Flexible Professional Learning Networks: Teachers Turn to #Edchat During Pandemic-Disrupted Education

• In Event: Social Opportunity Spaces: How Social Media Can Inform/Shape Educational Policy Processes

Abstract

Social media use has spiked worldwide during the COVID-19 health crisis as people reach for news, information, and social connections. Research on professional learning networks has shown that teachers use social media to connect with others to find resources and supports for teaching (e.g., Trust et al., 2016). Here, we examine the hashtag #Edchat, one of the longest ongoing educational conversations on Twitter, receiving tens of thousands of tweets monthly. This study inquires: To what extent have #Edchat activity levels changed during COVID-19? To what extent have #Edchat topics of conversation been co-opted by COVID-19? What questions are #Edchat participants asking their social network during COVID-19?
Using mixed methods, we analyzed Twitter #Edchat during the COVID-19 pandemic, March 1-May 31, 2020. For comparison, we also examined the same three-month time span a year earlier. We collected 332,067 #Edchat tweets from 2019 and 257,703 from 2020. We used R to computationally analyze the data and took a random sample of 300 question tweets from 2020 for qualitative content analysis.
Twitter #Edchat activity was lower in spring 2020 than in 2019, a decrease largely accounted for by fewer retweets in 2020; the percentage of original and question tweets, however, remained constant. 32.32% of all tweets in 2019 were original tweets, compared to 35.62% in 2020. Similarly, 14.52% of original tweets in 2019 contained questions, versus 14.05% in 2020. #Edchat discourse was indeed partially co-opted for COVID-related content. The frequency of 25 of the 100 most common #Edchat hashtags increased by 50% or more from 2019 to 2020, most notably, hashtags directly related to the pandemic (e.g., #covid19) and disrupted modes of teaching and learning (e.g., #remotelearning). A quarter of 2020 #Edchat original tweets contained these hashtags. #Edchat tweeters asked questions related to exchanging teaching-related advice (37%); sharing news, blogs, or articles (23%); promoting products (22%); and socializing (18%). Teaching-related questions increased from March to May, 2020 and largely connected to COVID-19 (56%). These questions fell mainly into two categories: teaching remotely (e.g., “2 rules for teachers starting online learning: 1. Keep it SIMPLE. 2. Don't reinvent the wheel. What other rules do you feel should be included?”), and teaching with technology (e.g., “Scale of 1 (too easy) -10 (too difficult), how hard is using StoryMaps for high school students? And, how have you used it in your classroom?”).
These findings illuminate how the pandemic is impacting education professionals, evidenced through their social media activity, type of information shared, and questions asked on Twitter. The shift in the content of #Edchat tweets and questions toward remote learning and teaching with technology themes reflect a form of flexible, just-in-time professional development useful to teachers during disrupted times (Greenhalgh & Koehler, 2017). These insights are valuable for policy makers and educational leaders who seek to discern educators’ needs as they critically reflect on national educational technology priorities and plans.

Authors

• Bret Staudt Willet, Florida State University

• Sarah Galvin, Michigan State University

• Christine M. Greenhow, Michigan State University