There are gender wars, and then there are casualties. It wasn’t until 2011 that the behemoth toymaker LEGO acknowledged girls’ desire to build with bricks, even though the company had long before made a seemingly effortless pivot to co-branding, video games, and major motion pictures. So it’s little wonder that girls face all-too-real obstacles when […]
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Twitter hashtags are useful for promoting your projects, learning about new topics, and discovering trends. But what hashtags to use? We’ve analyzed usage patterns for over a thousand hashtags used in education and outreach, and give you the best. Even if you are active on Twitter, some will be familiar to you, and some will be new.
List of the best hashtags for education and outreach…
- #edtech: Using technology in education, both theory and practice
- #elearning: Computer-based learning and remote study. Can include computers, kiosks, mobile devices
- #OER: Open educational resources for reuse and repurposing, e.g., textbooks in the Creative Commons license
- #crowdsource: Delegating small tasks to a large group. Both business and outreach uses
- #STEM: Promoting knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. See also #scied.
- #OpenAccess & #OA: Projects that deliver free, immediate, open access to research online (Nice intro video)
- #mlearning: Learning mobile apps and devices. Contrasts with “elearning” above
- #edreform, #edpolitics, & #edpolicy: Discussions of educational reform, policy and politics
- #ece: Promoting and discussing early childhood education, see also #earlyed
- #mtogo: Museums exploring the use of mobile, both in and out of their museum
- #dataviz: Data visualization, charts and graphs, information design
- #gbl: Game based learning. See also #gamification for broader uses in learning and commerce
- #commoncore & #ccss: Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
- #speced: Special education discussion and advocacy, see also #sped
- #museumed: Museum-based education, see also the lower traffic #mtogo for mobile-focused outreach
- #YouthSkillsWork: Youth and skills, often focused on developing countries
- #iPadEd & #iosedapp: Teachers and developers working with Apple iOS apps and eBooks
- #edcamp: Local, professional development conferences for K-12 educators, participant-driven (See Edcamp Foundation)
- #playoutdoors: Encouraging people to get outside. (Read about nature-rich society)
- #BlendedLearning: Course structures that blend of face-to-face and online learning environments
- #afterschoolworks: Promoting various types of after school programs for youth
- #museweb: Museums using the web in various ways
- #MOOCs: Massive open online courses, often free and not-for-credit, for thousands of students
- #HigherEd: Issues in higher education
- #edleadership & #edadmin: Views on leadership/administration in education
- #PBL: Project-based learning and tools
- #flipclass: In flipped classrooms, students learn lessons at home (often watching videos), and do assignments in class.
If hashtags are new to you, read this short orientation from Twitter about hashtags or read a short history.
There are many ways to use these hashtags. For example, if you are an app developer and have created a new educational app, you can use these hashtags to lurk in on discussions among your target audience, and include the hashtag in your tweets to increase the chance that influential educators find out about your project. Or if you’ve made a new video, try promoting it with #flipclass.
Direct to your audience
Aside from museums, most outreach organizations do not directly reach their audience via Twitter. In particular, if you create resources for students, you are likely to ultimately reach those students via their educators. Twitter is a convenient place to find out what those educators are talking about, try to get your project picked up by some influential Tweeters, or get some feedback.
Moreover, there is a vibrant, unorganized community of adult learners, self motivated to pursue new knowledge. Twitter is a useful watering hole for them as well, particularly if you use subject-oriented hashtags, such as: anthropology, Archaeology, art, ArtHistory, astronomy, autism, bilingual, BlackHistoryMonth, books, Brain, Breastfeeding, cern, climate, climatechange, Creativity, Culture, dinos, Dinosaurs, diy, dyslexia, earth, engagement, environment, Fossils, health, history, homeschooling, Imagination, journalism, kids, literature, microbiology, NASASocial, neuroscience, painting, Paleontology, photography, physics, Picasso, poetry, Psychology, read, reading, Refuge, religion, research, science, scientists, sculpture, Sociology, space, specialneeds, telescope, toxicology, and Writing.
Source: We compiled a list of over one thousand hashtags which appear among popular education, outreach, literacy, museum, and e-learning Twitter feeds, plus the accounts which @IDEA_org follows, and this list in a live Google Doc from Chiew Pang (@aClilToClimb). We ranked the hashtags based on the multiple scoring factors, including signal-to-noise, relevance to education and outreach, the number of times the hashtag was Tweeted on Friday, 26-October (volume), the total number of times the hashtag was delivered to Twitter timelines (exposure), and the number of people using the hashtag.