Barbour, M. K., Bullen, M., Kirby, D., & Stordy, M. (2010, October). Academic blogging and tweeting: Connecting people, ideas and research. An invited panel presentation at EDGE 2010: e-Learning – The Horizon And Beyond…, St. John’s, NL.

1. Academic Blogging and Tweeting:
Connecting People, Ideas, and Research
Edge 2010

2. Dr. Michael Barbour

3. Dr. Mary Stordy

4. Dr. Mark Bullen

5. Version 1.0

6. Version 2.0

7. Version 3.0

8. What is a Blog?
A bit about blogs:
 web pages with information and/or commentary on
any subject
 single author or a group
 free, publicly accessible content
 posts saved in a searchable archive
Features of blogs:
 Text, photos, videos, audio, hyperlinks
 Interactive commentary

9. Pedagogy Behind Blogs
Constructivist Learning Theory
 Social interaction and learning
 Collaboration and peer interaction
 Reflection, discussion and feedback
Deep Learning (vs Surface Learning)
 Critical analysis
 Connect new/existing knowledge/experience
 Apply knowledge to new contexts

10. Pedagogy Behind Blogs
Student Voice
 Students share their voices and ideas on blogs
 A place for marginalized and minority students to be
heard by many
Digital Natives and The Net Generation
 Posits that current generation of students think and
process information differently
 Native speakers of the language of computers, video
games and the Internet
 An overgeneralization – not based on solid data

11. Pedagogical Possibilities
Sharing Course Information
 Post class times, assignments, exercises and
suggested readings
 Note new/emerging research, current events
Group Blogs
 Complete course activities individually or
collaboratively
 Multiple users contribute/provide feedback

12. Pedagogical Possibilities
Student Field Notes/Journals
 Record/report on experiences during practical or
field experiences (e.g., work placement, internship)
 Receive feedback from students/instructor
Publishing Student Writing
 Practice writing skills
 Provide a real and authentic audience to write to
 Give and receive feedback in collaborative
environment

13. Academic Applications
Dissemination of Research Findings
 Communicate with and discover colleagues
 Broaden academic readership
 Interact with diverse audiences
Mechanism for Peer Review
 Extend boundaries of conventional peer review
 Interactive and prompt alternative
 Use as a testing ground for ideas

14. Academic Applications
Sharing Personal Opinion
 Post comments or essays about current issues
 Provide serious academic or light-hearted
commentary
 Create debate and engage with public
 Communicate ideas with the media
Engagement in Discipline of Writing
 On-going writing, analysis, editing, experimenting
 Shaping ideas through writing

15. Micro-Blogging

16. Tweeting with Twitter

17. Tweeting Essentials
 1 of the 50 most popular websites
 Each "tweet" has up to 140 characters
 URL shortening: tinyurl.com, bit.ly and tr.im
 Hashtags - place a hash symbol '#' before a string
• Helps organize/track/share tweets
 Twitpic - posts photos to Twitter
 Twubs - hashtag hubs
 Why Twitter?

18. Comments from
Panelists

19. Questions?