Social Media for Working & Learning

Workplace Learning Professionals on Twitter - Join the list!

As regular readers to my blog will know, I talk to a lot of workplace learning professionals about the use of social media for working and learning, and of course the use of Twitter is high on the agenda. 

As those new to Twitter look for people to connect with in the industry, they often ask me for details of other workplace learning professionals who are active on Twitter.  

Although I usually get them to take a look at the list of people I follow, I have often been asked to compile a specific list of workplace learning professional tweeters.  I've now set up a page to do so and am encouraging you to add your name to the list too, if you would like to. 

You will find the list here: Workplace Learning Professionals on Twitter

Using Twitter in a face-to-face Workshop

I've just been reading yet another article that expresses the view that Twitter is a trivial, inconsequential tool and has no place in learning, so I thought I'd write this posting on my experiences of  using Twitter in a face-to-face Workshop.

On Friday 30 April,  as a Day 3 stream at the Informatology Conference in London I ran a one-day Masterclass on Social Media in Learning.  The purpose of the event was to look at how social media can be used to support learning and performance within an organisational context.  However, as I was planning this event there were a number of key ways that I wanted to "deliver" it:

1. I wanted to keep it to a small, manageable group of people (max 15) who could easily work and learn together collaboratively.
2. I wanted it to be a highly participative, interactive and social event - not a presentational-style workshop
3. Although it was a face-to-face event, since we were talking about social media I wanted to make good (and appropriate) use of social media in the event.  That is, I didn't just want to demo social media sites, nor indeed get participants to do exercises or activities on social media sites, but to actually USE social media as part of their own participation - and hence learning - at the event.

I therefore decided to make use of Twitter throughout the whole event, as it is a very easy-to-use tool - and at the same time very powerful tool.   Registration instructions for the event asked participants to set up a Twitter account in advance of the session (if they hadn't already got one); the reason for this was I didnt want to spend valuable time doing this at the event.  Additionally, as there would be no computing facilities in the room participants were asked to bring their wireless-enabled laptop, iPhone or other mobile device to use Twitter.

I began the session by reiterating the points about it being a highly participative social event and that we would be using Twtter throughout the event to record our thoughts and deliberations, and that I would use Tweetdoc to produce a PDF of all the Twitter activity.

1. I started by explaining how we could keep all related tweets together by all using the same hashtag - #jhmc - in our tweets.
2. I then asked participants to start by introducing themselves in a tweet.  At this point it became clear who was able to use Twitter unaided, so the next thing was to get participants to "buddy up", ie for an experienced tweeter to support a less experienced tweeter.  We got most of the introductions completed, but after some investigation we found that the two outstanding tweets weren't appearing in the hashtag stream because their owners had protected the tweets, and this was sorted out.  However, this very simple introductory task not only got everyone up and running with Twitter, but also talking and chatting with one another.  For me this was the best icebreaker I've ever used!
3. Now we were off. I explained the basics of  using Twitter send messages to one another and to re-tweet, how Twitter would be both our backchannel and frontchannel for the event - if they had a question, they could tweet it, if they wanted to make a comment, they could tweet it, and so on. It would be our event recording tool; we wouldn't use a whiteboard. However, it wouldn't REPLACE the face-to-face interaction but SUPPLEMENT and EXTEND it.    And furthermore, others outside the workshop could respond to tweets if they wanted and become part of/and add to our discussions.
4. Although I had set up a number of presentation slides, these were very much used as prompts for me to share information with the group,  as well as for discussion and  reflection.  Participants tweeted their thoughts and comments as we went through the day. 
5. I had set up a series of questions on the slideset in advance (using the SAP Web 2.0 tools for PowerPoint created by Timo Elliott) to auto- tweet questions.  This left me free to watch the live stream of tweets coming in, to pick up interesting points or to ask participants to develop them further. [Note: I used another Twitter account for auto-tweeting at the workshop  so as not to confuse my normal Twitter followers!]
6. As we worked through the day's programme, we talked about a number of different social media tools, and participants shared their favourite tools and how they were using them.  However,  (within the different learning contexts that we were discussing) I was also able to demonstrate the potential of Twitter for learning:

• for keeping up to date with colleagues and industry news
• for problem solving
• for serendipitous learning
• for resource and file sharing - and as an example of how partiicipants were quick and willing to  contribute to the event, Jon Ingham @joningham quickly shared with us, in a tweet, some pictures he had taken on his iPhone - see the one at the top of this posting of me sitting near the screen, and the one below, which shows a few of the participants in the informal table-less setting (Note: 2 were using laptops and 2 were using phones to tweet)

• for synchronous learning - we were actually doing a form of that ourselves, but I also cited the example of #lrnchat
• for micro-learning - as in my 140university example
• for polling and feedback
• for group tweeting
• as well as alternatives to Twitter in the workplace

1. During the course of the day, our tweets also attracted input from a number of tweeters outside the workshop in response to both my tweeted questions and participants' own comments, which really added to the body of tweeted content produced.
2. Following the event, I created the Tweetdoc PDF of all the twitter activity, which you can view here asa record of our discussion, as the tweets would soon "die" on Twitter itself

As the presenter, I really enjoyed the Masterclass and was overwhelmed by the way that all the participants shared and collaborated with one another so easily, happily and so well.  I am convinced that using Twitter added something extra into the session that wouldn't have been there without it; it really helped to create a social and collaborative learning event.  But of course it's not just about what I thought of the day, what did the participants think?

Well, during the morning one of the participants, Craig Taylor @CraigTaylor74,  said he would like to use his new Ultra Flip camera to record the thoughts of participants on the Masterclass.  This was a fabulous idea, so in the breaks he recorded some interviews, then uploaded the video to YouTube, and shared the link with us all in a tweet.   Here's the video.

Craig has already written a blog posting about his experiences on the day From Anti-Social to Social and I know there a few more positngs in the pipeline, so I will add them in here as I read them.  (UPDATE: Here's Jon Ingham's)

As for me, I will continue to use a similar approach in f2f workshops in the future, and variants of this approach in more formal conference presentations that I will be delivering.

As far as the content of the workshop goes, I already have a couple of upcoming engagements to provide similar in-house sessions to organisations, so if you are interested in hosting a workshop in your organisation, take a look here.  I am also in the process of converting this workshop into an online programme, so if you are interested in this approach, just let me know.

Finally, don't forget my free resource How to use Twitter for Social Learning, which explains and expands on all the ways I used Twitter in my workshop.

200+ articles and resources about using Twitter for learning

One of the most popular pages at my C4LPT site is my collection of resources, articles and postings about the use of Twitter for learning - both in education and workplace learning and working - which I have been putting together over the last few years, and which I drew upon to create my recent How to use Twitter for Social Learning guide

There are now over 200 resources on the list and I am constantly adding to it , so if are looking for a list of useful resources, this is the place to start.

If, however, you prefer a more structured approach to finding links, and want to see them in context, then select the relevant specific page(s) of the How-to guide from the Contents page.

200+ articles and resources about Twtter for learning

Twime Machine - browse your old tweets

One of the problems with Twitter is the ephemeral nature of the tweets.  It's pretty much: here today, gone tomorrow!  But Twime Machine lets you easily browse through your old tweets, and read what you said ages ago.

Twime Machine

Many more Twitter apps in the Learning Tools Directory]

Mobile Twitter - for Blackberry and iPhone

Yesterday the Twitter mobile blog announced an official "Twitter for Blackberry" app.

Find out more at the posting (link above) or download at blackberry.com/twitter.

The Twitter blog also reported that they've

"entered into an agreement with Atebits (aka Loren Brichter) to acquire Tweetie, a leading iPhone Twitter client. Tweetie will be renamed Twitter for iPhone and made free"

So. lots of mobile Twitter activity, and as the blog posting goes onto say:

"As we work to provide the best possible Twitter experience on all of the major mobile platforms, momentum will increase dramatically."

How to use Twitter for Social Learning

I had a number of requests to separate out my Guide to 140 Learning into how to use the different tools (Twitter, Facebook and Google Buzz), so my How to use Twitter for Social Learning is now available HERE at the C4LPT website.  ^. However, I have reproduced the contents list below.

About this Guide

GETTING STARTED Getting started with Twitter Accessing and using Twitter

THE BASICS Building Community Communicating with others Sharing links and resources Keeping up to date Problem solving Serendipitous learning

Presentations, Events, Classes & Training Using the backchannel at an event Incorporating the backchannel in a presentation Live presentation streaming Lectures, classes & workshops Feedback and quizzes

Micro-Learning Micro-learning Daily micro-learning Synchronous learning

Other activities Collaborative writing Brainstorming Scavenger hunts Serious games   Running a book club

Multiple accounts and networks Synching Twitter with other networks Managing multiple Twitter accounts & networks Scheduling tweets

READING LISTS Twitter  |  Micro-blogging

Packrati.us = Twitter + Delicious

This site provides a useful and very simple bookmarking service for Twitter.

They follow your Twitter feed, and whenever one of your tweets contains a URL, they add it to your delicious.com bookmarks.

You can optionally, bookmark URLs in @replies to you, and they''ll even add a delicious tag identifying the sender if you like.

Packrati.us

[Find over 150 micro-blogging and Twitter apps in the Micro-blogging section of the Directory of Leanring Tools 2010]

Backchatter - a game about Twitter trendspotting

In my Guide to 140 Learning: How to use Twitter, Facebook and Buzz for Social Learning one of my pages is  called "Using the backchannel at an event.  "This page looks at the use of the backchannel from the perspectiive of both the audience and the presenter.

Whilst I was researching this topic I came across a Twitter game played at conferences - Backchatter - where you pick words that you think people will tweet about, and then you get points when those words are used in tweets about the conference.

Does anyone know of any similar or other "backchannel games"?

Adding Twitter to PowerPoint, Keynote and now - Sliderocket

In my Guide to 140 Learning: How to use Twitter, Facebook and Google Buzz for social learning, I have a page called Incorporating the backchannel in a presentation, where I look at how you can use add-ins for PowerPoint and Keynote to auto-tweet to the back channel, view the real-time Twitter feed as well incoporate feedbck from Twitter polls, etc - and create "social presentations"

I recently heard from Sliderocket, that they have now unveiled new plug-in architecture and added several interactive and real-time features such as interactive polling, live Twitter steams, live stock tickers and other RSS feeds.  I have added the information into the page, but you can find out more in their blog as well as view a demo here.

The Backchannel

I was reading an article in Business Week - Use Twitter in your next presentation - which referred to Cliff Atkinson's new book, The Backchannel.

The BW article highlights 5 suggestions Cliff made in his book for speakers dealing with the fact that audiences are likely having conversations about them and what they are saying:

1. Accept it
2. Show you understand how Twitter works
3. Create Twitter-friendly messages
4. Take breaks
5. Extend the conversation

I've been incorporating Twitter into my presentations recently - you can see an example of a presentation I gave at Online Educa - Tools of the Trade - where I encouraged participation from the audience and the more global audience.  It makes for a very dynamic, interactive and inclusive session.  Do you have any examples to share of presentations where you have made a point of including Twitter in it - and/or any advice for those who are about to do so for the first time?