Web206 – Twitter reflection

Summary of HashTags

Hashtags used: #edtech, #edchat, #flippedlearning, #flippedclassroom, #cybersafety, #edtechtips

Of these hashtags the most popular, based on data provided by social analytics website Topsy, was #edchat closely followed by #edtech, with both tags averaging between 3,000 to 7,000 tweets per day over a 30 day period. Both of these hashtags are fairly general tags for the education and educational technology community on twitter, the content covered can be quite diverse which is why many utilise additional hashtags to differentiate their posts.

The remaining hashtags I employed where less popular, possibly because they are targeted towards more specific or niche topics. To gain maximum ‘impressions’ I would use these tags in conjunction with the more general popular tags above.

My tweets, retweets and responses

Great video by @jonbergmann & @chemicalsams on #flippedlearning common questions & hurdles http://t.co/6dKIjjvmhS #flippedclassroom #edchat

— EduTechCoach (@EduTechCoach) November 5, 2014

This tweet was by far my most successful. According to my tweet analytics, provided by Twitter, this tweet had 266 impressions, 2 retweets, 2 favourites and 8 engagements at a rate of 3%.

This tweet reached a larger audience due to it being favourited by @jonbergmann, one of the users I initially mentioned in the tweet. @jonbergmann has over ten thousand twitter followers in comparison to my 70, so having him favourite my tweet increased my audience exponentially.

https://twitter.com/EduTechCoach/status/529830419093389312

This tweet did not reach a massive audience, only 55 impressions,  but it succeeded in bringing a couple of viewers to my main web presence and also to my twitter profile.

Don’t give out your personal information online. “@CyberSafety808: #OnilnePredators are EVERYWHERE!!! http://t.co/5GnIU9NToA” #cybersafety

— EduTechCoach (@EduTechCoach) November 5, 2014

I ‘quote tweeted’ this from my phone. It generated very little impressions, only 19. This could be because I didn’t use the most effective hashtags. In hindsight, I should have also added the letters RT in addition to the original tweeter’s username. It is considered best practice to do this to indicate the work belongs to someone else.

I initially retweeted this tweet from @urban_teacher and then later responded to a reply left by another user. It didn’t generate a whole lot of conversation but my reply did garner a few impressions, 52. Most likely due to including users with strong twitter followings, as I didn’t include any hashtags in my reply.

My thoughts

Overall, I quite enjoyed this exercise. At times I found it quite challenging to think of how best to construct a tweet so that it would reach my desired audience. It also took me a few attempts to get used to the 140 character limit, I often had to omit characters or restructure my tweet so that it made sense and reached my target audience.

From excursions to virtual field trips.

The Australian government has recently released their Review of the Australian Curriculum. In the review and various other articles, that provide sound bites from proponents of the review, they have suggested that school trips or excursions are not being organised by teachers due to “a lack of organisational skills, and concern about liability and litigations“. Whilst these reasons may play a part in the decline of school trips, they are surely not the only ones, other considerations such as cost and accessibility must also play a part. For example, schools located in lower socio-economic areas may not be able to ask families to pay for entrance fees and travel expenses, or regional schools may not have time to dedicate arduous commutes to and from locations which ultimately ends up costing more money.

Using technology to enable ‘out of classroom’ learning

The recommendation put out by the Governments report is that “comprehensive pre-service education and training, and in-service professional development” must be provided to ensure teacher’s do not neglect giving their student out of classroom experiences. However, while this recommendation can be seen as addressing some of reason for the decline in school excursion it fails to consider the other reasons, such as litigation, cost and accessibility.

For the last 5 years Australian schools have been implementing the Digital Education Revolution in order to integrate the benefits of technology into the classroom. Furthermore, it is a widely held belief that technology has the power to break down the barriers (or the walls) of the traditional classroom. If this belief is correct then why can’t technology be used to provide cheap, accessible, and litigation free out of classroom experiences?

Virtual Field Trips

There are variety of forms of virtual field trips available online. In the most basic terms a virtual field trip can be a series of linked webpages, pre-organised by a teacher to guide their students through a specific experience. However, as the power of everyday technology increases and the potential of the internet as platform is realised, new and exciting ways of taking a trip ‘out of the classroom’ can be realised. Imagine being able to take a tour through ancient Rome, explore the pyramids of Giza, or take a guided field trip to locations all over the world from the comfort of the classroom.

Got an awesome Virtual Field Trip you use in your classroom? Share it in the comments section below.

eLearning. Why all the fuss?

The term eLearning itself can be seen as somewhat of an ambiguous term, with no individual description to explain the varying scientific perspectives regarding what the term means. A leading dictionary offers a rather simplified explanation for eLearning as a “method of learning that involves the use of computers and the Internet“. However, like all things in life, there are differing degrees by which learning can be achieved through the introduction of technologies, such as computers and the internet. For me, eLearning is all about change and transformation, not the digitisation of traditional resources as this has been shown not to work. In eLearning, technology is a tool, one that provides us with unlimited potential to redefine tasks and activities to cater to the learning needs of 21st century students.

The SAMR Model

The SAMR Model created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura acts as a guide for the way technology can be integrated into our educational institutions and classrooms. The model chunks educational technology tools into two categories: enhancement tools and transformative tools. Within these classifications there are two levels: Substitution and Augmentation, for tools which have the potential to enhance existing learning activities or tasks, and Modification and Redefinition, for tools which can be used to transform traditional learning activities and tasks into something new. The SAMR Model provides a framework for educators to reflect on the eLearning activities they are setting their students based on the types of technology tools they are using in the classroom.

This image was taken from Understanding SAMR by Ruben R. Puentedura, Ph.D. shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

So what can the EduTechBlog offer me?

I started the EduTechBlog so that I can help educators take their next step (or their first step) towards integrating eLearning into their classrooms. Technology is hard and not everyone has the ability or the time to sit down and figure out how all of the new tools out there work. Whether you’re a seasoned educator with years of experience and you want to challenge yourself by trying something new but don’t know where to start, or you’re an education technologist who is looking for resources and examples on the latests trends in eLearning, the EduTechBlog will cater to you. Ultimately, the goal will be to guide and facilitate the transition from using technology as an enhancement to using it to transform the activities and tasks you use in your teaching.

Where it all began

Until recently, eLearning and learning technologies was something that I barely knew about, let alone had a deep and enthusiastic passion for. In fact, I started my career as a humble audio visual technician at a school in Geelong, with greater interest in movies and sports than anything on the Internet. However, whilst employed in this role in 2010, I was given the opportunity to take part in a professional development experience offered by the State Library Association of Victoria. The Personal Learning Network Program exposed me to a whole new world of technology and innovation. The 12-week program provided me with the opportunity to not only experience but also engage with new learning technologies such as Edublogs, Wikispaces and other Web2.0 creativity tools like Animoto, Glogster and Prezi.

I was transfixed by the potential impact these new technologies could have on the learning of students within the college. I began discussing ideas I had learnt throughout the program with teaching staff and offering my assistance to help them incorporate some of the concepts and tools into their lesson plans. I didn’t know it at the time, but these initial discussions and training sessions with small groups of teachers were to be the catalyst that would change the course of my career and be the starting point of an exciting journey into the world of eLearning.

I am now four years into my career pivot and I am still astounded by the pace with which eLearning is forcing change in the education sector. Innovations such as the Flipped Classroom, BYOD and Blended Learning are transforming the way students of all ages are taught. Teachers are being expected to teach a new generation of digital-native learners who do not respond to same style of teaching that previous generations had. This is were I come in. I love sitting down with a teacher and working with them so that they have the confidence to try something new whilst feeling that they are supported in doing so. Whether one on one training or leading sessions of larger groups of staff, nothing beats the sense of accomplishment and buzz I get from empowering others or sparking the curiosity of someone to try something new.

Got an amazing eLearning story? Share it in the comments section below.