dialogues and at engaging students in identifying links with popular culture. He experienced reluctance and extremely low levels of uptake or enthusiasm by students: ‘This may change but it's clear that the students ‐ media and cultural studies and Eng. Lit and Popular culture ‐ aren't perceiving the relevance of the activities and technology to their learning in the same way as their tutors do.’
Other comments in this cloud and related clouds (e.g. ‘Twitter in academia’ ‘is Twitter killing blogging’, ‘Twitter for teaching and learning’) revolve around tools to archive Twitter conversations, and mechanisms for linking Twitter threads into specific courses. Also there are reflections about effective teaching practices, and alternative means of encouraging use without resorting to coercion. Several participants comment that aggregating short bursts of text and capturing the serendipity of the moment is a powerful feature of blogging. Others cited the value of micro‐blogging as a mechanism for sharing interesting links and references. The way in which uncertainties on the use of such tools is dealt with depends largely on the ways in which the teacher introduces and promotes the tool. Teachers who have been successful with the use of these tools tend to be those that are actively using Twitter more broadly as part of their professional practice. This is a common pattern of Web 2.0 tools, i.e. that really these tools need to be appropriated and used pro‐actively before they can be incorporated into a course design and used in a learning context. This is a distinct shift from earlier technologies, where how the tools could be used was more self‐evident. For example, personal use of an interactive computer package was not necessary before a teacher could make a judgment about its use in their teaching. The difference lies in the extent to which Web 2.0 tools are indeed used for networking, sharing and socialising; hence understanding what constitutes productive behaviour in these spaces is something one learns by doing. Parry describes the use of Twitter in his class and identifies the following as key factors to consider at the learning design stage (see Briggs, 2008): • • • •
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Create a sense of classroom community. Familiarise students with both disciplinary and professional discourses. Conduct just‐in‐time case studies and encourage them to be reflexive about their own communicative practices, through the sharing of ideas and negotiation. Develop a social and ubiquitous presence: As Parry notes, ‘I think people end up being a lot more comfortable with classroom discourse and get a sense that [the instructor] isn't just someone who comes in and talks for an hour and 30 minutes twice a week. It has the very positive effect of altering the classroom state to not just be contained by the four walls, and by meeting twice a week.’ (cited in Briggs, 2008: n.p.). Using backchannels to generate instant feedback within lectures is another factor for potential success. This is consistent with Yardi (2008: 145) who notes that: Online backchannel chat rooms offer the potential to transform classroom learning in unexpected and powerful ways. However, the specific ways in which they can influence teaching pedagogy and learning opportunities are less well understood. Activities in a backchannel may include the dissemination of ideas, knowledge building, asking and answering questions, engaging in critical discourse, and sharing information and resources.
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