Microblobbing in Higher Education

Microblogging -
Potentiale an der Hochschule
Sandra Schaffert & Martin Ebner

Microblogging - Potentiala an der Hochschule
Sandra Schaffert, Martin Ebner - Learntec 2010

The monthly rate of new user accounts
on Twitter is currently around 6.2
million new accounts per month (or 2-3
per second)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vividbreeze/480057824

http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/?p=1827


• A large percentage of Twitter accounts are
inactive, with about 25% of accounts having no
followers and about 40% of accounts having never
sent a single Tweet

• About 80% of all Twitter users have tweeted
fewer than ten times

http://www.flickr.com/photos/_nezemnaya_/3349101991

With 75 million total accounts, an active user
base of around 20% still leaves around 15
million highly active tweeters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ventriloblog/17960188

Microblogging is a small-scale form of blogging, generally
made up of short, succinct messages, used by both users and
business to share news, post status updates and carry on
Templeton, 2008
conversations

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/601808418

Higher Education occurs usually (not always) in overcrowded
lecture halls, students sitting under their laptops

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/601808418

Study 1 (2007)
Is microblogging a possibility for a specific
community to exchange ideas, interests and
information?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billselak/2417001179

Overview Study 1

• Used Microblog application: Jaiku
• Own Channel: „elearn“
• Own FlickR account for pictures
• Community: 23 German speaking
EduBloggers (5 women / 18 men)
• Duration: September - October 2007
• Outcome: 240 posting, 201 comments


BUT:

• Small usergroup (23; 12 filled out evaluation
forms)
• just testing - 72% „I used it for the first time“
• Outcomes? „not sure there is any potential“


Recommendations for HEI

• some general pros
• additional documentation
effects
• possibility to monitor students
• no time constraints
• mobile devices

• but no clear scenario for usage


Study 2 (2008)
Can microblogging be used during scientific
conferences?
Enhancement of live presentations?


„in the background we
discussed things more
deeply than the guys on the
stage“

versus

„Twitter can be distracting -
you pay less attention“

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nuagedenuit/276092250

before

during

after

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/430523365

Twitter stream at
conference (ED - Media 08)

Results:

• About 150 participants (keynote)
• 54 tweets / 74 minutes (before/during/after)
• 4 categories of tweets:
- Citations
- Discussion
- Hyperlinks
- Comments


BUT:

• Only 10 active users wrote more than 5 tweets
• 2 users wrote more than 50% of all tweets


Similar: ED-Media 2010

Two users accounted
24% of all tweets



• no continous microblogging
on walls! (too much distraction
for students and teachers,
just a few make the noise)


Study 3 (2008)
Interactive Lecturing by Integrating Mobile
Devices and Micro-blogging in Higher Education


Mass Education
Instant Feedback
Enhancement of lecture slides

Positive results:

• Anonymous Feedback
• Device Independent
• quick and easy


BUT:

• 33 microblogs in 45 minutes - no real content
• hard to follow for teachers



• timely limited interaction
phases (open questions,
feedback) are helpful and
channel attention

• or: a moderator for
microblogging


Study 4 (2008)
Can Microblogs and Weblogs change
traditional scientific writing?


16 students
4 MB per week
10 weeks

Positive results:

• Exchange of information
• Useful for fast discussions
• Help to share links and ideas


Differences between Microblogging and Blogging

• Blogging is reflective writing, short essays
• Microblogging is searching and sharing
• more communication/interaction (replies)


BUT:

• Information Overflow
• Only for people with same interests
• „maybe“ useful for virtual announcements
• students underestimated the work load
• continious attention is needed



• Microblogging seems to be
usable for e.g. brainstorming
and (fast)collections of links,
pictures, videos
• Usage for formative assessment:
continious contributions,
assessed by teachers
• limited to fitting lecture topics
(no fixed factual knowledge,
eventually media related)


Study 5 (2009)
Microblogs in Higher Education – A chance to facilitate
informal and process-oriented learning?


On average each student wrote 315 posts. Over a period
of 70 days this resulted in around 4.5 posts each calendar
day. If the observation time is reduced by holidays (42 days)
the number increases to 7.5 posts/each working day


• private talk is normal
(about one third)
• Microblogging is a
COMMUNICATION tool,
that includes private talk
• if you want to support
communication
(or microblogging)
the task should be open


Objectives for the Usage
of Microblogging in HEI

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/161/

Microblogging for Optimisation of HEI

• Fast interactive, colllaborative collections
• documentation and accessibility of collections
• quality assurance (monitoring, feedback)

Microblogging for Innovation of HEI

• tool for new assessment forms (formative
assessment)
• provides new (more) communication
possibilities (between teachers and students)


You will find
Martin at
Twitter
@mebner

... google
to find
Sandra

Microblobbing in Higher Education

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