Twitter Chats

A Twitter chat is a scheduled conversation anchored by a hashtag that takes place on Twitter at a specific time. Each Twitter chat has a moderator who "hosts" the chat and provides questions to which participants answer. The questions are rolled out slowly over the course of an hour. Depending on the number of participants, Twitter chats can move slow or at lightning speeds. 

 

Suggested Twitter Chats

 #LTHEChat - Learning and Teaching in Higher Ed
A chat organized in the UK. Held weekly on Wednesdays at 1pm PT. Learn more about #LTHEChat here. Links to an external site.

#DLNChat - Digital Learning Network Chat
Organized by EdSurge, a popular chat for professors, instructional designers, educational technologists, and administrators. Learn more about #DLNChat here. Links to an external site.

Search for Twitter Chats

The Twitter Directory for Higher Education Links to an external site., curated by Inside Higher Education, is a good resource for finding Twitter chats to support your professional learning.

Participate in a Twitter Chat

  • If you haven't participated in a Twitter Chat before, @OneQube shares "10 tips to Twitter Chat like a pro Links to an external site.." For example, every tweet should include the Twitter Chat's hashtag, it's a good idea to introduce yourself, and start your answers with "A" and the question number (e.g., A1, A4).

Start your own Twitter Chat

  • Tools like TweetChat Links to an external site. make it easy to start your own Twitter Chat.
  • Here are some considerations related to conducting a Twitter Chat
    • Before: Whether you conduct a Twitter Chat just once as a special event or regularly as a recurring event, you'll want to advertise--early and often. Advertise to your anticipated audience if it's professional, or to your class if it's pedagogical. You can use Twitter to advertise in advance, but it's best to spread the word via multiple channels--tweet, send an announcement via your Learning Management System, send individual email messages, post to a listserv or discussion forum, or advertise on other social media (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram).
    • During: If you are the moderator, keep track of the time. Plan to pose between 5 and 7 questions over the course of an hour. Be sure to give people time to collect their thoughts and answer the questions. Just like "wait time" for classroom discussions, it's okay to let a little time go by even if no one has tweeted an answer yet.
    • After: Use tools like TweetChat’s FavePages and FavePage Stories to summarize a Twitter chats or even a collection of Tweets (related to a specific hashtag) over a longer period of time. If you don't want to get fancy, you can just summarize the ideas as a blog post. As an example, see Kevin Kelly's brief, written summary of takeaways from a #digped Twitter chat Links to an external site..