Invite students to “follow” (subscribe) to teacher posts if

desired

• Establish a separate, course-specific Twitter profile

• Tag course-specific postings with unique keyword (“hashtag”)

• Display Twitter feed within VLE (“Blackboard”) using widget

HootCourse Defined

• HootCourse is an education-specific, free public/private microposting service (140 characters) accessible via web and mobile devices. http://hootcourse.com

• Authenticate with Twitter ID or Facebook name

• Users decide: Postings stay in HootCourse or send to Twitter or Facebook (authentication)

Try It Out Yourself!

Public HootCourse environment for FOI/UCF collaboration and communications:

http://hootcourse.com/course/1419/

Resources

• “Social Networking Communication:” entry in UCF’s Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository http://topr.online.ucf.edu/index.php/Social_Networking_Communication

• “Twitter Experiment:” video case study of Twitter use by University of Texas professor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WPVWDkF7U8

Resources

• Public HootCourse Example: Educational Technology Coursehttp://hootcourse.com/course/7/

• Public HootCourse Example: Professional Development Course on Blended Learning http://hootcourse.com/course/1451/

References

Faculty Focus. (2010). Twitter in higher education 2010: Usage habits and trends of today's college faculty. Retrieved October 12, 2010 fromhttp://www.facultyfocus.com/free-report/twitter-in-higher-education-2010-usage-habits-and-trends-of-todays-college-faculty