Thread by @andrewjtagg

So, we've covered a bit of learning theory for #EdTech2020 and @Monash_CPDMOE

Now for look at Twitter and the Learner

Most of us learners love social media (Luo et al. 2019) - it satisfies Kirkpatrick level 1 - but can it do more?

bit.ly/Luo2019

Back in 2013, @petercartledge , Miller & @drbobphillips performed a systematic review and found 1047 articles looking at #SoMe and identified just 9 looking at outcome measures - mainly related to learner satisfaction

bit.ly/Cartledge2013

And @TChanMD et al. (2020) looked more recently and found more of the same. Little evidence beyond "I like it so it must be good for me"

(I could say the same about a lot of things, but I'm not sure it is true)

bit.ly/TChan2020

So until stronger evidence for benefit is available I'm going to frame the intention for benefit around Chickering & Gamson's (1987) 7 principles for good practice in education

bit.ly/Chickering1987

Does it improve student/faculty contact?

Well, clearly. As I tag my faculty director @Marg_Hay into this tweet she can see exactly what I am up to.

It's also an easy way to create backchannels of communication that you may not want in the public realm

Does it improve P2P contact?

Self-directed learners can read and share chunks of knowledge in realtime with their peers

See what happened when @MDaware tweeted about bougies being used to assist with chest drain placement.

emcrit.org/emcrit/bougie-…

We've mentioned vCOPs (virtual communities of practice before) but did you know that all of @DFTBubbles connected for years on-line before we ever met in real life?

And I've only met half of the people that I collaborated with on this paper because it was started on Twitter.

bit.ly/METRIQ

It also means that you, my peers, can help keep me current and up to date (Pearson, @EMEducation & @Docbond007 2015) - thank you

So as we condense and share knowledge it becomes internalized

bit.ly/Pearson2015

What about Twitter as a tool to provide timely feedback?

Hopefully, the responses to this thread will prove this point without me having to search too far

Are we actively learning though, or is it just passive screen-scrolling?

Adult learners set up their own goals and objectives, create rather than procrastinate (hopefully)and display enhanced critical analysis skills (Kop (@WelshCloggy) 2011)

bit.ly/Kop2011

By restricting outputs to just 280 characters we have to reflect more deeply to fit them in a tweet

We're also inclined to interlink sources & weave disparate strands together cf. our more grounded counterparts (Newman from @QUBManagement et al. 2020)

bit.ly/Newman2000

But isn't all this just a waste of time?

@ggrosseck & @cami13 (2008) said that educators felt Twitter was "time-consuming, addictive, and would lead to bad grammar"

bit.ly/Grosseck2008

Are they right?

And 55% of students in a study by Tang and Hew (2017) felt that they would be distracted by side-conversations (about cats*)

*I made up the bit about cats

bit.ly/TangHew

What about open expectations?

There is a learning curve for beginners so perhaps they could check this post from @gracie_leo for starters

dontforgetthebubbles.com/dont-forget-tw…

There is also the fear of reputational risk. 280 characters do not leave much room for subtlety or nuance (Choo et al. 2015)

bit.ly/Choo2015

And finally, every great educational endeavor should shout "we are diverse, we are open". But take a look at your feed - is it just groupthink? Everyone saying the same thing? Shouting into the echo chamber?

Let's do an audit of the voices you listen to..

Mostly men? Mostly women? I could do better

proporti.onl

Does it matter? Of course it does if you want to be an ally

acepnow.com/article/allies…

But it's not just gender, but colour, sexuality, speciality, political view.

The Twitter AI serves up tweets similar to those of those you follow, so if you want to hear diverse and contrary opinions follow someone else...

Because people have a tendency to talk about the same stuff all the time on the internet (@EMManchester et al. 2018) #ketamine #covid and that can a get a bit boring some times

bit.ly/Carley2018

So there we have it - Twitter for the learner through the eyes of Chickering & Gamson

Next time, it's time for Twitter and the Teacher.

Stay tuned