Twitter and Higher Education – How to engage with fellow academics and students? Chris Zoe Zoe Uni Greenwich The School of Law, University of

Background to paper We joined the Law School in June Both had experience of using social media as part of our teaching and professional practice in our previous posts. Utilised twitter as part of our previous posts to help with projects which we were leading. We will begin by showing how we have used twitter: (i)Before joining the Law School; and (ii)Since we have joined the Law School.

Chris’ experience before joining the Law School Used twitter to establish social- media presence for Fresh Perspectives on Law. Sizeable Engaged with practitioners, academics and key institutions such as JAC and Inns of Court. Used twitter as part of research. Track key legal updates and used as part of updating of textbook/ engagement in academic debate.

Zoe’s experiences before joining the Law School Used twitter to launch help Law Network To engage & network with academics, practitioners, institutions and organisations relevant to legal education & students studying law/careers in law Used twitter to assist with compiling updates for teaching materials and to keep up to date with areas of academic teaching practice

Existing evidence: (i)Our own experiences and observations based on the legal section and higher education; and (ii)Academic literature. We are aiming at gaining first-hand experiences of using twitter: (i)Interacting with fellow academics; and (ii)Engaging and inspiring students. Based on both sources of evidence we will engage the viability of our hypothesis.

Importance of Twitter within Teaching & Learning Used in a variety of disciplines Use in the classroom Building a community of learning (i.e. course accounts) Teaching students professionalism & networking skills We can see four key advantages

Lecturer Perspective Peers The Profession Students Twitter permits a fusion

Good Practice – externally Advantages?Achievable? Course Twitter Account Give presence to each course. Communicate instantaneously with students – opposed to . Course/content updates. Finding things to tweet about might be difficult – need to be inventive. Time Commitment Too many accounts? Twitter Q&A in lectures Twitter Office Hours Encourage questions via twitter. Advertise this in all lectures. Another thing to remember? Does this exclude less- tech-literate students Twitter Revision Create bank of material open to ‘all’ All students can contact to ask questions – DM or openly Time commitment? Does this exclude less- tech-literate students?

Student Perspective Enables students to develop a professional brand and to showcase their knowledge of the law and engagement within the profession. Successful accounts have 1000s of followers – academics, students and lawyers in practice. Clear employability benefits. However: Pedagogic benefits – access to regular updates and opportunity to engage with lecturer & ask questions. Scope for academics to encourage professional engagement in twitter from amongst students.

Academic Literature Networking Perspective: Richard Van Noorden, ‘Online Collaboration: Scientists and the social network’ Nature, 13 th August different level of engagement and use of social media: and-the-social-network ?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews and-the-social-network ?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews Teaching & Learning Perspective: Leszek Gąsieniec, ‘Could Twitter be the future of teaching?’, University of Liverpool, 6 th October 2014 –using twitter to replace s and problems of twitter literacy & interest: future-of-teaching/ future-of-teaching/

Academic Literature ‘Twitter holds potential as a powerful learning tool that can readily transmit knowledge, inform learners and extend beyond individuals to their social networks’ (Kassens-Noor 2012). Potential of twitter in education and finding the right niche (Reuben 2008). Employers’ expectations (Wankel 2009).

Developed ‘Twitter Strategy’ Established a twitter account for the Public Law course – used in lectures etc. Used professional twitter accounts to engage with the university community & with students. Held a twitter workshop in September Law Alumni Network –integral role of twitter to market launch and engage network members

Our hypothesis Two benefits: (1)The first is that academics who engage successfully with Twitter, experience tangible benefits with regard to interacting with fellow academics and professionals both nationally and internationally. Using Twitter in this way enables and supports academics in sharing knowledge, developing best practice and keeping up to date with important developments. (2) The second benefit is that Twitter also has the capacity to inspire and engage students in the learning process from a variety of different perspectives.

The Twitter Workshop – Encouraging the Law School to get tweeting Initial Observations: (i)Very good turnout from amongst Law and Criminology academics (17 staff) (ii)Lasted over an hour; (iii)Explored the strengths and challenges of using twitter as part of academic teaching practice. We offered individual sessions on setting up and using twitter. Planning to hold another workshop in the Spring Keen to create hubs of excellence.

Law School Alumni Network To launch in 2015 to provide opportunities for current students, graduates and businesses to network & to enable graduates to support current students Set up with support from The School of Law & Alumni Department Zoe will be the Academic lead A 2014 graduate intern will help develop and establish the network Network will have own Twitter account Twitter will be used to: Connect with network members Generate interest & promote the network launch Share information Promote future network events Thank supporters, sponsors and network members

@PublicLawUoG Set up in October Has 83 student and academic followers. Used to communicate updates to students – legal and course related. Used to engage with parliamentarians and lawyers in practice. But what are the perceived benefits? Is there any value added to the teaching and learning experience?

Public Law in Action Set up in November 2014 to respond to the Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform’s report ‘A new Magna Carta?’ 29 active participants – 7 submissions – approx 18,000 word. Use of twitter: (i)Tweet organisers involvement (ii)Dialogue (iii)Communicate participation to students (iv)Showcase students’ involvement

Evidencing our hypothesis The Students’ Perspective Survey of all Public Law students (first years) to discuss engagement with twitter and how important it is for them in terms of: (i)The relative importance as a tool for their own learning; (ii)Whether they have engaged with twitter or the course twitter account;

Evidencing our hypothesis Our Colleagues’ Perspective Anecdotal feedback gained from staff who attended the workshop A number keen to engage with Twitter and surprised at the potential to use if for: Networking with academics Research purposes Updating legal materials Publicising own research 3 completed follow up questionnaires Need to explore further the perceptions of the team in the Spring

Any questions?