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28 Days Later: Twitter Hashtags as “Just in Time” Teacher Professional Development

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A Correction to this article was published on 15 June 2019

An Erratum to this article was published on 10 March 2017

This article has been updated

Abstract

Researchers have argued that Twitter has potential to support high-quality professional development (PD) that can respond to teachers’ questions and concerns just in time and “on the spot.” Yet, very little attention has been paid to instances where Twitter has made just-in-time learning possible. In this paper, we examine one instance of timely professional development on Twitter, in which 3,598 users used an educational hashtag—#educattentats—to create a temporary affinity space supporting French teachers preparing to discuss recent terrorist attacks with their students. We describe this just-in-time PD by focusing on participants and modes of participation, the spread of the hashtag in its first hours and the growth and eventual decline of the hashtag over the course of 28 days. The results of this study suggest that #educattentats served effectively as just-in-time professional development for teachers. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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Change history

  • 15 June 2019

    Since this paper���s publication, it has come to our attention that two of the tables included in the paper were calculated using a slightly different dataset than the rest of our analysis.

  • 15 June 2019

    Since this paper���s publication, it has come to our attention that two of the tables included in the paper were calculated using a slightly different dataset than the rest of our analysis.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Josh Rosenberg and Sarah Gretter for their contributions to and advice for our analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education, Michigan State University, 447 Erickson Hall, 620 Farm Lane, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Spencer P. Greenhalgh

  2. Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education, Michigan State University, 509E Erickson Hall, 620 Farm Lane, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Matthew J. Koehler

Authors
  1. Spencer P. Greenhalgh
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  2. Matthew J. Koehler
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Correspondence to Spencer P. Greenhalgh.

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11528-017-0178-0.

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Greenhalgh, S.P., Koehler, M.J. 28 Days Later: Twitter Hashtags as “Just in Time” Teacher Professional Development. TechTrends 61, 273–281 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-016-0142-4

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