Twitter Chat as an Informal Learning Tool

Abstract

This case study focuses on Twitter as an informal learning tool. Specifically, the authors examine user-created Twitter chats using one specific chat, #sachat, as a case study. #sachat is a weekly one-hour chat held on Twitter and populated by higher education professionals in the field of student affairs (e.g. college admissions, advising, housing, new student orientation). The authors contrast this chat with other ways in which student affairs and higher education professionals are using Twitter. Using methods of computer-mediated discourse analysis, they then discover and elicit defining characteristics of #sachat. Finally, the authors offer thoughts on why this chat seems to be successful as an informal learning resource, how it compares to other uses of Twitter by professionals, and implications for other communities interested in using Twitter or similar tools to create informal learning.

The #acadv Community: Networked Practices, Professional Development, and Ongoing Knowledge Sharing in Advising

“…These networked practices fill a larger gap in professional competency development among postsecondary educators. Unlike the student affairs chats (#sachat) that are organized as an informal learning resource (Guidry & Pasquini, 2013), the academic advising (#acadv) chat features specifics about the occupational role and designated responsibilities of academic advising, (Cronin, 2017) and acquire a greater understanding of the academic advising role in higher education. They express interest in openly contributing and sharing knowledge with other academic advising professionals.…”

“…We built upon previous empirical work to examine the way structured Twitter chats provide online professional development within a community. Guidry and Pasquini (2013) shared the #sachat case study of student affairs educators using a hashtag for nonformal learning during weekly moderated chats and nonscheduled chat time to discuss trends, issues, and ideas for campus support services. Ford, Veletsianos, and Resta (2014) investigated an emergent social network, #PhDChat, and found that this organic community offers social and emotional advice, support, and resources for doctoral scholars.…”

“…Similar to researchers of previous studies (Beckingham et al, 2015;Ford et al, 2014;Gao & Li, 2017;Guidry & Pasquini, 2013;Veletsianos, 2017), we focused on the way academic advising professionals use a hashtag to conduct a synchronous Twitter chat and support a distributed network, that is, an interconnected group designed to share resources and accomplish a common goal, typically structured through Internet-based computing, for professional development. To better understand knowledge sharing and professional development activities of postsecondary educators on social media, we needed to see the way platforms are embedded into work-life experiences and practices over time.…”

Approaching informal learning about #feminism on Twitter

“…One of the most interesting features of social media in education is its possibility of interaction between users, as various studies prove that these generate IL communities of connected users, with possibilities to remain temporary or permanently in time (Carpenter et al, 2018;Ceron, 2018;Gilbert, 2016;Guidry and Pasquini, 2016).…”