Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
SlideShare a Scribd company logo

Angela Ayois: Twitter for Teaching Corporate Social Responsibility

•
•
Chris Evans
Chris Evans

The document discusses how Twitter has become an important platform for conducting "vigorous multidimensional conversations" among professionals in various fields including business ethics. It notes that within specialized communities on Twitter, credible experts curate information on important issues in their field through retweets. In contrast to one-way information searches, Twitter allows participants to actively engage in ongoing discussions within their virtual professional networks. The author has used Twitter to facilitate discussions about CSR/sustainability topics outside of class, to provide up-to-date materials and ideas to students. Student responses have been mixed, with some actively engaging while others prefer not to use social media.

Related slideshows

Digital Identity & Social Networking for Researchers
Digital Identity & Social Networking for ResearchersDigital Identity & Social Networking for Researchers
Digital Identity & Social Networking for Researchers
 
Beyond facebook
Beyond facebookBeyond facebook
Beyond facebook
 
My BU New Media Fall 2015 Class Slides - 1st Half
My BU New Media Fall 2015 Class Slides - 1st HalfMy BU New Media Fall 2015 Class Slides - 1st Half
My BU New Media Fall 2015 Class Slides - 1st Half
 
1 of 9
Learning through doing – sage on the stage or guide at the side in the information revolution?
 “A lot has changed since 2005. For one, the ethics blogosphere is more crowded — or should I say, more fruitful — than it was 6 years ago. The business-ethics blogosphere now includes blogs by ethics/CSR professors… as well as blogs by profs from neighbouring fields... It also includes journalists … consultants. And, significantly, the ethics/CSR blogosphere is now knitted together, you might say, by a vigorous multidimensional Twitter conversation.”  Chris McDonald, http://businessethicsblog.com, 20 November 2011
 Twitter allows you to broadcast and receive messages – called tweets – on your computer or mobile phone of 140 characters or less  All those who ‘follow’ you can see your messages, and you receive messages from all those whom you follow in a permanent feed or ‘timeline’. This forms an ongoing ‘conversation’  Twitter is a public forum, any tweet you make becomes public and can be read by anyone, even if they do not ‘follow’ you – they can join your ‘conversation’ at any time, but followers receive a feed of anything you do tweet, while non-followers may pick up your tweets through specific searches
 Twitter has gained a bad reputation based on the misunderstanding that all messages are ‘stupefyingly trivial’, fed by the ‘celebrity age’ in which the famous tweet on what they just ate for breakfast or what bash they are attending that evening, to adoring, vacant fans.  Also, people frequently raise the objection that nothing worth saying can be said in 140 characters  This is a considerable distance from Chris McDonald’s community of professionals, experts and enthusiasts “knitted together… by a vigorous multidimensional conversation”
 The true value of Twitter is cumulative and community-based. In much the same way that one goes to conferences and networks, one does it instead virtually with peers in one’s own field who would not necessarily be reachable in any other way.  Rather than scroll through endless newspaper articles or Google searches for up-to-date information and items in one’s specialist area, it is all available in one source within a community that basically peer-reviews itself for credibility.  Those who have nothing credible or useful to say in their own field either do not get followed, or do not get ‘retweeted’ – this is the compliment that you tweet something, and someone else finds it sufficiently interesting to ‘retweet’ it – ie send it on to their followers.  It is very heartening when someone else’s ‘follower’ contacts you over an item you tweeted to begin with. You feel part of something much bigger than – a ‘knitted’ community of shared interests.
 To illustrate the relevance to modern business of CSR/sustainability for undergraduate and post- graduate students in Brunel Business School  To evidence the diversity of CSR/sustainability issues – in effect, most business issues contain such an element  To set out KEY issues – the fact I have chosen to ‘retweet’ an item means I know from experience it is significant, capturing the ‘tenor’ of this community  To set up-to-date personal study work, videos, news items, blogs and so on, for discussion in class  140 characters turns out to be an EXCELLENT discipline to capture the core of an issue in a digestible way  To pump-prime student dissertation ideas
 Follow me on Twitter.  But they don’t have to, as via the #hashtag, all tweets related to my modules feed through to Blackboard for non-followers.  ‘Actively’ or ‘constructively’ engage with the materials, as these are usually current news (or academic) items relevant to the conceptual areas we are covering in class.  At the start of class, I go through the week’s feed for discussion. Storify is useful for this.  If I have set a theme for them to consider in- depth, I set up a discussion section on Blackboard… however this is rarely used So we start class with a discussion on it.
 POSITIVES  Some boast to their friends about their ‘cool’ lecturer who tweets.  A core of students will use it to communicate with me about with questions on the modules, or to discuss or send me news items, they are thrilled if I retweet them. This can lead to extended conversations.  To make fun of me, eg I post a lot of current materials and inform students via Twitter of what is up on Blackboard, one student has made some very amusing posts this year.  LESS POSITIVE  ‘I work as well as study and don’t have time for social media’.  ‘I signed up to Twitter for this’ on little-used lecturer accounts.  They rarely engage with the discussion section I direct them to.  Thy may use it to actually complain (not necessarily a negative!), eg H001 was freezing which made it onto Twitter. Also for late release of grades or anything else they are unhappy about.
 Is Twitter or even flipped learning correct for all countries and cultures? EG is there a Chinese equivalent we should be using, and is a flipped environment too challenging for eg high power distance cultures?  Does this do anything to address the ‘tail end’ of under-achievers? This is a potential considerable benefit of flipped teaching.  Beware of seeing this as a substitute for face-to-face contact, effort must be put into Twitter to develop relationships both with peers and with students.

More Related Content

Angela Ayois: Twitter for Teaching Corporate Social Responsibility

  • 1. Learning through doing – sage on the stage or guide at the side in the information revolution?
  • 2.  “A lot has changed since 2005. For one, the ethics blogosphere is more crowded — or should I say, more fruitful — than it was 6 years ago. The business-ethics blogosphere now includes blogs by ethics/CSR professors… as well as blogs by profs from neighbouring fields... It also includes journalists … consultants. And, significantly, the ethics/CSR blogosphere is now knitted together, you might say, by a vigorous multidimensional Twitter conversation.”  Chris McDonald, http://businessethicsblog.com, 20 November 2011
  • 3.  Twitter allows you to broadcast and receive messages – called tweets – on your computer or mobile phone of 140 characters or less  All those who ‘follow’ you can see your messages, and you receive messages from all those whom you follow in a permanent feed or ‘timeline’. This forms an ongoing ‘conversation’  Twitter is a public forum, any tweet you make becomes public and can be read by anyone, even if they do not ‘follow’ you – they can join your ‘conversation’ at any time, but followers receive a feed of anything you do tweet, while non-followers may pick up your tweets through specific searches
  • 4.  Twitter has gained a bad reputation based on the misunderstanding that all messages are ‘stupefyingly trivial’, fed by the ‘celebrity age’ in which the famous tweet on what they just ate for breakfast or what bash they are attending that evening, to adoring, vacant fans.  Also, people frequently raise the objection that nothing worth saying can be said in 140 characters  This is a considerable distance from Chris McDonald’s community of professionals, experts and enthusiasts “knitted together… by a vigorous multidimensional conversation”
  • 5.  The true value of Twitter is cumulative and community-based. In much the same way that one goes to conferences and networks, one does it instead virtually with peers in one’s own field who would not necessarily be reachable in any other way.  Rather than scroll through endless newspaper articles or Google searches for up-to-date information and items in one’s specialist area, it is all available in one source within a community that basically peer-reviews itself for credibility.  Those who have nothing credible or useful to say in their own field either do not get followed, or do not get ‘retweeted’ – this is the compliment that you tweet something, and someone else finds it sufficiently interesting to ‘retweet’ it – ie send it on to their followers.  It is very heartening when someone else’s ‘follower’ contacts you over an item you tweeted to begin with. You feel part of something much bigger than – a ‘knitted’ community of shared interests.
  • 6.  To illustrate the relevance to modern business of CSR/sustainability for undergraduate and post- graduate students in Brunel Business School  To evidence the diversity of CSR/sustainability issues – in effect, most business issues contain such an element  To set out KEY issues – the fact I have chosen to ‘retweet’ an item means I know from experience it is significant, capturing the ‘tenor’ of this community  To set up-to-date personal study work, videos, news items, blogs and so on, for discussion in class  140 characters turns out to be an EXCELLENT discipline to capture the core of an issue in a digestible way  To pump-prime student dissertation ideas
  • 7.  Follow me on Twitter.  But they don’t have to, as via the #hashtag, all tweets related to my modules feed through to Blackboard for non-followers.  ‘Actively’ or ‘constructively’ engage with the materials, as these are usually current news (or academic) items relevant to the conceptual areas we are covering in class.  At the start of class, I go through the week’s feed for discussion. Storify is useful for this.  If I have set a theme for them to consider in- depth, I set up a discussion section on Blackboard… however this is rarely used So we start class with a discussion on it.
  • 8.  POSITIVES  Some boast to their friends about their ‘cool’ lecturer who tweets.  A core of students will use it to communicate with me about with questions on the modules, or to discuss or send me news items, they are thrilled if I retweet them. This can lead to extended conversations.  To make fun of me, eg I post a lot of current materials and inform students via Twitter of what is up on Blackboard, one student has made some very amusing posts this year.  LESS POSITIVE  ‘I work as well as study and don’t have time for social media’.  ‘I signed up to Twitter for this’ on little-used lecturer accounts.  They rarely engage with the discussion section I direct them to.  Thy may use it to actually complain (not necessarily a negative!), eg H001 was freezing which made it onto Twitter. Also for late release of grades or anything else they are unhappy about.
  • 9.  Is Twitter or even flipped learning correct for all countries and cultures? EG is there a Chinese equivalent we should be using, and is a flipped environment too challenging for eg high power distance cultures?  Does this do anything to address the ‘tail end’ of under-achievers? This is a potential considerable benefit of flipped teaching.  Beware of seeing this as a substitute for face-to-face contact, effort must be put into Twitter to develop relationships both with peers and with students.