1. 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

2. Dr Ed de Quincey @eddequincey @DrEddeQuincey
Senior Lecturer, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Headsocialthe Web 2.0/Social Web forsciences
Using
of media to engage students in mathematical Learning Research Group, eCentre
http://www2.gre.ac.uk/research/centres/ecentre/research-groups/web-2.0

3. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

4. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

5. Swine flu
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

6. 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

7. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

8. http://search.twitter.com/search?q=flu
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

10. http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=flu
<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 &#233; o dia do #hexa, mais sempre vai ver o a torcida do
#flamengo apoiando o #flu... a uni&#227;o das torcidas cariocas ta linda...</title>
<content type="html">&lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/
lais_couto&quot;&gt;@lais_couto&lt;/a&gt; Hoje &#233; o dia do &lt;a href=&quot;http://
search.twitter.com/search?q=%23hexa&quot;&gt;#hexa&lt;/a&gt;, mais sempre vai ver o a torcida
do &lt;a href=&quot;http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23flamengo&quot;&gt;#flamengo&lt;/
a&gt; apoiando o &lt;a href=&quot;http://search.twitter.com/search?q=
%23flu&quot;&gt;#&lt;b&gt;flu&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;... a uni&#227;o 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>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tweetdeck.com/&quot;
rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;TweetDeck&lt;/a&gt;</twitter:source>
<twitter:lang>pt</twitter:lang>
<author>
<name>grippado (grippado)</name>
<uri>http://twitter.com/grippado</uri>
</author>
</entry>
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

11. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

12. Number of tweets containing the word “flu”
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

13. Most popular words found in all tweets
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

14. From almost 3 million
tweets collected
during May to
December 2009
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

15. “I have swine flu”
12,954
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

16. “I have the flu”
12,651
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

17. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

18. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

19. 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

20. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

21. 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

22. Twitter was introduced during the first tutorial session for 3
courses at UG and PG level, across 2 Schools within the
Universitytoby 2 students in mathematical sciences
Using social media engage
lecturers (@DrEddeQuincey and @AvrilHocking).

23. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

24. 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

25. created in April 2011 solely for
student/University related tweets,
currently has 130 followers
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

26. a rough estimate is that 80 (62%)
are present or past students
within the University
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

27. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

28. 289 tweets have been sent
from the lecturer account
between September 2011 and
April 2012
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

29. !
frequency of terms used within those 289 tweets
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

30. 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

31. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

32. !
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

37. 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

38. Communication
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

39. 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

40. Why not just use email?
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

41. 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-offs.
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

42. 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
efficient and does not get
lost amongst other work
related email.
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

43. 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

44. 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

45. #TweetChats? #TweetUps?
Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

46. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences

47. Using social media to engage students in mathematical sciences