DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TEACHER-FOCUSED TWITTER HASHTAGS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Jun 23, 2020
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Abstract
Twitter hashtags may serve as valuable means for teachers' professional development. However, given the diversity of hashtag spaces and teacher needs, teachers must assess a given hashtag and compare it to their learning needs and preferences before determining whether it would be helpful. To support this reflection, I examine data associated with 60 Regional Educational Twitter Hashtags (RETHs) during the first six months of 2016 to begin describing the variety of teacher learning-focused Twitter spaces and make distinctions between them. My results indicate that these RETHs vary according to their relative focus on sharing, intimacy of personal connection, and volume of activity, each of which has implications for professional development. The dimensions resulting from this study may prove helpful for teachers, teacher educators, and hashtag coordinators.
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References
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Burnett, G. (2000). Information exchange in virtual communities: A typology. Information Research, 5(4).
Butler, B. S. (2001). Membership size, communication activity, and sustainability: A resource-based model of online social structures. Information Systems Research, 12, 346-362. doi: 10.1287/isre.12.4.346.9703
Carpenter, J. P., & Krutka, D. G. (2015). Engagement through microblogging: Educator professional development via Twitter. Professional Development in Education, 41, 707-728. doi: 10.1080/19415257.2014.939294
Carpenter, J. P., Staudt Willet, K. B., Koehler, M. J., & Greenhalgh, S. P. (2019). Spam and educators' Twitter use: Methodological challenges and considerations. TechTrends. doi: 10.1007/s11528-019-00466-3
Carpenter, J., Tani, T., Morrison, S., & Keane, J. (2020). Exploring the landscape of educator professional activity on Twitter: An analysis of 16 education-related Twitter hashtags. Professional Development in Education. doi: 10.1080/19415257.2020.1752287
Carpenter, J. P., Tur, G., & Marín, V. I. (2016). What do U.S. and Spanish pre-service teachers think about educational and professional use of Twitter? A comparative study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 60, 131-143. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2016.08.011
Darling-Hammond, L., & McLaughlin, M. W. (1995). Policies that support professional development in an era of reform. The Phi Delta Kappan, 76, 597-604.
Duncan, S. C., & Hayes, E. (2012). Expanding the affinity space: An introduction. In E. R. Hayes & S. C. Duncan (Eds.), Learning in video game affinity spaces (pp. 1-22). New York, NY, USA: Peter Lang.
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Gee, J. P. (2005). Semiotic social spaces and affinity spaces: From the age of mythology to today's schools. In D. Barton & K. Tusting (Eds.), Beyond communities of practice: Language, power and social context (pp. 214-232). New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
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Greenhalgh, S. P. & Koehler, M. J. (2017). 28 days later: Twitter hashtags as "just in time" teacher professional development. TechTrends, 61, 273–281. doi: 10.1007/s11528-016-0142-4
Greenhalgh, S. P., Rosenberg, J. M., Staudt Willet, K. B., Koehler, M. J., & Akcaoglu, M. (2020). Identifying multiple learning spaces within a single teacher-focused Twitter hashtag. Computers & Education. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103809
Greenhalgh, S. P., Rosenberg, J. M., & Wolf, L. G. (2016). For all intents and purposes: Twitter as a foundational technology for teachers. E-Learning and Digital Media, 13, 81-98. doi: 10.1177/2042753016672131
Greenhalgh, S. P., Staudt Willet, B. K., Rosenberg, J. M., & Koehler, M. J. (2018). Tweet, and we shall find: Using digital methods to locate participants in educational hashtags. TechTrends, 62, 501-508. doi: 10.1007/s11528-018-0313-6
Greenhow, C., Campbell, D., Galvin, S., & Askari, E. (2018). Social media in teacher professional development: A literature review. In E. Langran & J. Borup (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2018 (pp. 2256-2264). Waynesville, NC, USA: AACE.
Hawksey, M. (2014). Need a better Twitter Archiving Google Sheet? TAGS v6.0 is here! [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://mashe.hawksey.info/2014/10/need-a-better-twitter-archiving-google-sheet-tags-v6-0-is-here/
Jolliffe, I. T. (2002). Principal component analysis (2nd ed.). New York, NY, USA: Springer.
Kearney, M. W. (2017). rtweet: Collecting Twitter data. (Version 0.6.0) [Statistical software]. Retrieved from https://cran.r-project.org/package=rtweet
Koutropoulos, A., Abajian, S. C., DeWaard, I., Hogue, R. J., Keskin, N. O., & Rodriguez, C. O. (2014). What tweets tell us about MOOC participation. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 9(1). Retrieved from http://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jet/
Krutka, D. G., Haselwood, S., & Asino, T. I. (2018). Editorial. Eight lessons on networked teacher activism from #OklaEd and the #OklaEdWalkout. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 18, 379-391. Retrieved from https://www.citejournal.org/volume-18/issue-2-18/social-studies/editorial-oklaed-and-the-oklaedwalkout-eight-lessons-on-networked-teacher-activism/
Krutka, D. G., Carpenter, J. P., & Trust, T. (2017). Enriching professional learning networks: A framework for identification, reflection, and intention. TechTrends, 61, 246-252. doi: 10.1007/s11528-016-0141-5
Luo, L., Sickel, J., & Cheng, L. (2017). Preservice teachers’ participation and perceptions of Twitter live chats as personal learning networks. TechTrends, 61, 225-235. doi: 10.1007/s11528-016-0137-1
Prestridge, S. (2019). Categorising teachers' use of social media for their professional learning: A self-generating professional learning paradigm. Computers & Education, 129, 143-158. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2018.11.003
R Core Team. (2015). R. A language and environment for statistical computing (Version 3.2.2) [Statistical software]. Vienna, AT: Foundation for Statistical Computing.
Raiche, G. (2010). nFactors. An R package for parallel analysis and non graphical solutions to the Cattell scree test (Version 2.3.3) [Statistical software]. Retrieved from http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=nFactors
Romero-Hall, E. (2017). Active user or lurker? A phenomenological investigation of graduate students in social media spaces. International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 5, 326-340. doi: 10.1504/IJSMILE.2017.090975
Rosenberg, J. M., Greenhalgh, S. P., Koehler, M. J., Hamilton, E., & Akcaoglu, M. (2016). An investigation of State Educational Twitter Hashtags (SETHs) as affinity spaces. E-Learning and Digital Media, 13, 24-44. doi: 10.1177/2042753016672351
Rosenberg, J. M., Greenhalgh, S. P., Wolf, L. G., & Koehler, M. J. (2017). Strategies, use, and impact of social media for supporting teacher community within professional development: The case of one urban STEM program. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 36, 255-267.
Staudt Willet, K. B. (2019). Revisiting how and why educators use Twitter: Tweet types and purposes in #Edchat. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 51, 273-289. doi: 10.1080/15391523.2019.1611507
Staudt Willet, K. B., Koehler, M. J., & Greenhalgh, S. P. (2017). A tweet by any other frame: Three approaches to studying educator interactions on Twitter. In P. Resta & S. Smith (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2017 (pp. 1823-1830). Waynesville, NC, USA: AACE.
Tukey, J. W. (1977). Exploratory data analysis. Reading, MA, USA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
Veletsianos, G. (2017a). Three cases of hashtags used as learning and professional development environments. TechTrends, 61, 284-292. doi: 10.1007/s11528-016-0143-3
Veletsianos, G. (2017b). Toward a generalizable understanding of Twitter and social media use across MOOCs: who participates on MOOC hashtags and in what ways? Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 29, 65-80. doi: 10.1007/s12528-017-9131-7
Visser, R. D., Evering, L. C., & Barrett, D. E. (2014). #TwitterforTeachers: The implications of Twitter as a self-directed professional development tool for K-12 teachers. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 46, 396-413. doi: 10.1080/15391523.2014.925694
Wenger-Trayner, E., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved from https://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/07-Brief-introduction-to-communities-of-practice.pdf
Wesely, P. M. (2013). Investigating the community of practice of world language educators on Twitter. Journal of Teacher Education, 64, 305-318. doi: 10.1177/0022487113489032
Xing, W., & Gao, F. (2018). Exploring the relationship between online discourse and commitment in Twitter professional learning communities. Computers & Education, 126, 388-389. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2018.08.010
Asino, T. I., Haselwood, S., & Baker, S. (2016). Twitter chats and the evolution of Twitter professional development. In G. Chamblee & L. Langlub (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2016 (pp. 1795-1800). Waynesville, NC, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Avalos, B. (2011). Teacher professional development in Teaching and Teacher Education over ten years. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 10-20. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2010.08.007
Britt, V. G., & Paulus, T. (2016). Beyond the four walls of my building: A case study of #Edchat as a community of practice. American Journal of Distance Education, 30, 48-59. doi: 10.1080/08923647.2016.1119609
Burnett, G. (2000). Information exchange in virtual communities: A typology. Information Research, 5(4).
Butler, B. S. (2001). Membership size, communication activity, and sustainability: A resource-based model of online social structures. Information Systems Research, 12, 346-362. doi: 10.1287/isre.12.4.346.9703
Carpenter, J. P., & Krutka, D. G. (2015). Engagement through microblogging: Educator professional development via Twitter. Professional Development in Education, 41, 707-728. doi: 10.1080/19415257.2014.939294
Carpenter, J. P., Staudt Willet, K. B., Koehler, M. J., & Greenhalgh, S. P. (2019). Spam and educators' Twitter use: Methodological challenges and considerations. TechTrends. doi: 10.1007/s11528-019-00466-3
Carpenter, J., Tani, T., Morrison, S., & Keane, J. (2020). Exploring the landscape of educator professional activity on Twitter: An analysis of 16 education-related Twitter hashtags. Professional Development in Education. doi: 10.1080/19415257.2020.1752287
Carpenter, J. P., Tur, G., & Marín, V. I. (2016). What do U.S. and Spanish pre-service teachers think about educational and professional use of Twitter? A comparative study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 60, 131-143. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2016.08.011
Darling-Hammond, L., & McLaughlin, M. W. (1995). Policies that support professional development in an era of reform. The Phi Delta Kappan, 76, 597-604.
Duncan, S. C., & Hayes, E. (2012). Expanding the affinity space: An introduction. In E. R. Hayes & S. C. Duncan (Eds.), Learning in video game affinity spaces (pp. 1-22). New York, NY, USA: Peter Lang.
Fiesler, C., & Proferes, N. (2018). Participant perceptions of Twitter research ethics. Social Media + Society, 4(2). doi: 10.1177/2056305118763366
Forte, A., Humphreys, M., & Park, T. (2012, June). Grassroots professional development: How teachers use Twitter. Paper presented at the 6th International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, Dublin, Ireland. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275274184_Grassroots_professional_development_How_teachers_use_Twitter
Gao, F., & Li, L. (2017). Examining a one-hour synchronous chat in a microblogging-based professional development community. British Journal of Educational Technology, 48, 332-347. doi: 10.1111/bjet.12384
Gee, J. P. (2005). Semiotic social spaces and affinity spaces: From the age of mythology to today's schools. In D. Barton & K. Tusting (Eds.), Beyond communities of practice: Language, power and social context (pp. 214-232). New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Gee, J. P., & Hayes, E. (2012). Nurturing affinity spaces and game-based learning. In C. Steinkuehler, K. Squire, & S. Barab (Eds.), Games, learning, and society: Learning and meaning in the digital age (pp. 129-153). New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Gleason, B. (2013). #Occupy Wall Street: Exploring informal learning about a social movement on Twitter. American Behavioral Scientist, 57, 966-982. doi: 10.1177/0002764213479372
Greenhalgh, S. P. & Koehler, M. J. (2017). 28 days later: Twitter hashtags as "just in time" teacher professional development. TechTrends, 61, 273–281. doi: 10.1007/s11528-016-0142-4
Greenhalgh, S. P., Rosenberg, J. M., Staudt Willet, K. B., Koehler, M. J., & Akcaoglu, M. (2020). Identifying multiple learning spaces within a single teacher-focused Twitter hashtag. Computers & Education. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103809
Greenhalgh, S. P., Rosenberg, J. M., & Wolf, L. G. (2016). For all intents and purposes: Twitter as a foundational technology for teachers. E-Learning and Digital Media, 13, 81-98. doi: 10.1177/2042753016672131
Greenhalgh, S. P., Staudt Willet, B. K., Rosenberg, J. M., & Koehler, M. J. (2018). Tweet, and we shall find: Using digital methods to locate participants in educational hashtags. TechTrends, 62, 501-508. doi: 10.1007/s11528-018-0313-6
Greenhow, C., Campbell, D., Galvin, S., & Askari, E. (2018). Social media in teacher professional development: A literature review. In E. Langran & J. Borup (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2018 (pp. 2256-2264). Waynesville, NC, USA: AACE.
Hawksey, M. (2014). Need a better Twitter Archiving Google Sheet? TAGS v6.0 is here! [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://mashe.hawksey.info/2014/10/need-a-better-twitter-archiving-google-sheet-tags-v6-0-is-here/
Jolliffe, I. T. (2002). Principal component analysis (2nd ed.). New York, NY, USA: Springer.
Kearney, M. W. (2017). rtweet: Collecting Twitter data. (Version 0.6.0) [Statistical software]. Retrieved from https://cran.r-project.org/package=rtweet
Koutropoulos, A., Abajian, S. C., DeWaard, I., Hogue, R. J., Keskin, N. O., & Rodriguez, C. O. (2014). What tweets tell us about MOOC participation. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 9(1). Retrieved from http://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jet/
Krutka, D. G., Haselwood, S., & Asino, T. I. (2018). Editorial. Eight lessons on networked teacher activism from #OklaEd and the #OklaEdWalkout. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 18, 379-391. Retrieved from https://www.citejournal.org/volume-18/issue-2-18/social-studies/editorial-oklaed-and-the-oklaedwalkout-eight-lessons-on-networked-teacher-activism/
Krutka, D. G., Carpenter, J. P., & Trust, T. (2017). Enriching professional learning networks: A framework for identification, reflection, and intention. TechTrends, 61, 246-252. doi: 10.1007/s11528-016-0141-5
Luo, L., Sickel, J., & Cheng, L. (2017). Preservice teachers’ participation and perceptions of Twitter live chats as personal learning networks. TechTrends, 61, 225-235. doi: 10.1007/s11528-016-0137-1
Prestridge, S. (2019). Categorising teachers' use of social media for their professional learning: A self-generating professional learning paradigm. Computers & Education, 129, 143-158. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2018.11.003
R Core Team. (2015). R. A language and environment for statistical computing (Version 3.2.2) [Statistical software]. Vienna, AT: Foundation for Statistical Computing.
Raiche, G. (2010). nFactors. An R package for parallel analysis and non graphical solutions to the Cattell scree test (Version 2.3.3) [Statistical software]. Retrieved from http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=nFactors
Romero-Hall, E. (2017). Active user or lurker? A phenomenological investigation of graduate students in social media spaces. International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 5, 326-340. doi: 10.1504/IJSMILE.2017.090975
Rosenberg, J. M., Greenhalgh, S. P., Koehler, M. J., Hamilton, E., & Akcaoglu, M. (2016). An investigation of State Educational Twitter Hashtags (SETHs) as affinity spaces. E-Learning and Digital Media, 13, 24-44. doi: 10.1177/2042753016672351
Rosenberg, J. M., Greenhalgh, S. P., Wolf, L. G., & Koehler, M. J. (2017). Strategies, use, and impact of social media for supporting teacher community within professional development: The case of one urban STEM program. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 36, 255-267.
Staudt Willet, K. B. (2019). Revisiting how and why educators use Twitter: Tweet types and purposes in #Edchat. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 51, 273-289. doi: 10.1080/15391523.2019.1611507
Staudt Willet, K. B., Koehler, M. J., & Greenhalgh, S. P. (2017). A tweet by any other frame: Three approaches to studying educator interactions on Twitter. In P. Resta & S. Smith (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2017 (pp. 1823-1830). Waynesville, NC, USA: AACE.
Tukey, J. W. (1977). Exploratory data analysis. Reading, MA, USA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
Veletsianos, G. (2017a). Three cases of hashtags used as learning and professional development environments. TechTrends, 61, 284-292. doi: 10.1007/s11528-016-0143-3
Veletsianos, G. (2017b). Toward a generalizable understanding of Twitter and social media use across MOOCs: who participates on MOOC hashtags and in what ways? Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 29, 65-80. doi: 10.1007/s12528-017-9131-7
Visser, R. D., Evering, L. C., & Barrett, D. E. (2014). #TwitterforTeachers: The implications of Twitter as a self-directed professional development tool for K-12 teachers. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 46, 396-413. doi: 10.1080/15391523.2014.925694
Wenger-Trayner, E., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved from https://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/07-Brief-introduction-to-communities-of-practice.pdf
Wesely, P. M. (2013). Investigating the community of practice of world language educators on Twitter. Journal of Teacher Education, 64, 305-318. doi: 10.1177/0022487113489032
Xing, W., & Gao, F. (2018). Exploring the relationship between online discourse and commitment in Twitter professional learning communities. Computers & Education, 126, 388-389. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2018.08.010