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Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
An investigation into the use of twitter by lecturers and students to support
UG and PG modules
Dr Ed de Quincey
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Dr Ed de Quincey @eddequincey @DrEddeQuincey Senior Lecturer, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences Head of the Web 2.0/Social Web for Learning Research Group, eCentre http://www2.gre.ac.uk/research/centres/ecentre/research-groups/web-2.0
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences Swine !u
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
�Epidemics of seasonal influenza are a major public health concern,
causing tens of millions of respiratory illnesses and 250,000 to
500,000 deaths worldwide each year�
Ginsberg et al., Nature Vol 457, 19 February 2009 doi:10.1038/nature07634
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=flu
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <feed xmlns:google="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0" xml:lang="en-US" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:twitter="http://api.twitter.com/"> <id>tag:search.twitter.com,2005:search/flu</id> <link type="text/html" href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=flu" rel="alternate"/> <link type="application/atom+xml" href="http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=flu" rel="self"/> <title>flu - Twitter Search</title> <link type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="http://search.twitter.com/opensearch.xml" rel="search"/> <link type="application/atom+xml" href="http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=flu&since_id=6404909749" rel="refresh"/> <twitter:warning>since_id removed for pagination.</twitter:warning> <updated>2009-12-06T17:43:56Z</updated> <openSearch:itemsPerPage>15</openSearch:itemsPerPage> <link type="application/atom+xml" href="http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?max_id=6404909749&page=2&q=flu" rel="next"/> <entry> <id>tag:search.twitter.com,2005:6404909749</id> <published>2009-12-06T17:43:56Z</published> <link type="text/html" href="http://twitter.com/grippado/statuses/6404909749" rel="alternate"/> <title>@lais_couto Hoje é o dia do #hexa, mais sempre vai ver o a torcida do #flamengo apoiando o #flu... a união das torcidas cariocas ta linda...</title> <content type="html"><a href="http://twitter.com/lais_couto">@lais_couto</a> Hoje é o dia do <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23hexa">#hexa</a>, mais sempre vai ver o a torcida do <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23flamengo">#flamengo</a> apoiando o <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23flu">#<b>flu</b></a>... a união das torcidas cariocas ta linda...</content> <updated>2009-12-06T17:43:56Z</updated> <link type="image/png" href="http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/551440511/eu-mengo_normal.jpg" rel="image"/> <twitter:geo> </twitter:geo> <twitter:source><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/" rel="nofollow">TweetDeck</a></twitter:source> <twitter:lang>pt</twitter:lang> <author> <name>grippado (grippado)</name> <uri>http://twitter.com/grippado</uri> </author> </entry>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>!<feed xmlns:google="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0" xml:lang="en-US" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:twitter="http://api.twitter.com/">! <id>tag:search.twitter.com,2005:search/flu</id>! <link type="text/html" href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=flu" rel="alternate"/>! <link type="application/atom+xml" href="http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=flu" rel="self"/>! <title>flu - Twitter Search</title>! <link type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="http://search.twitter.com/opensearch.xml" rel="search"/>! <link type="application/atom+xml" href="http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=flu&since_id=6404909749" rel="refresh"/>! <twitter:warning>since_id removed for pagination.</twitter:warning>! <updated>2009-12-06T17:43:56Z</updated>! <openSearch:itemsPerPage>15</openSearch:itemsPerPage>! <link type="application/atom+xml" href="http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?max_id=6404909749&page=2&q=flu" rel="next"/>! <entry>! <id>tag:search.twitter.com,2005:6404909749</id>! <published>2009-12-06T17:43:56Z</published>! <link type="text/html" href="http://twitter.com/grippado/statuses/6404909749" rel="alternate"/>! <title>@lais_couto Hoje é o dia do #hexa, mais sempre vai ver o a torcida do #flamengo apoiando o #flu... a união das torcidas cariocas ta linda...</title>! <content type="html"><a href="http://twitter.com/lais_couto">@lais_couto</a> Hoje é o dia do <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23hexa">#hexa</a>, mais sempre vai ver o a torcida do <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23flamengo">#flamengo</a> apoiando o <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23flu">#<b>flu</b></a>... a união das torcidas cariocas ta linda...</content>! <updated>2009-12-06T17:43:56Z</updated>! <link type="image/png" href="http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/551440511/eu-mengo_normal.jpg" rel="image"/>! <twitter:geo>! </twitter:geo>! <twitter:source><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/" rel="nofollow">TweetDeck</a></twitter:source>! <twitter:lang>pt</twitter:lang>! <author>! <name>grippado (grippado)</name>! <uri>http://twitter.com/grippado</uri>! </author>! </entry>!
<entry> <id>tag:search.twitter.com,2005:6404909749</id> <published>2009-12-06T17:43:56Z</published> <link type="text/html" href="http://twitter.com/grippado/statuses/6404909749" rel="alternate"/> <title>@lais_couto Hoje é o dia do #hexa, mais sempre vai ver o a torcida do #flamengo apoiando o #flu... a união das torcidas cariocas ta linda...</title> <content type="html"><a href="http://twitter.com/lais_couto">@lais_couto</a> Hoje é o dia do <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23hexa">#hexa</a>, mais sempre vai ver o a torcida do <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23flamengo">#flamengo</a> apoiando o <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23flu">#<b>flu</b></a>... a união das torcidas cariocas ta linda...</content> <updated>2009-12-06T17:43:56Z</updated> <link type="image/png" href="http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/551440511/eu-mengo_normal.jpg" rel="image"/> <twitter:geo> </twitter:geo> <twitter:source><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/" rel="nofollow">TweetDeck</a></twitter:source> <twitter:lang>pt</twitter:lang> <author> <name>grippado (grippado)</name> <uri>http://twitter.com/grippado</uri> </author> </entry>
http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=!u
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Number of tweets containing the word “flu”
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Most popular words found in all tweets
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
From almost 3 million tweets collected during May to
December 2009
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
“I have swine flu” 12,954
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
“I have the flu” 12,651
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using twitter with this course We are intending to use twitter with this course in 3 ways: 1. As an alternative method for posting useful course
specific information to students e.g. links to articles, emergency changes to lecture times etc.
2. Enable students to ask questions about courses e.g. clarifying something from a lecture, asking about coursework specifications etc.
3. Encourage students to help one another and create communities of practice.
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
you could also use hashtags such as #COMP1314Lec1 if you are asking about
something in the first lecture, #COMP1314Lab1 for the first lab session, #COMP1314CW for
information about the coursework and so on. Just make sure that the hashtag includes #COMP1314
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Twitter was introduced during the first tutorial session for 3 courses at UG and PG level, across 2 Schools within the
University by 2 lecturers (@DrEddeQuincey and @AvrilHocking).
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Tweets collected 1. All tweets posted from
lecturer accounts 2. All tweets that contained the
relevant course codes 3. All direct messages and
replies (for @DrEddeQuincey)
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
created in April 2011 solely for student/University related tweets,
currently has 130 followers
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
a rough estimate is that 80 (62%)
are present or past students within the University
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
289 tweets have been sent from the lecturer account
between September 2011 and April 2012
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
!
frequency of terms used within those 289 tweets
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
161 tweets (56%) were
@mentions i.e. the lecturer replying to a student’s tweet
indicating a good level of 2 way- communication
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
!
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
received 40 direct (private)
messages from 11 students, all
asking questions, again indicating a good level of 2-way
communication
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
The hashtags for the 2 courses had less impact than the use of
messaging, with #COMP1444 being used 98 times (50% by the
lecturer account) and #COMP1314, 75 times (33%
by the lecturer account).
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Around 31% students used twitter as a way of communicating with the
lecturer regarding the course and although a few individuals made
attempts at sharing information by the use of hashtags, this was not the
primary use
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Students were willing to sign up for twitter and the majority sent at least one tweet, but their continued
use was very much dependent on whether they were already active
users or whether they understood it’s potential uses during and after the
course
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences Communication
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
A number of students have utilised twitter as a quick method of
communication between themselves and the lecturer. This enabled for almost real time
communication outside of lectures and tutorials and immediate
resolution of issues
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences Why not just use email?
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
students have to ask concise questions that can be answered within the same limitation. From the lecturer point of view, replies can be quick and to the point, no need for email etiquette and format e.g. salutations and sign-o"s.
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
For lecturers that utilise twitter on a continuous basis
as a natural part of their work, the ability to
monitor and send quick replies to students via a
range of devices is more e!cient and does not get
lost amongst other work related email.
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
other students who follow the user who sent the @mention can also see
the @reply from the lecturer, potentially reducing the
number of communications that ask the same question.
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
The hashtag course code was primarily only used by the lecturer and was sparsely used in either course to share
information, discuss course content etc. by students.
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences #TweetChats? #TweetUps?
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences