Tag: Twitter

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INF532 Assessment 3 – reflective statement

Currently I am not working in teaching, so have been unable to directly apply the studies to a teaching situation. Last year I had a one-year appointment as teacher librarian at a NSW Department of Education K-6 primary school so have some knowledge of a library environment. Although current circumstances restrict my being able to implement tools and strategies learnt in the course, I have applied them as I would in the future as a full time teacher librarian.

The main enlightening idea from INF532 is that knowledge is created in social context (Innovative Learning, 2009). The internet is expanding at a rapid rate and web 2.0 tools allow for greater facilitation of the social context through user to user interaction (Silver, 2019a) . It is through these tools and module readings that learning has occurred, with ideas clarified through interaction with others. Before this, the predominant belief was that students learnt best from face-to-face teaching.

INF532 has proved challenging in so many ways. Overcoming fear of being ‘open’ and putting opinions and presence in digital spaces with strangers, worrying about criticism and privacy.

Concepts not thought of before starting this course, such as digital networking, how it works, why it is important and how knowledge can be created, shared and leveraged through it have been explored. An understanding of how networks  operate (Silver, 2019b) and the importance of nodes on networking including strong and weak ties (Oddone, 2016) has been gained.  Networking has been able to be used to establish a personal learning network (PLN) through the social networking service (SNS) Twitter. When the author first began using Twitter they were apprehensive and lurked around for a while (Silver, 2019c). Eventually connections began with others by commenting on their Tweet to say ‘thanks’. The authors PLN  currently follows 70 people and has 9 followers, which although small, has a diversity of people from Australia and overseas, including 2 people from INF532, an educational author, consulting company and educator Kathleen Morris. Knowledge shared on the PLN has assisted in creating content, for example theTweet below was a result of a Tweet from @Tonyvincent, which had value added and retweeted by the author.

There has been a growth in knowledge of content curation and the value of it to find, capture and add value to information to share with others (Silver, 2019d). The use of networking through connecting with other’s blogs has resulted in an increased awareness of digital networking tools, for example Twitterdeck on Karen Attkinson’s blog post  on Twitter (Attkinson, 2019). Twitterdeck was then able to be implemented to organise content and information flow.

Web 2.0 tools that allow for constructive collaboration have been experimented with. These include blogging, Twitter, discussion forums and the course Padlet. Reflections on case studies  (Silver, 2019e) have enabled the realisation of how Web 2.0 tools can enable authentic learning experiences for students which connect with the learning, each other and the wider community.

The concept of flipping learning has also been inspiring. Despite having heard of this concept the finer details of it’s history and examples of other educators use of it were unexplored. Through sharing his experiences on his blog (Burns, 2018) I have gained a better appreciation of the concept and how it can be created and applied to teaching practises. I would like to try flipped learning in a library (Silver, 2019f).

Digital tools have been learnt and used to create new content, such as the digital artefact ‘Using Twitter for beginners to create a personal learning network’ (Silver, 2019g) which was created using the tools of Powtoon and Screencastify. These tools could also be used in future teaching and learning experiences. Although, more tools were investigated and trialled they were not blogged about (such as Voki, Pearl trees and Spiderscribe). This is an area that needs improvement in the future.

Collaboration with the world occurs through Twitter, the creation of the digital artefact was designed to increase knowledge networking and as such was sent out via my Twitter PLN. To further expand as a global connected educator more exploration of how to connect with other educators is required, such as those listed by Lindsay (2019, slide 73).

Overall, INF532 has taught me where to look for information and how important it is to work collaboratively to create new knowledge and build upon it and share it through various mediums for all to learn. With this knowledge I can confidently reach out to more people in my growth as a connected educator.

 

 

References:

Atkinson, K. (2019, May 20). Let the tweeting begin [blog post]. Retrieved from https://karenatkinson.weebly.com/ed-tech-blog/let-the-tweeting-begin

Burns, M. (2019, January 22). Flipping my primary classroom [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://flippingmyprimaryclassroom.blogspot.com/

Digitalang (2012, February 21). How to build your PLN (Personal Learning Network). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A667plNCzwA&feature=youtu.be

De Saulles, M. (2012). New models of information production. In Information 2.0: new models of information production, distribution and consumption. Facet Publishing.

Lindsay, J. (2019). Global vision, global learning – Becoming an education change-maker [slideshow]. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/julielindsay/global-vision-global-learning-becoming-an-education-changemaker

Oddone, K. (2016, September 5). Networks, networking and network literacy – Part 1 [Blogpost]. Retrieved from https://www.linkinglearning.com.au/what-is-network-literacy-and-is-it-important/

Silver, T. (2019a, March 20). New models of information production [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/03/20/new-models-of-information-production/

Silver, T. (2019b, May 20). Networks [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/05/20/networks/

Silver, T. (2019c, May 21). An exploration into Twitter [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/05/21/an-exploration-into-twitter/

Silver, T. (2019d, May 21). Curators – seeing the big picture [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/05/21/curators-seeing-the-big-picture/

Silver, T. (2019e, May 21). Supporting the connected learner with Skype [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/05/21/supporting-the-connected-learner-with-skype/

Silver, T. (2019f, May 22). Flipped learning [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/05/22/flipped-learning/

Silver, T. (2019g, May 22). Making my digital artefact [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/05/24/making-my-digital-artefact/

 

 

 

 

 

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Using Twitter – an update

Image sourced from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Twitter_Social_Icon_Circle_Color.svg

I found connecting with people to form my PLN was a bit like being a detective. You just need one lead to point you in the right direction. Mine started , with this article from Jenny Luca (2012). After reading Luca’s article I chose some educators from her list and looked at their profiles and followed a few. These people included:

I started small by following a few people from the list plus some colleagues from my university course. I saw people they followed on their profile or people they had retweeted from. I started by lurking around, observing how things worked, bookmarking tweets that could be useful later on for teaching or reading further. One day I took the leap and retweeted an interesting tweet to our course hashtag #INF532. Somebody in our course responded! I learnt how add my own tweets, to send a Tweet with links from articles and web sites I came across that I thought would be beneficial to my PLN.

One retweet about the tool Wakelet resulted in the original Tweeter tweeting me to offer assistance if I needed it. It was it amazing to connect with others for the first time who I didn’t directly know.

At first, I found Twitter totally overwhelming, with a constant information source coming in, however a suggestion from Rhiengold (2010) that we need to be focused on what we pay attention by choosing what we look at in Twitter helped decrease my concern. I was feeling extremely overwhelmed with trying to keep up with the amount of information coming in but now I am being more selective of what I look at (or mostly bookmark to read later). Perez (2012) also gives advice that even if you can’t keep up with the information stream reading for a short amount of time (5-10 minutes) a day is better than avoiding it altogether. I have since discovered Tweetdeck to be a great tool. Read about my experiences with it here (Silver, 2019).

I often use this advice to just have a quick look when I feel overwhelmed and I’m glad I do. I have found so many useful resources to practical application and to expand my learning and thinking. I have even been able to use Twitter to assist another teacher to bring relevant, real time resources to their student’s learning. I was able to send the teacher links to articles about recent scientific discoveries that came up in my Twitter stream. I’ve started following some hashtags such as #ditchbook which provides fabulous ideas from educators around the world.

I now find my Twitterstream one of the most valuable sources of information and ideas, it certainly is a valuable tool for educators.

Just when I felt comfortable with using Twitter, I have taken another leap into the unknown and Tweeted my digital artefact (Silver, 2019) to my PLN. I know it has been retweeted. I feel extremely apprehensive about how it will be received because although I think the content is good I was not totally satisfied with the finished product.

Are there any people or hashtags you particularly like to follow on Twitter?

 

References:

Luca, J (2012, October 27). Personal learning networks [web article]. Retrieved from http://education.abc.net.au/newsandarticles/blog?id=40029

Perez, L (2012). Innovative Professional Development: Expanding Your Professional Learning Network. Knowledge Quest, 40(3), 20-22. Retrieved from https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/

Rheingold, H. (2010). Attention, and Other 21st-Century Social Media Literacies. Educause Review, 45(5), 14 -24. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2010/10/attention-and-other-21stcentury-social-media-literacies

Silver, T. (2019, May 25). Tweetdeck [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/05/24/tweetdeck/

Silver, T. (2019, May 22). Making my digital artefact [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/05/24/making-my-digital-artefact/

 

 

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Tweetdeck

I was inspired to give Tweetdeck a go after reading Karen Atkinson’s (2019) blog post about Twitter. It was easy to install, I just googled ‘Tweetdeck’ and a link came up to log in to in Tweetdeck (note: I am already registered for Twitter), or you can go straight to it at https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/

Immediately I can see the benefits of using it. I previously used the Twitter app on my phone but found it difficult to see replies to my posts etc. With Tweetdeck I have a column on notifications and can easily see who has responded to me. I also have a column @mentions where I can see who has mentioned my handle in their Tweets.

Tweetdeck set up with notifications and mentions

Setting up columns for searches makes following hashtags easier and I found the columns easy to move around and re-arrange.

Tweetdeck set up to show hashtags being followed

I’m not as advanced as Karen as to do analysis but I can see the benefit it could have in the future, particularly for seeing which curated content you sent out is most popular.

Tweetdeck is a great way to keep Tweets organised and assist you in staying up to date and on top of the information.

References:

Atkinson, K. (2019, May 20). Let the tweeting begin [blog post]. Retrieved from  https://karenatkinson.weebly.com/ed-tech-blog/let-the-tweeting-beginIt

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Making my digital artefact

For our 2nd assessment task we had to create a digital artefact on an aspect of networking. I decided to make a Powtoon and Screencastify presentation for my digital artefact on ‘Using Twitter for beginners to establish a personal learning network’. It is posted on Youtube here (Silver, 2019).

Here is the Powtoon component:

and the Screencastify section:

 

The artefact was created to help educators establish and expand their personal learning networks, so that they may gain from knowledge networking. The instructional aspects were created in PowToon and Screencastify and access made available on the world wide web via YouTube so it may be accessed by more people. PowToon was chosen as the platform for the digital artefact for several reasons. It is attention grabbing with its use of cartoon animations, which are a non-threatening way of communicating and allow viewers to be receptive to information (Spitalnik, as cited in Martin & Martin, 2015, p. 46). There is the ability to import audio, image and video files to the presentation. It offers flexibility in placement of elements within slides such as when elements are introduced and length of slides. The combination of narration and graphics increases the viewer’s information retention, more than if solely graphics and texts were used (Mayer, as cited in Martin & Martin, 2015, p. 52).However, there were restrictions with using Powtoon for the artefact. A major limitation of the free account was the set time constraints – 20 seconds for voice recordings and a maximum of 3 minutes for the total presentation, which led to some flat spots in the audio and some text crowding.

Screencastify (a Chrome extension) proved relatively easy to use, although  some features such as editing had to be googled and time had been taken to learn how to export it . It was used as a visual means of demonstrating how to use Twitter for those learners who are visual learners.

Difficulties were experienced in the creation of the artefact which impacted on its functionality. The initial design included a Screencastify clip demonstrating how to use Twitter on the desktop. However, the artefact was not able to be created as intended as PowToon required video to be in an MP4 format but the exportation of video in this format is not available on the free version of Screencastify. Although not ideal, this was addressed by adding links via YouTube to the Screencastify recording.

Other problems included the audio of the presentation lacking some clarity, which may have been rectified by the use of a plugin microphone rather than using the computer’s built in microphone. ‘Dead’ spots of audio are also visible in the middle of the presentation, I’m not sure why this is as each clip plays OK individually.

Hosting on YouTube enabled the artefact to be viewed by the general public. and contribute to global networking knowledge by demonstrating to educators how to use Twitter and build their PLN in the future.

References:

Martin, N. A. & Martin, R. (2015). Would you watch it? Creating effective and engaging video tutorials. Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning, 9(1-2), 40-56. doi: 10.1080/1533290X.2014.946345.

Silver, T. (2019). Using Twitter for beginners to establish a personal learning network . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDWAATW0VQ&rel=0

 

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An exploration into Twitter

This is a post I wrote when I first started using Twitter but never posted, there will be another post shortly on my experiences so far with Twitter (this is now up and may be read here (Silver, 2019).

Studies have shown that educators value Twitter for its accessibility, ease of use and ability for interaction. It allows them to connect to other educators that they may not normally meet who have similar and diverse ideas. Twitter offers an alternative to personalise an educator’s PD (based on need and competence) in an atmosphere that relies on collective knowledge to learn rather than heirachies. It allows educators to exchange resources, practises and ideas (Carpenter & Krutka, 2015).

OK, I don’t know exactly what Twitter is, but it may be useful. I’ve heard of a Tweet or is that a Twitter? I’ve no idea! Will I ever get a handle on this?

This is an exploration of my venture into the use of Twitter, a totally new experience for me. As I begin I have feelings of overwhelm and despair – will I ever get the hang of this? I imagine this is somewhat how our students feel when given a new topic.

As Luca (2015) says ‘Twitter may not make sense immediately, but if you persevere, engage in the ‘give it a go’ mentality we Australians are renowned for, then you might just find a valuable professional learning tool’.

As my confidence grows I am sure I will feel more excited and curious.

For those of you who are as new to Twitter as I am here is some terminology to get started with, courtesy of Shannon McClintock Miller (2010).

Microblog: what twitter is, say what you want to say, but say it in 140 characters or less.

Tweet: when you send out a message or content (link etc).

Retweet: When you send on somebody else’s tweet to your own network, with or without a comment.

Hashtag: Using the # symbol to aggregate tweets on a given topic

Twitter stream: Constant lists of posts from people you follow.

Lurk: To hang about and view Twitters without commenting or retweeting.

As soon as I begin I feel overwhelmed by the amount of information – I must admit I do have somewhat of an attitude of ‘sufficing’ at times as I try to overcome information overload, to which one of the responses is not to look at information at all (Bawden & Robinson, 2009). This is how I feel about using Twitter – there is too much information, I don’t want to look because I can’t keep up with it. But I persevere. I decide to put the app on my mobile and having it accessible on my phone means I can quickly flick through posts and try to stay on top of my Twitter stream.

I lurk around for a while, seeing what people post and following more interesting people. I see interesting tweets I would like to save so I Google how to save a post (this is actually bookmarking a post, see how to do it here on a mobile).

Having been encouraged by seeing posts by other people I knew hadn’t used twitter before, I jump in and retweet – that wasn’t so bad.

I am starting to feel more confident in my ability to use Twitter and can see the potential it has for establishing my PLN. I have already come across some good resources for teaching and supplementing information for concepts I am studying at the moment.

Have you used Twitter or a social networking tool for communicating resources and ideas with others?

 

References:

Bawden, D., & Robinson, L. (2009). The dark side of information: overload, anxiety and other paradoxes and pathologies. Journal of Information Science, 35 (2) 180–191. doi: 10.1177/0165551508095781

Carpenter, J. & Krutka, D. (2015). Engagement through microblogging: educator professional development via Twitter. Professional Development in Education, 41(4), 707-728. doi: 10.1080/19415257.2014.939294

Luca, J (2012, October 27). Personal Learning networks [online article]. Retrieved from http://education.abc.net.au/newsandarticles/blog?id=40029

McClintock Miller, S. (2010). Enhance your Twitter experience. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(8), 14-17. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/learn/edtech-research

Silver, T. (2019). Twitter – an update [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/05/25/using-twitter-an-update/

 

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