At next week’s Educause Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference in Baltimore, I have been asked to lead an “Experience IT” session on Twitter 202. Per the program, “…the “Experience IT” format offers a hands-on, highly interactive introduction to newer tools and technologies so you can explore their potential impact in the workplace and classroom and on your professional development. Please bring your laptop or other session-specific technology (such as smartphone or tablet) to the session so you can engage with the presenter…This session will share best practices in using Twitter as a backchannel in conferences and will offer an opportunity to delve deeper into innovative uses of this online application. When you are through with this session we hope you will tweet your observations throughout the rest of the conference”
I have asked one of my Twitter heroes – Jon Becker – to co-facilitate virtually and join us via Skype and Twitter. That in itself should make this a fun session. Per the conference program, the conference hashtag will be #MARC12. We will also use #twitter202 as a session hashtag.
In getting ready, we have been guided by work done by Derek Bruff. Four resources of note for using Twitter as a backchannel in a conference:
Derek Bruff, Encouraging a Conference Backchannel on Twitter –
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/encouraging-a-conference-backchannel-on-twitter/30612
Derek Bruff, Instructions to the Twitter Team –
http://derekbruff.com/site/classroom-response-systems/instructions-to-the-twitter-team/
Olivia Mitchell, How to Present While People are Twittering –
http://pistachioconsulting.com/twitter-presentations/
Ross, C. Terras, M. Warwick, C. and Welsh, A. (2011). “Enabled Backchannel: Conference Twitter Use by Digital Humanists. Journal of Documentation. Vol. 67 Iss: 2, pp.214 – 237.
http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/155116/1/Terras_EnabledBackchannel.pdf
Jon and I also want to highlight some possible uses of Twitter in the classrooms. Some resources for these include:
Howard Glasser and Maggie Powers, Disrupting Traditional Student-Faculty Roles, 140 Characters at a Time – http://teachingandlearningtogether.blogs.brynmawr.edu/archived-issues/spring2011-issue/disrupting-traditional-roles
Three Research Studies on Potential Advantages of Using Twitter in Classroom –
http://clintlalonde.net/2011/02/03/3-research-studies-on-potential-advantages-of-using-twitter-in-the-classroom/
Derek Bruff, Gardner Campbell + Backchannel in the Classroom –
http://derekbruff.com/teachingwithcrs/?p=491
Jeffrey Young, Professor Encourages Students to Pass Notes During Class – Via Twitter –
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/professor-encourages-students-to-pass-notes-during-class-via-twitter/4619
The Twitter Experiment – Twitter in the Classroom, UT Dallas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WPVWDkF7U8
Finally, a useful website with lots of good Twitter-related links is Andrea Genevieve’s 28 Education and Technology Keywords or Hashtags to Follow on Twitter
http://www.andreagenevieve.com/technology-meets-education/28-education-and-technology-hashtags-to-follow-on-twitter/
Are we missing anything? Are there other uses for Twitter that you would recommend highlighting in an “Experience IT” session? Let us know, and join us via Twitter on Thursday morning, Jan 12 at 8:30am EST.
{Graphics/Photo Credits: Educause, Steve Garfield}
Thanks for the shout-outs, Britt! I have a page about backchannels (at conferences and in the classroom) on my new site that includes a few of the links above, along with a few others:
http://derekbruff.org/?page_id=1789
Sounds like a great session. I like the idea of holding a workshop on the backchannel as a way to encourage more backchannel participation at a conference.
Hi Britt,
Thanks for the link. Just wanted to let you know I have also recently completed my Masters thesis on the role that Twitter plays in the formation and development of PLN’s among educators. Although it doesn’t touch on using Twitter as a backchannel, you might find some of the results interesting and applicable. http://clintlalonde.net/2011/09/13/the-role-of-twitter-in-personal-learning-networks/