Tweet by Tweet: Creating
Connections in Large Classes
Dr. Paul Hackett
Dr. Michael Wm. MacGregor
Tracie Risling
www.usask.ca
We are…
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Dr. Paul Hackett
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Department of Geography and Planning
SPHERU
Human Geographer
Dr. Michael Wm. MacGregor
• Department of Psychology
• Clinical Psychologist
• Department of Religion and Culture
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Tracie Risling
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College of Nursing
RN
www.usask.ca
Coming up…
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Overview of Twitter Pilot Project
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Class specific application details from each faculty
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Three different disciplines, class sizes, and experience levels
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Personal lessons learned
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Recommendations for the future
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Questions and answers
www.usask.ca
www.usask.ca
Project Overview
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Pilot study directed by GMCTE
Pre and Post Term Survey Methodology
Looking at feelings of student connectedness,
classroom community, levels of support (peer &
faculty), and opportunity for informal learning
3 different classroom settings utilized
Combination of faculty vs. TA initiated tweeting
www.usask.ca
Dr. Hackett – Geography 130.3
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180 students
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Service Course: students from all disciplines, very few Geography
majors
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Goal of class is to educate students on geographical subject
matter and techniques
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Combines large-class lecturing with hands-on exercises (four
major), exams, discussion
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Secondary goal: attract student into the program (poaching!)
www.usask.ca
My background with Twitter
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Limited (to say the least!)
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Personal account (@Poxsonus): no Tweets (ever!), no
followers, following 15
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Following: various hockey journalists; Winnipeg hockey
blogger; the Winnipeg Jets; 3 Ottawa Senators; 2
Winnipeg Jets; 1 former Jet (Eric Fehr); Ricky Gervais;
GEOG130, and Paul Hackett!
www.usask.ca
Implementation of Twitter (GEOG 130)
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Employed a specific Twitter account for the course
(GEOG130)
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Twitter coordinator: Megan McDonald
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Acted as intermediary between students and the
instructor
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Student participation was voluntary; buy-in was limited
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Questions answered via Twitter were also directed to
students via email, to ensure complete coverage
www.usask.ca
Interaction through Twitter (GEOG 130)
1.
2.
3.
Answering questions: exams, assignments, deadlines
Emailing relevant links to students (e.g. Ted Talks, mental map
study, YouTube videos, examples for clarification, etc.)
Distributing relevant images to encourage discussion
Chinatown: Edmonton
http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus_alb
erta/story.html?id=874a2af4-9c70-4f12-b475-736e1b90a5fd
www.usask.ca
Personal Lessons Learned
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Twitter can be useful as a supplement to email, especially for
answering repetitive questions
Personal (by instructor) interaction may encourage student
participation/buy-in
Twitter discussion requires ‘nurturing’ for success. Were excellent
starters for conversation, but without my response they died.
If used properly Twitter may provide a means of humanizing the
subject matter and the instructor
Students should be encouraged to share links, photos, especially if
relevant for the class material—requires feedback, however
www.usask.ca
Dr. MacGregor – Psychology 121.3
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Class information
• 360 undergraduate students
• Development, clinical, social,
and cultural bases of behaviour
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One of two introductory classes (Biological and
cognitive bases of behaviour)
• Service course open to all students but required of
majors
www.usask.ca
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Class structure
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Four part formula
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Overview lecture
In-depth lecture
In-action lecture
Online and interactive learning
Assignments
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Progressive learning objective mastery exercises
Online exercises related to aspects of each chapter
Online tests every two chapters
In class tests each covering ½ of the term material
www.usask.ca
My background with Twitter
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Limited knowledge but familiar with the concept
No account and did not follow
Learned how to use Twitter for the class
• Assisted by a graduate student teaching assistant
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Implementation of Twitter (Psych 121)
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Specific account for the course (psychology121)
and hash tag (#psych121sk)
• 156 followers (out of 360)
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Teaching assistant
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Monitoring
Answering content related questions
Encouraging students
Reminders about due dates
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Instructor
• Encouraging discussion
• Thought provoking and provocative questions
• Links to psychology material directly related to
lectures
• Links to material that involves psychological
principles
• Feedback on class, lectures, tests, etc.
www.usask.ca
Personal Lessons Learned
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What I discovered
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The learning curve feels more like a vertical line
Excellent way to respond to similar questions
Can reduce email correspondence significantly
Participation by the instructor is more
important than participation by a teaching
assistant
Hard to sustain discussions
Good way to introduce supplemental and alternative
material
www.usask.ca
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What I need to figure out
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How to write using a limited number of characters -- very hard!!!
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Keys to successfully generating and sustaining discussion
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How to generate more student initiated activities
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Ways to introduce myself, my work, and who I am
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The personal connection
How to learn more about my students
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The personal connection
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The role of Twitter in my own style of teaching and pedagogy
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How to encourage real time communication
www.usask.ca
Tracie Risling – Nursing 200.3
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137 students
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76 followers (several nursing organizations)
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158 tweets
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Sharing information – quickly and efficiently
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Communication and connection
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Building professional identity
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Connecting with nursing groups & scholars
www.usask.ca
NURS 200 Tweets
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Personal Lessons Learned
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Have used Twitter for several years – still is a
constant evolution but with consistent value
Ceasing Twitter duel citizenship
Expanding use of the backchannel – will create a
separate hash-tag for next year #NURS200?
“False” advertising/tweeting
Crowd-sourcing – for students and academics
Connection – students and professional network
www.usask.ca
Recommendations for Future Use
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Use should be directed by pedagogical fit and value
Ongoing management of learning curve challenges
needed – faculty development
Maximizing Twitter efficiencies for large classes
Mandatory participation ??
Twitter as resource hub - sharing and collaboration
Expanding personal connection and relationship
building
www.usask.ca
Question and Answer
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Thanks
Our thanks to the GMCTE
Heather Ross
Ryan Banow
Stan Yu
www.usask.ca