twitter ... is it an maturing learning technology?

I've been experimenting with twitter for a few months trying to see any application for its use in Higher Education.

I have to admit I'm warming to it nicely. For a certain group of my contacts and life style it is a very good way of keeping in touch. For me the killer app is when it works through your mobile phone.

The following discussion focuses on my use (from 21st Jan 2008 to 7th March 2008). The first observation is that I have changed the way that I interface with twitter (and my community of followers and people I'm following). Initially I engaged through using the web client on a computer. However this meant that I was tied to that computer. This felt quite restrictive and meant that I didn't twitter that much. I then started to get notifications SMS'd to my phone, and also start updating from my phone. This opened up lots more opportunities for spontaneous updates and responding to other peoples updates. I could do it wherever and whenever I liked :) Therefore, I’d suggest if people are going to really engage with twitter then they need to set up phone notification. I have since taken this a step further by using a twitter client on my phone.

It has got to the stage now where I very seldom log into twitter on my desktop, instead I use it through the phone. For me it just feels right ... I strongly associate it with mobility, and informality. Therefore, I feel strange to sit at a computer to use twitter. The only thoughts that go through my head for the updates are ... I'm sitting staring at a computer screen.

So you must be thinking, what did he actually do? Well during the period I updated my status 42 times, I sent 5 direct messages via the web interface. I was following 10 people (mostly members of University of Bath) and I had 12 followers. I have set it so that my twitter status updates my facebook status.

When I looked at my use I classified activity by the type of status update.

• Social awareness - these are mostly updates to keep people connected. These are divided into personal (drivel) or works related)
• 1-2-1 communications with other people
• Team awareness - these were directed to a sub group of my followers who are members of the elearning team at the University
• Personal - these where placeholders of thoughts during conferences and workshops. The audience for these was me.
• Questions - this was a "scatter gun" approach of asking questions to my followers and seeing if anyone will respond.

• Social awareness = 21 updates. 12 drivel, and 9 work related
• 1-2-1 communication = 6
• Team awareness = 3
• Conference = 11 updates. 7 aimed at me, and 4 aimed at anyone
• Question / Help = 1

Examples of these different uses can be seen from my twitter account - http://twitter.com/andyramsden

So reflecting on my use with a learning technologist hat on I think there some obvious and rather nifty applications in the learning space.

Scenario 1: Student Bob is sat in cafe eating his breakfast reading the Metro (free newspaper widely distributed in the UK). While reading he comes across an article that connects with something discussed in a lecture a few weeks ago. So he sends an sms to his twitter account with the aim of informing others. Just afterwards Student Jane is getting onto a bus. She picks up the Metro from the front and sits down. As the journey goes on she receives a SMS notification from Student Bobs twitter account. She reads the article, and thinks she is interpreting it differently. Outcomes her phone, given she isn't 100% confident of her interpretation she decides not to broadcast to all her followers on twitter, instead she texts a friend on the course for confirmation. Later in the day after discussing it further with her friend, she takes the plunge and challenges Student Bob's interpretation through her twitter status.

The next scenario further develops Scenario 1 through re-thinking about the intended learning activity of Student Bob. By Student Bob micro blogging this thoughts through twitter and using the instant communication route of the text notifications, he could have been undertaking various tasks. For instance, the primary aim may have been to simply blog the reference and come back to this at a later date as a means of storing bookmarks or seeding ideas (Scenario 2). Alternatively, he may have been trying to working through his understanding of the applied concept through asking others interpretation (Scenario 3).

So I’d suggest that Twitter offers some potential within HE. Of course there are issues, the fact that it is very open, people might not have text notifications set up and may for very good reasons not want it, and you only have a few characters. But, it does have potential. Now it's across to you ....

• what role do you see it has within Higher Education (justify yourself)
• what should we consider if this was being used in more structured / formal learning, or in more of an instructor led style?

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