App+12+Twitter

What is Twitter and what can it do for me?
You may already be using Twitter with family and friends to keep them up to date with what's going on in your life, but did you know about the possibilities in education?

Twitter lets you write a short tweet (140 character max at the moment, although this may be about to change), which can be read by anyone that's following you. Your followers might be family, friends, colleagues or professionals working in the same field as you.

Watch this Common Craft video (2 min 16 sec) which explains Twitter in plain English.

If you add a hashtag to your tweet, for example #SocInfoOP (from the Social Informatics course), all tweets with the same hashtag can be pulled together, making it easy to find tweets about a particular topic. If you attend a conference, there may be an official hashtag, enabling delegates at the conference to follow what everyone is saying about it.

In this example clicking #edtech takes you to a page with all of the tweets that include this hashtag, making it easy to keep up to date.

If you want to direct your tweet at someone you know, and want other people to read it, use @ with their name, for example if you include @FionaMFenton in your tweet, everyone following me will also see the tweet. You can see this in the example below.

Can Twitter replace, amplify or transform the learner experience?
Replacement Don't have the departmental budget to text assessment due date reminders to your class? Post reminders of assessment due dates on Twitter using your class hashtag, for example the Social Informatics course uses the hashtag #SocInfoOP2014. If your students have the Twitter app on their mobile phones, they'll get your tweet immediately.

Amplification and Transformation Let's look at how we can use the Twitter app to amplify and transform learning activities. Here are a couple of ideas:
 * Host an event in Twitter and invite specialists in your field to come and engage with your students on that topic. This gives your students the opportunity to learn from experts outside of the OP and to expand their learning networks. For example at the end of a module on perspectives on leadership, you might run a Twitter event and invite guest speakers who you've referenced in the course, to participate.
 * Encourage students to set up study groups in Twitter. They can follow other Twitterers as they build their learning networks and share these with their study group.

Your challenge

 * 1) Go to Twitter and set up an account for yourself
 * 2) Download the Twitter app for your mobile
 * 3) Search for a friend, family member or professional colleague, follow them and then tweet a hello.
 * 4) Take a look at your organisation's social media policy which should provide guidance on your responsibilities when using social media at work.