Tony Ratcliffe presented on using microblogging (#PhDChat) within a personal learning environment. He introduced himself and his research agenda on personal learning environments and professional development. He defined personal learning environments and networks, and described how he uses Twitter for his PhD research, networking with others in #PhDChat weekly discussions. Ratcliffe argued that social media like Twitter can expand one's professional network and support community beyond just messaging.

1. Microblogging
(#PhDChat) within a Personal
Learning Environment
Research in Distance Education
Symposium (RIDES-12)
A.E. (Tony) Ratcliffe

2. The Plan
• Introduce self
• Introduce research agenda
• PLE and PLN
• Twitter
• #PhDChat
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3. A.E. (Tony) Ratcliffe
Athabasca University alumnus
• Bachelor of Administration, 1992
• Advanced Graduate Diploma in Distance
Education (Technology), 1999
• Master of Distance Education, 2002
• Converted to Master of Education in Distance
Education, 2012
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4. PhD Student (eLearning and
Learning Technologies)
Beyond Distance Research Alliance
Supervisors: Drs A. Armellini and P. Edirisingha
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5. Beyond Distance Research
Alliance
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6. Area of Study
• eLearning & Learning Technologies in informal and
self-directed work-based learning
• Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) in Continuing
Professional Development
• Digital literacies required for learners to develop
their PLEs in work-based learning
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7. What is a PLE?
• Depends who you talk to (or read)
• A concept or approach and/or a technology/tool
• Found many promoting as concept are just playing
it “lip service” (Fiedler & Väljataga, 2010)
• Concept, but need to recognise other positions
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8. PLE
• “Personal Learning Environments are not an
application but rather a new approach to the use
of technologies for learning…. the argument for the
use of Personal Learning environments is not
technical but rather is philosophic, ethical and
pedagogic” (Attwell, 2007).
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9. Anatomy of a PLE by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.
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10. PLN
“Personal learning networks are the sum of all social
capital and connections that result in the
development and facilitation of a personal learning
environment” (Couros, 2010, p. 125).
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11. What is Twitter?
Social media, Microblogging
Instant messaging
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12. Tweets
• Characteristics
• Access
• Status
• Communicate / share
• Private or public
• ’Back channel’
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13. #PhDchat
• Weekly 1 hour chat, Wednesdays at 7:30 pm UK
• Discussion question
• Informal chat continues
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14. Some topics
• Writing for a non-academic audience
• Developing skills for academic writing
• Gathering meaningful and useful data
• Reading and writing for literature review
• Choosing a focus for your study
• PhD study/work/life balance
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15. What’s in it for us?
• Professional networking, connections
• Support group
• Research tool
• Constant source of information
• Always ‘on’
• Research area
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16. More than just messaging
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17. Connecting around the
world
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18. We are not alone
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19. Not just Twitter
EMAIL WIKI
TWITTER
SKYPE FACE-TO-FACE
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20. http://phdchat.pbworks.co
m
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24. Twitter Resources
• Twitter Guide for
Academicshttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsci
ences/2011/09/29/twitter-guide/
• 10 Words Every Successful tweeter Needs to Know
http://www.thetop10blog.com/10-words-every-
successful-tweeter-needs-to-know/
• The birth of #PhDChat http://phdchat-
nasimariazat.blogspot.ca/2011/08/nasima-riazat-
doctoral-networking-forum.html?spref=tw
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25. References
• Attwell, G. (2007). Personal learning environments: The future of
eLearning? learningpapers. Retrieved from
http://www.elearningeuropa.info/
• Couros, A. (2010). Developing personal learning networks for open and social
learning. In G. Veletsianos (Ed.), Emerging technologies in distance education.
In T. Anderson (Series Ed.) Issues in Distance Education (pp. 109-128).
Edmonton, Canada: AU Press, Athabasca University. Retrieved from
http://www.aupress.ca/.
• Fiedler, S., & Väljataga, T. (2010). Personal learning environments: concept or
technology? Paper presented at the PLE Conference 2010, Barcelona.
Retrieved from http://pleconference.citilab.eu/wp-
content/uploads/2010/07/ple2010_submission_45.pdf
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