#17 Twitter and Tweetdeck

I have recently been getting into Tweetdeck, following a renewed appreciation of Twitter as a Personal Learning Network tool.  It was originally developed and launched in July 2008 by Iain Dodsworth, but only recently became 'stable'. Like other Twitter applications it works with Twitter API to allow users to send and receive tweets and view profiles.  It is a popular Twitter application but not as widely used yet as Twitpic and Yfrog - image uploaders - or Bit.ly, a URL shorterner.  There are other useful tools associated with Twitter, like TweetDownload and Twtpoll, which give you the opportunity to copy and paste tweets or to carry out a quick vote on a topic respectively.   Tweetdeck was purchased by Twitter in May 2011, so the two are inextricably linked.

Tweetdeck is a superb interface for using Twitter which allows for much more control over what you see and what you don't.  Like every good tool it is clear and simple to use, giving you options to put your activity into adjustable columns, which can either have sound alerts, pop up alerts or both.  For example, your 'timeline' - tweets from people you follow - can be clearly shown as separate from your own tweets or those in which you have been mentioned.  

Both Twitter and the integrated Twitter are superb for devloping your Personal Learning Network, and I have been doing exactly this over the past 3 months since I began this blog.  Previously I didn't have much purpose to using the tool, but this the number one reason I use it now.  People who tweet love to share their views and resources.   Forget the gossip, go with the truth.

Where it really comes into good effect is when you are following a #hashtag, as you can separate this from other tweets.  For example, as a keen #EFLchat participant, I can keep that as a separate column during the hour long Wednesday chat.  You can also have lists which filter tweets further by theme, such as 'Essential PLN'.  See image below:

 

Here I give a brief 2 minute overview of Twitter and Tweetdeck for beginners, which I made for Dave Dodgson's PLN weekend. Below that, there is a link to Paul Trotter's extensive step-by-step set of training videos for Tweetdeck:

 

Click on image to go to set of Training Videos on using Tweetdeck

I have previously used Twitter itself to conduct feedback in a class based seesion in which students were giving presentations on famous Arabs.  In the future (remember: I am not currently teaching so I've got itchy fingers..) I could use it for gathering opinions of students, giving them a backchannel in a class based discussion or generating discussion - #ELTpics is a great new service for doing this.  See Sandy Millin's blog for more details. 

A great resource for ELT

For more on Personal Learning Networks, I have embedded a presentation for my Professional Practice module which I made when I was unable to attend class, so it was sent from home:

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE (ICT)

UPDATE 16/10/2012: FULL ASSIGNMENT INCLUDING SAMPLE TEACHER TRAINING MATERIAL DOWNLOADABLE 

- SEE BOTTOM OF EMBEDDED SCRIBD DOC.

Following my ICT in ELT module at the University of Warwick, I have just completed a Professional Practice module for ICT.  For this I had to make a proposal to introduce an innovative technology into an English Language Teaching setting familiar to me - in my case, I chose the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing.  This was a hypothetical proposal based on a real setting and a real teaching situation.  It is not a proposal which is actually going to be introduced at CAFA (unless somebody there happens to read this and nicks the idea). It is, however, an idea for using the innovative tool in any appropriate ELT setting.  The tool I chose, following the number of pageviews on this blog and general feedback received, is the cloud based software presentation tool, MyBrainshark.  I also used the screen capture software tool, Camtasia Studio 7 from Techsmith, to record the screencasts which accompany the PowerPoint presentations I have made for 6 one hour class-based lessons.

One book which became central to this module and to this project is 'Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Designing and Delivering e-learning', edited by Helen Beetham and Rhona Sharpe (Routledge, 2007).  But I also took some general themes on the issues of technology - for purposes other than simply enabling content to be transmitted more effectively - from Diana Laurillard's Plenary session at IATEFL, Glasgow, 2012.  Laurillard also wrote the foreward to the previously mentioned book.

 A short clip from Diana Laurillard's Plenary Session from IATEFL, Glasgow.

I originally just uploaded the project specification sheet, but as of 16 October 2012, I have added below the full assignment, including PPP sheets:-

Professional Practice (ICT) Assignment - Complete

A Camtasia Studio produced video, which I presented to my fellow students, is shown below. There is a 'blended' version of this, which mixes the original video with the face-to-face presentation given to my peers in the final week of term, on the video page of this blog:

Here are four (of six) downloadable PowerPoint Presentations which I created for the proposal.  They are free to adapt or use but please remember that they were created for a proposal to introduce an innovative tool into an ELT setting and are not actually going to be used at CAFA.... yet!

Teacher training my brainshark - 1 introduction

Teacher training my brainshark - 2 uploading content and recording audio

 Teacher training my brainshark - 3 working with photos or video

 

View more PowerPoint from Phil Longwell

The full, complete set of screencasts (tutorials) for the proposed induction course can be found by following the links below. I will submit the whole thing - including the 6,000 word essay, as my final piece of assessed work for term 2, on 24 April.

CAFA:MyBrainshark Tutorials - Click Here

Final note: This is only a proposal.  I do not work at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, but I did so from 2009-10.  This is a marked assignment on my MA course.  MyBrainshark has a lot of uses but there are hardly any studies published on using it in English Language Teaching.  I like to share, so have put the created content out there on scribd (the project proposal), screencast.com (7 screencasts) and on slideshare (6 PowerPoints).  The ideas can be taken, modified and adapted as necessary.  You would need to investigate this yourself and if you wanted to introduce the tool to teachers, create your own teacher training material as I have done.

Update (21/05/12):  I received 75% for this 30 credit assignment.