Slide show to accompany webinar at ALTC Winter Conference

1. USING SOCIAL MEDIA DATA IN
LEARNING PRACTICE AND
RESEARCH
Frances Bell
http://francesbell.wordpress.com
Twitter @francesbell

2. CAN BIG DATA HELP IMPROVE
LEARNER PRACTICES?
Social media generate oceans of data via member contributions
and activity capture but this data is variably visible and usable by
different parties
When social media are used in learning and teaching, interested
parties include learners, teachers, learning technologists,
researchers and Social Networking Sites themselves
How can data from social media inform learner practice? as it is
happening, and through research that can inform future learner
and teacher practice

3. TAGS EXPLORER USED IN
PRACTICE
Interactive version
courtesy Martin Hawksey - data complete (ish), transparent - interactive

4. EXPLORING FACEBOOK GROUP
DATA VIA NETVIZZ AND GEPHI
link to demo video
Please click this link and watch video in a separate window – leaving your view to the
chat in Collaborate (no sound for first few seconds) – we’ll catch up in about 9 mins
I will try to answer questions in chat box
Also I will take questions at the end of the presentation

5. INFORMING LEARNER
PRACTICE
Returning to the question of how data from social media can inform learner practice?
Social Networking sites (SNS) share data according to their own imperatives
Apps such as TAGSExplorer can be used effectively within social media practice in
learning
Learners and teachers may not always have access to useful learner activity data and
content that exists beyond the stream
or they may not have skills or tools to use data they can access
Research that acknowledges visualisations and analysis of activity data needs to
complement this with qualitative contextual data for rich understanding and awareness
of limitations of data available from SNS

6. QUESTIONS?