Beyond the backchannel: Leveraging Twitter to enact learning processes
Drew Paulin University of British Columbia @drewpaulin Caroline Haythornthwaite University of British Columbia @hthwaite Rafa Absar Clarkson University @RafaAbsar
Sarah Gilbert University of British Columbia @_sgilbert_ Anatoliy Gruzd Ryerson University @gruzd
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#iconf15 #pLASMA #
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#pLASMA Project on Learning Analytics in the Social Media Age http://tiny.cc/SMLabPlasma
• PIs: Anatoliy Gruzd & Caroline Haythornthwaite
• Studying learning processes in social media.
• Analysis of social media texts and networks.
• Is social media beneficial to teaching and learning?
• How do social media networks influence educational
models?
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pLASMA
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SNA & Learning
Twitter & Learning
Twitter Tools
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@drewpaulin @_sgilbert_ | #pLASMA #iconf15
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https://socialmediaandsociety.com/
CFP STILL OPEN – WIP AND POSTERS
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How do you think connections in the Twitter backchannel at conferences foster learning?
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pLASMA
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SNA & Learning
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Twitter & Learning
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@drewpaulin @_sgilbert_ | #pLASMA #iconf15
Session plans Why Twitter and learning at conferences? What are we doing today?
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SNA & Learning
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Twitter & Learning
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@drewpaulin @_sgilbert_ | #pLASMA #iconf15
Learning and social networks How might learning happen in Twitter?
– Social Learning (Bandura, 1977; 1986). Observing others’ behaviour, adopting/adapting.
– Modelling (Haythornthwaite, Kazmer, Robins and Shoemaker, 2000). New learners look to more experienced learners to understand how to ‘be’ online in a learning context.
– (…sort of a) Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978). Interacting with more knowledgeable others (MKOs).
– Connectivism (Siemens, 2005). Access to good information sources, focus on connecting information together towards sensemaking.
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SNA & Learning
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Twitter & Learning
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@drewpaulin @_sgilbert_ | #pLASMA #iconf15
Social network analysis Centrality measures 1. Betweenness:
• how often a node falls along the shortest path between 2 other nodes.
• high betweenness = information control
2. Eigenvector: • How well-connected/central a node is in terms of
the overall network
3. Prestige: • The number of ties a node has. • In-degree – prestige & popularity • Out-degree – influence & activity.
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Have you used Twitter in any formal or informal learning environments? If so, how?
Data collection for Twitter SNA / text analysis 1. TAGS (Twitter Archiving Google Sheet – Martin Hawksey)
– https://tags.hawksey.info/ – Collect tweets to an archive using Google Sheets. – Creates network sociograms (TAGSExplorer). – Creates searchable archive interface (TAGS Archive).
2. Netlytic (Anatoliy Gruzd) – https://netlytic.org – Web-based text and SN analysis tool suite. – Datasets: Twitter, FB, Instagram, YouTube, Text, RSS, etc.
10 @drewpaulin @_sgilbert_ | #pLASMA #iconf15
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SNA & Learning
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Twitter & Learning
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Useful Twitter tools – getting started
Most twitter activity is live-tweeting summaries, but… • #ICYMI - (in case you missed it)
sharing relevant resources/examples. • #WDYT – (what do you think?)
posing questions, generating discussions/collaboration.
Examples: • #LAK14 – creating a dataset, collaboration. • #hcsmca – question driven discussion.
11 @drewpaulin @_sgilbert_ | #pLASMA #iconf15
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Practical applications of Twitter for learning: Beyond the backchannel
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Roles Count
SM health content providers 110 Unaffiliated individual users 89 Communicators - not specifically health related 74
Communicators - Health related 59 Healthcare professionals 50 Health institutions 31 Advocacy 30 Students 16 Educators, professors 13 Researchers 10 Government and health policy makers 4
#hcsmca
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#hcsmca
Say hello to your tablemates! 1. What are your names? Where are you from? Why are
you at iConference 2015?
2. Do you follow conference hashtags when you are not attending a conference?
3. What was the most interesting hashtag you’ve followed recently? Why?
14 @drewpaulin @_sgilbert_ | #pLASMA #iconf15
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Group activity
What does this cMOOC Twitter SN diagram tell us about class participation?
15 #CCK11 Class Tweets (Node size=“Outdegree”)
What does this visualization NOT tell us? What other info is needed to make sense of it?
16 #CCK11 Class Tweets (Node size=“Outdegree”)
17 @drewpaulin @_sgilbert_ | #pLASMA #iconf15
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#iconf15 #pLASMA #
How can we leverage Twitter to facilitate learning?
18 @drewpaulin @_sgilbert_ | #pLASMA #iconf15
pLASMA
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Summary
What resonated most in your group discussions? What are you interested in exploring further?
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pLASMA
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Next session (Thursday @ 4pm) Our plans 1. Previous work – Conference Twitter network
research • #LAK14 • #Congress2013
2. Conference tweeter roles
3. Explore #iconf15 Twitter networks
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