Tweetchats, Personal Learning Networks and CPD.

Personal Learning Networks

Last summer Laurie Phipps got us thinking once again in response this time to the tweet from @EdTechPossum below. I started writing this post and then somehow the holidays followed by the autumn semester took over and it remained in draft. Now the start of a new year and just before I return to work, it was my intention to reflect on the past decade. Having re-discovered this draft I thought it was time to finish it.

Enough with your Tweetchats already! pic.twitter.com/lwgEkfFbBR

— Ed Tech Possum (@EdTechPossum) July 31, 2019

Tweetchats

Lawrie reached out to his connections to ask them what they felt about Tweetchats through Twitter and two Jiscmail lists. For the record a tweetchat is a conversation that takes place on Twitter with a bespoke hashtag. Usually a series of 5-8 questions over the space of an hour are posted with the hashtag to stimulate a discussion around a chosen topic. Participants include the hashtag in their answers. If you search for the tweetchat hashtag you then get to see the conversations taking place. 

Also I posted to a mailing list and had people feel the need to respond and assert that they don't do Twitter...

— Lawrie (@Lawrie) August 6, 2019

True to his word Lawrie did write this up titled 'Inspired by a Possum' and makes it clear that this is just a quick capture and is limited by the sample size and the nature of the collection. It made for an interesting read for different reasons. One was perceptions of what people liked or disliked about tweetchats and the other was around what personal development is considered to be.

Likes and dislikes

Unsurprisingly the respondents included ideas, feedback and opportunity to learn in relation to what they liked about tweetchats. During a tweetchat it is usual for participants to discuss and question, as well as to share links to further related resources. I frequently participate in tweetchats and always come away learning something. 

In answer to what was the main dislike, the responses included people not feeling they had a way in, and people wanting a way of breaking the ice or being introduced. As an introvert I often feel all of these in face to face group conversations. Whereas online I have gained confidence I think through observing how others interact and realised that it's fine to just jump in and contribute to the chat despite not knowing the people taking part. Perhaps more importantly it is also ok to take time to think and then respond as and when you wish to as a dialogue can take place over time. The time lapse to respond may just be a few minutes or it may be longer. You get to choose. 

Taking part in online small group webinars which involves real time conversations however does take me out of comfort zone. In these situations I often have to challenge myself to contribute. Facilitators like Maha Bali in the Virtually Connected online conversations have helped to draw me and many others into conversations and it makes such a difference. I need to think about how we could replicate this in tweetchats, to help people new to the concept find a way in. Asking people to introduce themselves just before the chat starts could be one way. The difference with the tweetchats is that unless you participate even if this is just a like or retweet, no-one knows you are even listening. 

Personal development

One of Lawrie's questions related to the timing of some of the cited tweetchats as these take place in the evening. He asked: Do you take the time “back”? (e.g. if you participate outside of working hours do you try and take some time off in lieu of participation). He specifically wanted to question why a CPD activity took place out of working hours. This surprised me as I have always taken the stand that my own personal development is something I choose to do and that this is different to the CPD training I am required to undertake as requested within my workplace. For example courses like fire awareness and unconscious bias, or as members of the Department Leadership team we all had to take a series of eight management development workshops. These are undertaken during work time. I would expect time in lieu if I was asked to take a work related course in the evening or over the weekend. 

For me my personal development is not always essential for my role, but it is something that continues to help me to grow as an individual. I do strongly believe that my online connections who I may or may not have met in person have contributed to my learning and therefore advocate the term 'personal learning network'. Many of my connections are just that - people I personally choose to connect with, interact with, and learn with. I hope over time I have also been able to contribute to others development in some small way. These conversations and learning opportunities mostly take place through Twitter. Tweetchats are just one example that contribute to my CPD. I frequently use my commute to and from work to catch up on news and through the use of Tweetdeck and the free version of Hootsuite, I can filter tweets by groups or hashtags, allowing me to focus on many different conversations. I choose when and what I want to engage with. 

For a long time now it has become second nature to share things I have found interesting by tweeting a link or retweeting what others have shared. I don't feel I have to engage constantly with others and refer to positive silent engagement (as opposed to the term 'lurking' which for me still has negative connotations) where I can choose to simply 'listen in'. As I have said many times, as children we all learned through listening and observing. It is no different online. 

It saddens me deeply that there are people that use these online spaces to spread hatred and misinformation. I hope in time there will be ways to eradicate this. It should go without saying, but if there are tweets in your stream that offend or upset you, then you can choose to unfollow those responsible, block accounts that you don't want following you, or mute conversation threads. This aside, I do feel it is important however to listen to different viewpoints and make my own decisions. I don't always agree with what others might say and yet I don't feel I have to make that known. 

My network includes people from many different countries and it is fascinating to learn about different cultures and also through shared interests. From a personal development perspective I think we can learn so much from each other through the sharing of our ongoing lifelong learning journeys. As an educator I gain so much from those who reflect on the process of that learning. I need to become a better open reflector and look up to the likes of Maren Deepwell and Sheila MacNeill. So in 2020 I must endeavour to do this and share more of my own learning experiences. 


Image credit: ijmaki from Pixabay free for use

Reflecting on my experiences of digital transient CPD #sedaconf #seda_nets

For some years now I have engaged in online CPD. My exploration of Twitter opened up a wide range of opportunities to engage in conversations with fellow educators and professionals in a wide variety of roles. 

My interest in social media and how it was being used by businesses was an eye opener. As a result I've engaged in numerous tweetchats with marketing specialists and recognised that this mode of communication opened up so many opportunities for interactive dialogue that went beyond text. The ability to link to other resources or add images, audio or video added a new richness. Being able to filter tweets through a shared hashtag opened up the opportunity to curate collections of tweets. My network grew as I connected with professionals sharing and discussing useful information. However this didn't happen overnight and as I often say a personal learning network is just that - personal. I have connections that add value to my own CPD, but these may not all be of value to everyone else, simply because we have different as well as potentially shared interests.

Over the last two years I have engaged in the weekly #LTHEchat - a weekly chat about topics relating to learning and teaching in higher education. Prior to that tweetchats in the online course Bring your own device for learning brought great value to the learning experience. They work and provide numerous opportunities to co-learn with others. Conferences provide another space to extend the conversations beyond the face to face. Last week I engaged with the SEDA Conference that was using the #sedaconf hashtag as a virtual participant. However what brought it alive was the organised tweetchat within a workshop. Andrew Middleton (@andrewmid) and Sue Moron-Garcia (@DrSueCELT) through Twitter invited people to join what was going to be a live chat the following day. They shared a specific hashtag #seda_nets and tweeted the time the chat would take place. I was thrilled as it fell between my teaching and I was able to block out the hour in my diary. I wasn't able to attend the full conference because of my teaching commitments this year and this gave me an opportunity to be a part of it. 


Reflecting on the experience

As a result of Andrew's post on weaving across the digital physical space and then the invite to myself and Chris Rowell (@Chri5rowell) to respond as digital participants to present our view from the other side of the physical-digital tweetchat - I was prompted to reflect on my experience. 

Chris reflected that his engagement with the workshop chat was purely serendipitous. He was on his way to a hospital appointment via public transport and had via his phone checked in to the SEDA conference hashtag #sedaconf. He picked up on one of Andrew's tweets and caught the additional hashtag linked with the proposed tweetchat. He was then able to reply to each of the questions. He used the retweet with comment option and nested his answer above each of the questions Andrew posted. This is a useful way to do this as it keeps the answer with the question, however you can't include images. 

For me the experience was immersive. I felt a sense of belonging with the group that were at the conference and in this workshop. Those there that also tweeted the answers to the questions (they had been given post-its), also interacted with myself and this led to interesting discussion around the topic shared.  

  
Why transient CPD is important

This short opportunity to engage in CPD through this tweetchat was valuable as

• It provided a space to discuss an interesting topic with people I may not have otherwise been introduced to. 
• Whilst the tweetchat is short-lived, I've been able to make new connections with whom I can continue the conversations if I choose to do so. 
• I didn't have to travel to a venue, and was able to take part in the space I was in at that time.
• The duration of the CPD activity was less than an hour and it fitted into my busy schedule. 
• The experience added value to my working day and I thoroughly enjoyed it.    

Why it can be difficult

Through sharing Andrew's blog post with our comments with my own network it stimulated discussion around personal space. I had shared that my CPD experience had been interrupted when a colleague had come into the office and asked to speak to me. Despite explaining that I wasn't able to at the moment as I was online, the person insisted on trying to tell me what he wished to discuss. 

I think the 'issue' was that it is hard to give the visual cues to demonstrate you are engaged in a CPD activity of this type. Had I been wearing headphones and engaging in a webinar this may have been more apparent. However this was a tweetchat and I was not actually taking to anybody but preparing to answer the question. My computer screen displayed a SlideShare presentation. I had been searching for an image in a prior presentation I had given that would help me to answer the first question. I felt rude saying I couldn't continue the discussion at that moment. Perhaps I should have been more explicit and said I was involved in a tweetchat, but at that time I didn't think this would have helped. 

I felt my space had been invaded at a point where I had given myself an hour to engage in CPD. As I mentioned a short discussion took place about this on Twitter last night. One person mentioned that she no longer took part in lunch time tweet chats, because of interruptions in her shared office space. So is it that we should move to another space to take part in this transient form of CPD or are there ways we can make it clear we are engaged online and prefer not to be disturbed? My office colleague suggested I put on my headset as a means of signalling this. I'd be interested in your thoughts and experiences.  

There's more to C in CPD

CPD is an acronym for continuing professional (or personal) development. CIPD (which is the professional body for HR and people development), offer competence and competency frameworks which look at the skills requirements of a job, however whilst each employee may have met a skills set to get the job, these need to be reviewed. This can be done through ongoing or continuing personal and professional development, which could include the development of both both hard and soft skills. CIPD define CPD as a means of building confidence and credibility.

The benefits of CPD aren't felt just when you’re going for promotion; you can see your progression by tracking your learning. CIPD

For many CPD is a way of maintaining the knowledge and skills that relate to our professional life. The learning we need to undertake can be formal and structured or informal and self-directed.

Jobs.ac.uk say that CPD

refers to the process of tracking and documenting the skills, knowledge and experience that you gain both formally and informally as you work, beyond any initial training. It's a record of what you experience, learn and then apply.

CPD therefore is not just what we learn, but how we apply this to develop our approaches to work, learning or research. Every individual's needs are different and the confidence each has in the various aspects of their working lives is unique. Only you can decide what additional CPD would be of benefit to you.

The Power of Positivity offers the 3 Cs of Life (as represented in the graphic at the head of this post):

• Choices
• Chances
• Changes

As a starting point for CPD we have the choice to take ownership of our own CPD. There are many opportunities or chances to engage in informal learning online, in addition to those offered formally by your place of work or study. Many are free and offer a wide choice of development areas that extend beyond your immediate development needs for undertaking the job you do. CPD can help you look at making changes to the way you approach daily tasks, the way you communicate or provide development of new skills opening opportunities to perhaps change your job or career.

Professor Norman Jackson looks at the ecology of development and the components of an individuals' learning ecologies. He suggests the components include our capability (everything I know and can do or I am capable of doing) and contexts (the spaces, places and situations we inhabit). Learning happens everywhere both within the workplace and throughout our daily lives. Jackson's book Learning for a Complex World: A Lifewide Concept of Learning, Education and Personal Development helps us to understand the value of lifewide learning integrating formal learning, informal learning, and life (which is often complex) beyond the campus. The concept of lifewide learning includes using social media in the social age of learning we now live in.

Douglas Thomas and John Seeley Brown have written a book titled 'A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change'. They argue that learning (and this can apply to CPD) is changing as we move from the industrialised model of formal education to new and innovative ways of social and informal education. Technology is a driver for this kind of learning and therefore our approach to CPD is constantly changing and evolving.

My colleague Chrissi Nerantzi and myself have developed a social and informal short 5 day open learning course called Bring Your Own Device for Learning which offers an inquiry based learning approach to discovering how we can use our smart devices for learning, teaching and research as a CPD activity. Within this we use our 5 Cs Framework which provides a focus for the daily activities. The 5 Cs focus on how we can make more of the mobile devices many of us carry in our pockets to connect and communicate with others; how we can collaborate and curate when learning, and the value of being creative in this process.

• Connecting
• Communicating
• Curating
• Collaborating
• Curating

MindTools offer 'The 7 Cs of Communication' which through open discussion has been extended to the 9 Cs of Communication. Both professionally and socially communication is part of all aspects of our daily lives. As individuals we need to develop the skills of communicating with others and the nine examples below are aspects to consider. Communication now extends beyond face to face and takes place in a wide range of digital forums including email and social media. We should seek to ensure our communication is:

• Clear
• Concise
• Concrete
• Correct
• Coherent
• Complete
• Courteous
• and these are further additions (thank you David Eddy)
• Credible
• Contextualised

An essential part of our CPD is developing our digital literacy capabilities.

Digital literacy defines those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society. 
(Helen Beetham)

Beetham says that defining a particular set of capabilities as a 'literacy' means that:

• they are a pre-requisite or foundation for other capabilities;
• they are critical to an individual's life chances;
• they are essential to the making and sharing of culturally significant meanings;
• as a result, there is or should be a society-wide entitlement to these capabilities at some level.

To add to this critical thinking, cultural awareness and cultural capital are also essential aspects to consider. We should not take everything at face value and critique what we find throughout our learning journey. It is important to respect that others we work or learn with and from may have different cultures, values and attitudes.

Cultural capital (Bourdieu) is simply defined by About Education:

Cultural capital is the ideas and knowledge that people draw upon as they participate in social life. Everything from rules of etiquette to being able to speak and write effectively can be considered cultural capital.

Routledge offer that: "According to Bourdieu, cultural capital comes in three forms - embodied, objectified, and institutionalized. One’s accent or dialect is an example of embodied cultural capital, while a luxury car or record collection are examples of cultural capital in its objectified state. In its institutionalized form, cultural capital refers to credentials and qualifications such as degrees or titles that symbolize cultural competence and authority."

We can therefore increase our cultural capital for example by undertaking and recording CPD activity which may lead to formal qualifications.

Doug Belshaw wrote his PhD thesis on digital literacies and argues that

We need to always talk about literacies in their plurality and that there are broadly eight essential elements to digital literacies.

Belshaw has written a book on the essential elements of digital literacies. He states that the definitions of these need to be co-created to have power. The 8 essential elements are:

• Cultural
• Cognitive
• Constructive
• Communicative
• Confident
• Creative
• Critical
• Civic

From my own perspective I have used social media channels such as LinkedIn and Twitter to develop a personal and professional learning network. Through engaging in discussions and conversations I have found a wealth of CPD and informal learning activities. You can find me on Twitter as @suebecks.

I hope this post offers sources of further reading for you to explore. I'd welcome any additional examples of other Cs that expand our understanding of CPD in the comments below.

This was blog post also posted on LinkedIn profile