Engaging in Discourse About Your Work
I have searched high and low for the magic sauce. I haven't found it yet. I want the ingredient that makes community flourish in the online classes I teach.
I blamed the LMS. Studnets just worked through assignments and if you said post and respond twice. That is exactly what they did.
I realized it is in't the LMS that suck it was me.I tried every configuration of tools to try and crowbar "social" in. No matter the format my class ended up looking like a pinterest board of student assignments. I could have just taught via email.
I realized what my students were missing was a model of federated and distributed discourse. In the class I give no minimums of how many posts and how many replies. It seems contrite. So this iteration I have told my students I expect interaction. They simply will not do well if they just post their completed assignments. Engagement is required...but I did not provide support.
That is the purpose of this post. Look at how social media engagement occurs in the wild
In the tweets below you will find the conversation threads surrounding this post.
Here are my tips to engage with others:
- Be proud of what you write and make
- Share it out across networks. It is okay to share posts beyond class
- Invite discussion (But don't end posts with "What do you think? Just leave a comment." That's cheesy)
- Share more than a link. Tell my why your post is important. Why should I care.
- Pictures included with social media increase engagement.
@jgmac1106 Don't we use one to evaluate the other? I first share my writing from my website out into different social media channels. My post goes to Twitter, Facebook, and Google+...but most action occurs on Twitter (because that is where I live).
#edtechchat #connectedlearning— Stephanie Loomis (@MrsLoomis) August 2, 2015RT @jgmac1106: New blog post: Practices & #Participatory #Learning Environments http://t.co/hhZV7CJu2E #edchat #edtech #engchat
— Ron Donaldson (@rondon) August 2, 2015Some people engaged in conversation while others just sent the link out into further discussion.
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/clmooc?src=hash">#clmooc"“What practices should our learning spaces require and reinforce?” | Important, insightful via @jgmac1106 #satchat https://t.co/PtLFNK3XTd
— Colleen Worrell (@cdworrell) August 2, 2015
@jgmac1106 can't argue with that!
— Stephanie Loomis (@MrsLoomis) August 2, 2015
You want to not simply post your work but live it. Have an emotional attachment to your ideas and your words. Discuss what you write and watch it travel.
I then pinged people in my network I knew who would be either interested or willing to challenge my ideas. Hopefully both.
@dajbelshaw @epilepticrabbit Both of your fingerprints are all over my thinking in this one: http://t.co/qBlnwosSYz
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 2, 2015
Some left comments on the blog.
@jgmac1106 comment away...well, maybe the bomb metaphor is inapt, but the bomb bay doors are open so I might as well.
— Terry Elliott (@telliowkuwp) August 3, 2015
@jgmac1106 @telliowkuwp @EduQuinn @NomadWarMachine @JeffreyKeefer @yinbk in cases of visible learning, possibly :)
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) August 3, 2015
@NomadWarMachine @telliowkuwp @EduQuinn @JeffreyKeefer @GoogleGuacamole @yinbk I was thinking of you when I wrote the annotation
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 3, 2015
@GoogleGuacamole @NomadWarMachine Devils Advocate: but do all practices project meaning and thereby become performance.
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 3, 2015
@jgmac1106 Not suggesting this is bad, merely suggesting answer to the question :) @NomadWarMachine
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) August 3, 2015
@NomadWarMachine @GoogleGuacamole @telliowkuwp @EduQuinn @JeffreyKeefer @yinbk all of this because I sent wrong link. Love serendipity.
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 3, 2015
@NomadWarMachine: "I dropped collaborate because learning never occurs alone" Tinkering? @jgmac1106 @GoogleGuacamole @JeffreyKeefer @yinbk
— Dave Quinn (@EduQuinn) August 4, 2015
@jgmac1106 @EduQuinn @GoogleGuacamole @JeffreyKeefer @yinbk say more?
— Sarah Honeychurch (@NomadWarMachine) August 5, 2015
@jgmac1106 @NomadWarMachine @EduQuinn @GoogleGuacamole @yinbk Can't help but think an #ANTheory analysis of the #rhizome could alter it more
— Jeffrey Keefer (@JeffreyKeefer) August 5, 2015
@EduQuinn @NomadWarMachine @GoogleGuacamole @JeffreyKeefer @yinbk There was always some model, I did place learn under the domain of "self"
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 5, 2015
@JeffreyKeefer @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 @EduQuinn @GoogleGuacamole ditto. almost feels like it needs a hashtag ;-) to follow
— Yin Wah Kreher (@yinbk) August 5, 2015
@jgmac1106 performance automatically speaks to assessment. beware Greg McVerry of the unintended power of alliteration :) @NomadWarMachine
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) August 3, 2015
@jgmac1106 i'm favoriting this bc I have to step out of the stream to write - but will read later today :) @NomadWarMachine
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) August 3, 2015
Then some folks really wanted us to annotate the piece.
@jgmac1106 Angry Walter rising.... pic.twitter.com/ezjBLrxeh1
— Terry Elliott (@telliowkuwp) August 3, 2015
This brought in the interest of the Hypothesis Team
@jgmac1106 @telliowkuwp Image annotation is an important goal for us. We'll take this as a vote of support. cc @judell
— Hypothes.is (@hypothes_is) August 3, 2015
@hypothes_is @jgmac1106 @judell would like something like this: https://t.co/KgTt3wov2E They also have similar video annotation.
— Terry Elliott (@telliowkuwp) August 3, 2015
Some people then shared their own work to back up their claims or challenge my claims.
@jgmac1106 @GoogleGuacamole @telliowkuwp @EduQuinn @JeffreyKeefer @yinbk no learning occurs alone? http://t.co/uSGNusllj7 cd be wrong though
— Sarah Honeychurch (@NomadWarMachine) August 3, 2015
@NomadWarMachine @GoogleGuacamole @telliowkuwp @EduQuinn @JeffreyKeefer @yinbk Some song serves as your mentor text, a platform you copy
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 3, 2015
@jgmac1106 @GoogleGuacamole @telliowkuwp @EduQuinn @JeffreyKeefer @yinbk yup - think there's a diff between alone & private as well?
— Sarah Honeychurch (@NomadWarMachine) August 3, 2015
We discussed research and assessment methods
@JeffreyKeefer @telliowkuwp @EduQuinn @NomadWarMachine @GoogleGuacamole @yinbk got sick of 21st century skills and people trying to assess
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 5, 2015
@yinbk @JeffreyKeefer @NomadWarMachine @GoogleGuacamole and these gains in procedural and conditional growth surface in space and place
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 5, 2015
@jgmac1106 I think you can see it through discourse analysis - HOW students choose to communicate @yinbk @JeffreyKeefer @NomadWarMachine
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) August 5, 2015
@jgmac1106 @JeffreyKeefer @NomadWarMachine @GoogleGuacamole I think this is the focus of DBR - design-based research
— Yin Wah Kreher (@yinbk) August 5, 2015
@jgmac1106 @JeffreyKeefer @NomadWarMachine @GoogleGuacamole I wld try out certain ped goal in certain lrng conditions to foster 4 practices
— Yin Wah Kreher (@yinbk) August 5, 2015
We debated the boundaries of action, thought, knowledge, and assessment.
@GoogleGuacamole @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 @telliowkuwp @EduQuinn @yinbk Thinking; can a performance and practice occur in isolation?
— Jeffrey Keefer (@JeffreyKeefer) August 5, 2015
@NomadWarMachine private practices (such as sexual?) purposely kept out of public? @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 @telliowkuwp @EduQuinn @yinbk
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) August 5, 2015
@jgmac1106 I disagree. Seems too reductionist for you Greg. You had coffee yet? :) @NomadWarMachine @JeffreyKeefer
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) August 5, 2015
@GoogleGuacamole @NomadWarMachine @JeffreyKeefer and the more coffee I have the more positivist I become, start to want to count everything
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 5, 2015
@jgmac1106 ok. But ultimately it's what the learner takes away from space. What we intend only goes so far @NomadWarMachine @JeffreyKeefer
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) August 5, 2015
@jgmac1106 @GoogleGuacamole Even learners can't truly know what they know. Knowing that v knowing how (Ryle) for e.g
— Sarah Honeychurch (@NomadWarMachine) August 5, 2015
@NomadWarMachine @GoogleGuacamole Yet I think if we assess space and tsystem for these practices better served than test performance of one
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 5, 2015
@jgmac1106 ah. Yes, well, that's dumb. @NomadWarMachine
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) August 5, 2015
@NomadWarMachine @GoogleGuacamole Do not have to be mutually exclusive.
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 5, 2015
We kicked people off the boat
@NomadWarMachine agree 100% with you there. Who do we kick off the thread, lol. @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 @telliowkuwp @EduQuinn @yinbk
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) August 5, 2015
@telliowkuwp @GoogleGuacamole @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 @EduQuinn @yinbk :O
— Sarah Honeychurch (@NomadWarMachine) August 5, 2015
@MrsLoomis @NomadWarMachine @telliowkuwp @GoogleGuacamole @JeffreyKeefer @EduQuinn @yinbk Fine we will use hashtag #SaveTerry
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) August 5, 2015
