#FYCchat – A Case-Study of Connected Learning and Educators

Lee Skallerup Bessette, University of Kentucky

Abstract

In January 2011, #FYCchat held its first Twitter chat. Created to connect those teaching Freshman Writing, #FYCchat became a powerful tool for collaborative learning, professional development, reciprocal mentoring, and community formation. The following essay explores the origins of the chat, theories around Twitter chats for educational professional development, and a close reading of one #FYCchat around the topic of community and collaboration.

We have opened up this article as an experiment in collaborative, open peer-review. JITP has always been committed first and foremost to teaching and learning, and we intended that the journal itself—both in process and in product—provide opportunities to reveal, reflect on, and revise academic publication and classroom practice. We are so grateful to Lee Skallerup Bessette for allowing her article to be part of this experiment that we hope will reveal and reflect on the peer review process in order to develop a model for better pedagogy in professional practice.  Continue reading, and participate in the conversation.

About the Author

Lee Skallerup Bessette is Faculty Instructional Consultant at the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) at the University of Kentucky. Her interests include Digital Pedagogy, Connected Learning, and Student-Centered Pedagogy. She has a PhD in Comparative Literature and is also interested in translation, both literal and figurative in literature and in education. She blogs at College Ready Writing and you can find her on Twitter as @readywriting.