logo

Articles

Vol. 2 No. 3 (2022): Autoethnography in online doctoral education

An autoethnographic account of the use of Twitter for professional development by novice academic

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21428/8c225f6e.7355472b
Submitted
9 August 2026
Published
15-08-2026

Abstract

This paper presents an exploratory autoethnographic study of my use of Twitter to support my professional development. It investigated three research questions that focus on my approach to using Twitter, experiences and challenges, and management strategies. Using reflective narrative and data from my Twitter archive, five themes were developed using thematic, lexical, and social network analysis. These themes are: 1) constructing a personal learning network, 2) managing an evolving space, 3) serendipitous learning and staying in touch, 4) spontaneous engagement and opportunistic collaboration and 5) adopting helpful behaviours. These results suggest my use of Twitter evolved over time into a personal and networked space that has positively impacted my development as a novice academic. This networked space offered continuous opportunities for learning, collaboration and engagement. Though several challenges were experienced, deliberate strategies mitigated these challenges. While this study found similarities between my experiences and those of others from the literature, it offers potentially unique strategic insights into the use of Twitter for effective professional development.

References

  1. Acker, S., & Webber, M. (2017). Made to measure: Early career academics in the Canadian university workplace. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(3), 541-554.
  2. Adams, T. E., Ellis, C., & Jones, S. H. (2017). Autoethnography. The international encyclopedia of communication research methods, 1-11.
  3. Anderson, L. (2006). Analytic autoethnography. Journal of contemporary ethnography, 35(4), 373-395.
  4. Arnaboldi, V., Conti, M., Passarella, A., & Pezzoni, F. (2013, April). Ego networks in twitter: an experimental analysis. In 2013 Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM, 3459-3464.
  5. Austin, A. E., & Sorcinelli, M. D. (2013). The future of faculty development: Where are we going?. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2013(133), 85-97.
  6. Bali, M., Honeychurch, S., Hamon, K., Hogue, R.J., Koutropoulos, A., Johnson, S., Leunissen, R., & Singh, L. (2016) "What is it Like to Learn and Participate in Rhizomatic MOOCs? A Collaborative Autoethnography of #RHIZO14," Current Issues in Emerging eLearning: 3(1)
  7. Bardakcı, S., Arslan, Ö., & Ünver, T. K. (2018). How scholars use academic social networking services. Information Development, 34(4), 334-345.
  8. Behari-Leak, K. (2017). New academics, new higher education contexts: a critical perspective on professional development. Teaching in Higher Education, 22(5), 485-500.
  9. Bezuidenhout, L., Ratti, E., Warne, N., & Beeler, D. (2019). Docility as a primary virtue in Scientific Research. Minerva, 57(1), 67-84.
  10. Bond, M. A., & Lockee, B. B. (2018). Evaluating the effectiveness of faculty inquiry groups as communities of practice for faculty professional development. Journal of Formative Design in Learning, 1-7.
  11. Bozkurt, A., Honeychurch, S., Caines, A., Maha, B. A. L. I., Koutropoulos, A., & Cormier, D. (2016). Community tracking in a cMOOC and nomadic learner behavior identification on a connectivist rhizomatic learning network. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 17(4).
  12. Bozkurt, A, Koseoglu, S., & Singh, L. (2019). An analysis of peer reviewed publications on openness in education in half a century: Trends and patterns in the open hemisphere. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2019, 35(4).
  13. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
  14. Brown, T., & Sorrell, J. (2017). Challenges of novice nurse educator's transition from practice to classroom. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 12(3), 207-211.
  15. Buchem, I. (2011). Serendipitous learning: Recognizing and fostering the potential of microblogging. Form@ re-Open Journal per la formazione in rete, 11(74), 7-16.
  16. Carpenter, J. P., & Krutka, D. G. (2014). How and why educators use Twitter: A survey of the field. Journal of research on technology in education, 46(4), 414-434.
  17. Carpenter, J. P., & Krutka, D. G. (2015). Engagement through microblogging: Educator professional development via Twitter. Professional development in education, 41(4), 707-728.
  18. Carpenter, J. P., Kimmons, R., Short, C. R., Clements, K., & Staples, M. E. (2019). Teacher identity and crossing the professional-personal divide on twitter. Teaching and Teacher Education, 81, 1-12.
  19. Chang, H. (2016). Autoethnography as method. Abingdon: Routledge
  20. Costa, C. (2013). The habitus of digital scholars. Research in learning technology, 21.
  21. Dabbagh, N., & Kitsantas, A. (2012). Personal Learning Environments, social media, and self-regulated learning: A natural formula for connecting formal and informal learning. The Internet and higher education, 15(1), 3-8.
  22. Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L. (2016). Networked learning and problem and project-based learning–how they complement each other. In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Networked Learning,193-199.
  23. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The" what" and" why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268.
  24. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Motivation, personality, and development within embedded social contexts: An overview of self-determination theory. In R. M. Ryan (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of motivation, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  25. Derting, T. L., Ebert-May, D., Henkel, T. P., Maher, J. M., Arnold, B., & Passmore, H. A. (2016). Assessing faculty professional development in STEM higher education: Sustainability of outcomes. Science Advances, 2(3).
  26. Donelan, H. (2015). Social media for professional development and networking opportunities in academia. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 40(5), 706-729.
  27. Edwards, J. (2021). Ethical Autoethnography: Is it Possible?. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20, 1609406921995306.
  28. Ellis, C. (2007). Telling secrets, revealing lives: Relational ethics in research with intimate others. Qualitative inquiry, 13(1), 3-29.
  29. Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd edition, pp. 733–768). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  30. Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Bochner, A. P. (2011). Autoethnography: an overview. Historical social research/Historische sozialforschung, 273-290.
  31. Emke, M. (2019). Freelance language teachers' professional development on... and with... and through Twitter [Doctoral Dissertation, Open University].
  32. Evans, P. J. (2017). Precarious realities of professional learning: an analysis of professional chat events on Twitter [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Edinburgh].
  33. Ferman, T. (2002). Academic professional development practice: What lecturers find valuable. The International Journal for Academic Development, 7(2), 146-158.
  34. Ferguson, H., & Wheat, K. L. (2015). Early career academic mentoring using Twitter: the case of #ECRchat. Journal of higher education policy and management, 37(1), 3-13.
  35. Fitzmaurice, M. (2013). Constructing professional identity as a new academic: a moral endeavour. Studies in Higher Education, 38(4), 613-622.
  36. Flavell, H., Harris, C., Price, C., Logan, E., & Peterson, S. (2019). Empowering academics to be adaptive with eLearning technologies: An exploratory case study. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 35(1).
  37. Greenhow, C., Li, J., & Mai, M. (2019). From tweeting to meeting: Expansive professional learning and the academic conference backchannel. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(4), 1656-1672.
  38. Guest, I. F. (2018). Exploring teachers’ professional development with Twitter: A sociomaterial analysis (Doctoral dissertation, Sheffield Hallam University).
  39. Haddow G. & Hammarfelt B. (2019) “Early career academics and evaluative metrics: Ambivalence, resistance and strategies”. In: Cannizzo, F & Osbaldiston, N. (Eds) The social structures of global academia. London: Routledge.
  40. Hansen, D., Shneiderman, B., & Smith, M. A. (2010). Analyzing social media networks with NodeXL: Insights from a connected world. Amsterdam: Morgan Kaufmann.
  41. Heffernan, T. A., & Heffernan, A. (2019). The academic exodus: the role of institutional support in academics leaving universities and the academy. Professional Development in Education, 45(1), 102-113.
  42. Hodgson, V., Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L., & McConnell, D. (2012). Exploring the Theory, Pedagogy and Practice of Networked Learning. Springer.
  43. Hodgson, V., & McConnell, D. (2019). Networked learning and postdigital education. Postdigital Science and Education, (1), 43-64.
  44. Hogue, R. J., Keefer, J. M., Bali, M., Hamon, K., Koutropoulos, A., Leunissen, R., & Singh, L. (2018). Pioneering Alternative Forms of Collaboration. Current Issues in Emerging eLearning, 4(1), 8.
  45. Hollywood, A., McCarthy, D., Spencely, C., & Winstone, N. (2020). ‘Overwhelmed at first’: the experience of career development in early career academics. Journal of further and higher education, 44(7), 998-1012.
  46. Honeychurch, S., Bozkurt, A., Singh, L., & Koutropoulos, A. (2017). Learners on the Periphery: Lurkers as Invisible Learners. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (EURODL). 20(1), 191-211.
  47. Hughes, K. (2018). The use of Twitter for continuing professional development within occupational therapy. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 1-13.
  48. Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., Cody, R., Stephenson, B. H., Horst, H. A., ... & Perkel, D. (2009). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out: Kids living and learning with new media. MIT press.
  49. Jefferis, T. J. (2016). Leading the conversation the use of Twitter by school leaders for professional development as their careers progress (Doctoral dissertation, University of Birmingham).
  50. Jordan, K. (2019). From finding a niche to circumventing institutional constraints: Examining the links between academics’ online networking, institutional roles, and identity-trajectory. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 20(2).
  51. Jordan, K., & Weller, M. (2018). Academics and social networking sites: Benefits, problems and tensions in professional engagement with online networking. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2018(1).
  52. Kiffer, S., & Tchibozo, G. (2013). Developing the Teaching Competences of Novice Faculty Members: a review of international literature. Policy Futures in Education, 11(3), 277-289.
  53. Kimmons, R., & Veletsianos, G. (2016). Education scholars’ evolving uses of twitter as a conference backchannel and social commentary platform. British Journal of Educational Technology, 47(3), 445-464.
  54. Kop, R. (2012). The unexpected connection: Serendipity and human mediation in networked learning. Educational Technology & Society, 15(2), 2–11.
  55. Kop, R., & Hill, A. (2008). Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past?. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 9(3).
  56. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (2001). Legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice. In Supporting lifelong learning (pp. 121-136). Routledge.
  57. Lee, M. K., Yoon, H. Y., Smith, M., Park, H. J., & Park, H. W. (2017). Mapping a Twitter scholarly communication network: a case of the association of internet researchers’ conference. Scientometrics, 112(2), 767-797.
  58. Li, J., & Greenhow, C. (2015). Scholars and social media: tweeting in the conference backchannel for professional learning. Educational Media International, 52(1), 1-14.
  59. Lupton, D. (2014) ‘Feeling better connected’: Academics’ use of social media. News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwjKmM6uyvXhAhXItlkKHbnVCcsQFjAAegQIAxAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.canberra.edu.au%2Fabout-uc%2Ffaculties%2Farts-design%2Fattachments2%2Fpdf%2Fn-and-mrc%2FFeeling-Better-Connected-report-final.pdf&usg=AOvVaw03h0crRBHT_iGsJhXgl--6
  60. MacPhail, A., Ulvik, M., Guberman, A., Czerniawski, G., Oolbekkink-Marchand, H., & Bain, Y. (2019). The professional development of higher education-based teacher educators: needs and realities. Professional development in education, 45(5), 848-861.
  61. Malik, A., Heyman-Schrum, C., & Johri, A. (2019). Use of Twitter across educational settings: a review of the literature. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 16(1), 1-22.
  62. Manca, A., & Whitworth, A. (2018). Social Media and Workplace Practices in Higher Education Institutions: a Review. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 7(1), 151-183.
  63. Markauskaite, L.,& Goodyear, P. (2017). Epistemic fluency and professional education: Innovation, knowledgeable action and actionable knowledge. Dordrecht: Springer.
  64. Matthews, K. E., Lodge, J. M., & Bosanquet, A. (2012). Early career academic perceptions, attitudes and professional development activities: questioning the teaching and research gap to further academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 19(2), 112-124.
  65. McDermid, F., Peters, K., Daly, J., & Jackson, D. (2016). Developing resilience: Stories from novice nurse academics. Nurse education today, 38, 29-35.
  66. McPherson, M., Budge, K., & Lemon, N. (2015). New practices in doing academic development: Twitter as an informal learning space. International Journal for Academic Development, 20(2), 126-136.
  67. Meishar-Tal, H., & Pieterse, E. (2017). Why do academics use academic social networking sites?. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(1).
  68. Mylona, I. (2003). A Study of Internet Use by Greek and British Academics: A Contribution to the Globalisation Debate (Doctoral dissertation, University of Kent at Canterbury).
  69. Oddone, K. (2019). Teachers' experience of professional learning through personal learning networks (Doctoral dissertation, Queensland University of Technology).
  70. O’Keeffe, M. (2018). Academic Twitter and professional learning: myths and realities. International Journal for Academic Development, 24(1), 35-46.
  71. O’Keeffe, M. (2016). Exploring higher education professionals’ use of Twitter for learning. Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning 2(1).
  72. Powers, K. A. K. (2013). Professional Learning on Twitter: A content analysis of professional learning conversations among self-organized groups of educators (Doctoral dissertation, University of Windsor)
  73. Quan-Haase, A., Martin, K., & McCay-Peet, L. (2015). Networks of digital humanities scholars: The informational and social uses and gratifications of Twitter. Big data & society, 2(1), 2053951715589417.
  74. Raffaghelli, J. E. (2017). Exploring the (missed) connections between digital scholarship and faculty development: a conceptual analysis. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 14(1), 20.
  75. Richardson, W. & Mancabelli, R. (2011). Personal learning networks: Using the power of connections to transform education. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
  76. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68.
  77. Reaper, R. (2016). Academic perceptions of higher education assessment processes in neoliberal academia. Critical Studies in Education, 57(2), 175-190.
  78. Shagrir, L. (2017). Collaborating with colleagues for the sake of academic and professional development in higher education. International Journal for Academic Development, 22(4), 331-342.
  79. Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved from http://devrijeruimte.org/content/artikelen/Connectivism.pdf
  80. Singh, L. (2015). Reflections on the Peer to Peer University (P2PU) ‘Intro to Openness Course’, Learning and Teaching in Action, 11(1), pp. 102-107. Manchester Metropolitan University (Online). Available at http://www.celt.mmu.ac.uk/ltia/Vol11Iss1
  81. Singh, L. (2020). A Systematic Review of Higher Education Academics’ Use of Microblogging for Professional Development: Case of Twitter. Open Education Studies, 2(1), 66-81.
  82. Smith, A. E., & Humphreys, M. S. (2006). Evaluation of unsupervised semantic mapping of natural language with Leximancer concept mapping. Behavior research methods, 38(2), 262-279.
  83. Smith, J. (2017). Target-setting, early-career academic identities and the measurement culture of UK higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(3), 597-611.
  84. Stewart, B. E. (2015). In abundance: Networked participatory practices as scholarship. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 16(3).
  85. Stewart, B. (2016). Collapsed publics: Orality, literacy, and vulnerability in academic Twitter. Journal of Applied Social Theory, 1(1), 61-86.
  86. Summers, J. A. (2017). Developing competencies in the novice nurse educator: An integrative review. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 12(4), 263-276.
  87. Trede, F., Markauskaite, L., McEwen, C., & Macfarlane, S. (2019). Workplace Learning as a Hybrid Space. In Education for Practice in a Hybrid Space (pp. 19-31). Springer, Singapore.
  88. Trust, T., Carpenter, J. P., & Krutka, D. G. (2017). Moving beyond silos: Professional Learning networks in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 35, 1-11.
  89. Trust, T., Carpenter, J. P., & Krutka, D. G. (2018). Leading by learning: exploring the professional learning networks of instructional leaders. Educational Media International, 55(2), 137-152.
  90. Tucker, L. (2019). Educational Professionals’ Decision Making for Professional Growth using a Case of Twitter Adoption. TechTrends, 63(2), 133-148.
  91. van Noorden, R. (2014). Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network. Nature, 512(7513), 126-129.
  92. Veletsianos, G. (2012). Higher education scholars' participation and practices on Twitter. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(4), 336-349.
  93. Veletsianos, G. (2016). Higher education scholars' participation and practices on Twitter. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(4), 336-349.
  94. Veletsianos, G., & Kimmons, R. (2013). Scholars and faculty members' lived experiences in online social networks. The Internet and Higher Education, 16, 43-50.
  95. Veletsianos, G. (2016) Social media in Education: Networked scholars. New York, NY: Routledge.
  96. Veletsianos, G., Johnson, N., & Belikov, O. (2019). Academics’ social media use over time is associated with individual, relational, cultural and political factors. British Journal of Educational Technology.
  97. Veletsianos, G., & Kimmons, R. (2016). Scholars in an increasingly open and digital world: How do education professors and students use Twitter?. The Internet and Higher Education, 30, 1-10.
  98. Veletsianos, G. (2017). Three cases of hashtags used as learning and professional development environments. TechTrends, 61(3), 284-292.
  99. Zheng, M., Bender, D., & Nadershahi, N. (2017). Faculty professional development in emergent pedagogies for instructional innovation in dental education. European Journal of Dental Education, 21(2), 67-78.
  100. Zou, T. X. (2018). Community-based professional development for academics: a phenomenographic study. Studies in Higher Education, 1-15.