Presentation from the Geographical Association Annual Conference at the University of Manchester on 13th April. A short presentation on the basics of Twitter and how it can be useful for Geography teachers both in and out of the classroom

1. Twitter for Geography
Teachers and Students
Jennifer.Watts@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
@jennywrenwatts

2. Some basics
• Social Networking and Micro-blogging service
• Users send ‘Tweets’ up to 140 characters long.
@ to reply
# hashtag
RT retweets
Trending Topics
DM Direct Messages

7. A Communication Tool
Source: Barrett (2008)

8. Personal Learning Network
(PLN)
• Twitter as a tool to establish your own
Personal Learning Network
• Teachers (from across the world), University
Departments, the GA, the RGS, Publishers,
Fieldwork Centres …….
• Sharing information: links, ideas, resources
• Collaboration
• Interaction is the key!

9. Twitter Interaction

10. #geographyteacher

11. #geography
Other hashtags:
#education
#teachers
#elearning
#edchat
#ukedchat
#nqt
#teachmeet
#pgcetips – hanbook edited by Tim
handley
http://classroomtales.com/pgce-survival-guide-pgcetips/

12. Gathering Information
• From main stream
media
• Real life responses
to events
• Searching twitter
• Media you weren’t
aware of.

13. Making connections
• Ask hor help/advice/suggestions.
• Tell the world about your blog posts.
• A few of blogs discovered through twitter:
– Living Geography: www.livinggeography.blogspot.com
– Blogstronomy: www.blogstronomy.blogspot.com
– Views of the World: www.viewsoftheworld.net
– Geofactualidades: www.geofactualidades.blogspot.co.uk
– David Rogers: Geography,Teaching, Learning:
www.davidrogers.blogspot.co.uk
– The Big Picture: www.boston.com/bigpicture
– Tony Cassidy: Teaching and Learning – I think…:
www.tonycassidy.co.uk

14. Twitter and Students
• The use of the twitter will very much
depend on school context.
• Make sure students area aware of the
language
• Have a set of behaviour guidelines.
• Make any accounts private so you can
control who follows you.

15. Gather live data with Twitter
In the classroom:
– Use twitter to ask questions to your followers
– Use twitter to engage in live conversations: British Antarctic
Survey
– Use twitter to find real life opinions on different topics
– Set up a twitter to tweet about an event at certain times: a
hypothetical earthquake or tsunami
– Use data from twitter: USGS
•Outside the classroom:
– Ask students to tweet observation/experiences/measurements/
other data at different sites. These can be mapped later.

16. Share news and resources
• Set up a twitter account to tweet articles you
want students to look at.
• Ask students to tweet relevant articles they
have read to share to others.

17. Social Network Toolkit

18. Geography tweeters to
follow…
@GeoBlogs @NoelJenkins @JohnSayers @kenny1973 @maxrayner
@TonyCassidy @RHULGeography @HumanGeoMonster @McGeog
@VictoriaOSulli1 @APHumanGeog @TheMapAddict @GeoSpeech
@geogphil @NatGeo @Geospatialnews @geographile @josephkerski
@simonrenshaw @worldmapper @RGS_IBG @OxfordEdGeog
@richardallaway @Esri @The_GA @HoddrGeography @GAGeogger
@bobdigby @JonWolton @profdavidharvey @annefgreaves @Geodebs
@lucyoxley @BobLangGeog @victoriaellis @davidErogers
@jo_blackmore @GeoVation @mark_howell101 @ValVannet @Liz_Smith
@PrimaGeographer @MissionExplore @GeoCollective @RavenEllison
@RobGeog @AngusWilson @real_earth @urbanphoto_blog @geoviews
@ibgeography @NatGeoEducation @Shaf_Hansraj @geognews
@SamGeoAtkins @geoplace @olivercarr @Geoelle @GeogWhiting
@aknill @theAAG @jennywrenwatts
For a huge list of Geographers on Twitter see the ‘isageographer’ list from Geographical Magazine Twitter @GeographicalMag

19. Tweeting Geographers at
#gaconf12

20. Summary
• Twitter is a helpful tool to establish your own
Personal Learning Network
• Interaction is the key
• Make new connections and uncover new
sources of information
• Twitter can be used to help distribute
information to students

21. For more information
• BETT (2010) Twit to woo: how to harness social media 8 Jan 2010, Available at:
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6032750
• Barrett, T. (2008)
• Edudemic (2010) Ultimate Twitter Guidebook for Teachers. Availble at:
http://edudemic.com/2010/06/the-ultimate-twitter-guidebook/
• Guardian (20??) How Twitter will revolutionise academic research and teaching.
Available at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2011/sep/12/twitter-revolut
• Twitter Handbook for Teachers:
http://edudemic.com/2010/06/the-ultimate-twitter-guidebook/
• Washington Post (2012) Teachers take to Twitter to improve craft and
commiserate. Available at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/teachers-take-to-twitter-to-improve-c
• Wilson (2012) Establishing a Personal Learning Network (PLN) through Social
Media A teachers’ manual for the future of professional development. Availble at:
http://www.pannage.com/now/pln-sm/

22. Any Questions?
Contact details:
Jennifer.Watts@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Or
@jennywrenwatts