This document discusses using social media, specifically Twitter, to develop a personal learning network (PLN) and engage in professional development. It describes the weekly #LTHEchat Twitter chat where educators discuss topics related to learning and teaching in higher education. The chat provides opportunities for speedy continuing professional development. Participants have found value in networking, accessing resources, showcasing work, and gaining new skills and opportunities through their involvement in the #LTHEchat community.

1. Using social media to create
your own professional
development and PLN
Sue Beckingham NTF @suebecks
Invited speaker

2. Using social media to create your own professional
development and PLN
My presentation will consider the importance as an educator of developing a
personal learning network (PLN) and the ways social media can contribute to your
own professional development. Drawing upon the weekly Learning and Teaching in
HE twitter chat (known as #LTHEchat) as an exemplar, I will share what members of
this community have valued as participants and for some being volunteer
members of the LTHEchat organising team.
https://xot.futureteacher.eu/play.php?template_id=4#socialmedia

3. Couros, 2006
The Networked Teacher
The Typical Teacher Network
Couros, 2010
Developing my Personal Learning Network (PLN)

4. Beckingham, S. (2011) 2011 Two heads are better than one
https://www.slideshare.net/suebeckingham/two-heads-are-better-than-one
My early PLN toolbox

5. Conference
Presenter
Conference
Conference
Begin by observing others use of social media
Use of social media at a conference
Conference
Presenter

6. https://www.slideshare.net/suebeckingham/
2011
Use of SlideShare
First keynote invite
After following @drdjwalker on
Twitter who was at the Spring
SEDA Conference we planned this
remotely and met for the first time
in Nov 2011 to present together

8. Takes place every Wednesday 8-9pm
@LTHEchat #LTHEchat
The last Wednesday of the month Advance HE lead the chat
@AdvanceHE_chat #AdvanceHE_chat
There have been 248 LTHEchats
Each week a guest volunteers to suggest a topic, provide six
questions and write a blog post https://lthechat.com/
The tweets during the hour are curated using Wakelet
https://wakelet.com/@LTHEchat
Three volunteers make up the organising team each
semester
248

9. Engage in speedy CPD where you can discuss a wise range of
topics relating to learning and teaching in HE
Volunteer as a guest to lead a #LTHEchat
Become a member of the organising team for a semester
Become a mentor for the current organising team
Aspire to attain the Golden Tweeter award
The badge artwork was created by the very talented Artist Ellie Livermore.

10. “The community of practice that you have
led has given me an opportunity to interact
with many people in the UK and globally,
and leads me to all sorts of really useful
resources.”
Professor Phil Race
“The #LTHEchat has given me a fantastic opportunity to
expand and develop my personal learning network. It has
also challenged me to consider what I do and more
importantly why? Being part of the organising team has
given me the opportunity to learn new technical and
organisational skills. The #LTHEchat also provides a perfect
platform to highlight and celebrate innovative practice.”
Suzanne Faulkner

11. “For me being finding and taking part in the #LTHEchat has been
absolutely instrumental in my professional development. As a
participant I learn something new every time and also get the
opportunity to connect with and meet new people through a
shared love of learning and teaching. This has in turn led to many
opportunities that I wouldn’t have had other wise such as
working collaboratively with colleagues from other institutions.”
Deb Baff
“#LTHEchat means everything - it is a
pedagogical lifeline, an awesome
community, an inspiration and a
friendship place.”
Danielle Hinton

12. “Interacting with the #LTHEChat has helped me
meet and work with many people I would not
otherwise have encountered. Your leadership of
the community has been paramount because you
have fostered this lively interaction of the
practitioners with warmth, intelligence and
humanity.”
Professor Sally Brown
“I meet some lovely people, I get free CPD and when I was
an #LTHEchat guest I got the opportunity to showcase my
work on a national stage and went on to mentor an
organising team - all of that supported my own CPD and I
included a paragraph about the chat in my NTF
application.”
Dr Dawne Irving-Bell

13. “#LTHEchat is my counsel, my conscience and
my community.”
Professor Simon Lancaster
"I wouldn't have the knowledge now without being part of
the #LTHEchat community. It has supported my journey
from being a student to now as an academic - what I value
the most is the network, the opportunity to ask questions,
often the most naive questions where I wouldn't have
normally asked otherwise, and being in conversations with
those who have inspired me to keep going!“
Kiu Sum

14. https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/JSML/index
https://www.northampton.ac.uk/events/social-media-for-
learning-in-higher-education-conference-2022/
Further social media for learning CPD

15. National Teaching Repository
Follow @NTRepository
created by @belld17