Identifying good quality information sources using Twitter

North Group

Anna, Paul, Clare, Jo, Barry, Damien, Mary, Mooi & Martin

Learning outcomes of the session

• Appreciate the learning benefits of Twitter

• Configure and use a Twitter account

• Search for and find three sources of relevant information relevant to your subject area

What is Twitter?

• Twitter is a micro-blogging site

• You can only use 140 characters per “tweet”

• You can re-tweet information on your account that you find useful

• You will find symbols like the one above on information sites and these link to your account if right clicked on

How does it work

• It is simple to create an account www.twitter.co.uk / www.twitter.com

• Once created get your students to “follow you”• You can then post useful short posts to your

students and your students can reply• Posts can be of anything:

– Newsfeeds– Regulatory updates– Business changes– Journal papers– Examination details

Terminology

• Tweet: an individual post.• RT (Retweet): re-telling someone

else’s tweet.• @username: open message to

specific person.• Message: Direct message a

follower (private)

• #Hashtag: Use Hashtag to group & track discussions (conference, seminar, classroom activity, etc)

Source: Hopkins

Educational Benefits

• You have direct access to your students• Information is sharp and snappy• You can post of lot of information quickly and in

small bite size pieces• You can use various different technologies i.e.

PC, smart phone, Ipad etc…• You can do this anywhere at any time

Lets give it a go!

• Learning Task:

– Learning outcomes:

• Appreciate the learning benefits of Twitter• Configure and use a Twitter account• Search for and find three sources of relevant

information relevant to your subject area

Technologies to facilitate task

1. All create a twitter account

2. All follow each other

3. For each of your subjects you need to – A) find three sources of information outside of

Twitter to tweet– B) find three sources of information inside

Twitter to re-tweet– C) comment on three other peoples tweets

How do I get started?• Simple, just go to

www.twitter.com • Pick a username• Fill out the info so

people know what to expect from your tweets

• Now you have a Twitter account

Source: trendplanner

Task: Set up an account; Find some friends, celebs(?), colleagues and me to follow; Tweet your first messageWatch: Lynda.com training

What do I say?

• Make it relevant.• Make it count.• Ask questions; you will get answers

from your network.• Think about how your network

might retweet; your network will grow as a result of a good tweet.

• Provide value through your tweet.• Be yourself.

Source: Hopkins

Who do I follow?

• Find one or two peoplewho have similar interest to you (use

Twitter Search).• Follow them.• Look at who they follow.• Follow the ones who look

interesting to you. By following people outside your ‘normal’ network, they might follow you back ... hey presto, a growing network!

Source: Hopkins

Example Tweet:

@MarkRussellReply to MarkRussell

HashTags:#eLearning and #University

Tweet content

Number of characters remaining in current tweet (counts down from 140).

Source: Hopkins

Twittering at Conferences

• Twittering at Conferences – http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/05/twittering-at-conferences.html

– Steve Wheeler's blog post, with a link to an interesting conference paper on How people are using Twitter during Conferences

• Tweeting EdTech 09– http://www.insideview.ie/irisheyes/2009/05/tweeting-edtech-09.html

– Bernie Goldbach's blog post on tweeting at EdTech, internet social networking complementing a live event (see some of the tweets from the conference)

• Some issues/problems– A drastic ban?

• http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/12/drastic-ban.html

– The Great Keynote Meltdown of 2009• http://doteduguru.com/id3712-the-great-keynote-meltdown-of-2009.html

Useful Resources

TweetDeckwww.tweetdeck.com

Desktop application to run and manage followers, tweets, searches, favourites, etc.

Bit.Lywww.bit.ly

Shorten website links into only 19 characters; leaves you more characters for each tweet!

Twitter Searchsearch.twitter.com

Search Twitter for names, phrases, people, trends, news, etc.

Source: HopkinsTool into your browser's toolbar so that you can share web sites on the fly as you surf.

http://twitthis.com/

• 7 Things You Should Know About Twitter (2-page overview)– http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutTwitt/161801

• 7 Things You Should Know About Microblogging (2-page overview)– http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutMicro/174629

• Teaching with Twitter (blog post)– http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/01/teaching-with-twitter.html

Steve Wheeler's blog post, with 10 ideas for using Twitter in education and some useful links including short video of David Parry talking about using Twitter with his students)

• "Where Do You Learn?": Tweeting to Inform Learning Space Development (article)

– http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/WhereDoYouLearnTweetingtoInfor/163852

• 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the College Classroom (list)– http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/06/08/50-ways-to-use-twitter-in-the-college-classroom/

• Tweeting in Class (short article)– http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/11/05/twitter

• Twitter in a nutshell: The student guide (short article)– http://blogs.zdnet.com/igeneration/?p=3521&tag=nl.e539

• The Beginners "Why?" &"How-To" Guide To Twitter (blog post with videos)

– http://demogirl.com/2008/07/30/the-beginners-why-and-how-to-guide-to-twitter/

• Surrender! Foucault and Twitter (blog post)– http://twopointouch.com/2009/05/27/surrender-foucault-and-twitter/

• Twitter: For Beginners (presentation by David Hopkins)– http://www.slideshare.net/hopkinsdavid/twitter-in-education

• Twitter in Education (presentation by trendplanner)– http://www.slideshare.net/trendplanner/twitter-for-beginners-1209915

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