If you were a keen English language teacher and slightly into tech in the early 2010s, you may have joined an online community called #ELTchat. With participants from Europe, the Americas and Australasia, the community echoed and amplified the passionate energy of English teachers worldwide, finding its shared voice in the weekly ‘Twitter chat’. A glance back at the chat summaries archive shows a huge range of topics covered over the years, from addressing taboo subjects in the classroom (October 2010) to teacher wellbeing and mental health (March 2018).
For several years I found these chats fascinating – an invaluable insight into the practices of other teachers around the world. They offered inspiration, ideas, and infinite links to great resources I could share with colleagues and try out in class. They were also an opportunity to ‘check in’ with a wider teaching community, to hear common frustrations and build a picture of how the sector was going.
As roles changed and tech platforms evolved (not always in a good way), I drifted away from Twitter and have used LinkedIn as a source of connection and community for years now (you’ll find posts from this website there too). But when Bluesky kept popping up last year, looking remarkably like ‘old-school’ Twitter, I started to wonder…
…is this where academics are hanging out now?
It depends who you ask. There are plenty of academics on Substack, for example, where gems like Sally Kift’s Needed Now in Learning and Teaching, Ethan Mollick’s One Useful Thing and Helen Beetham’s Imperfect Offerings can be found. But if you don’t want to publish blogs and prefer your insights in 300 characters or less, you might want to give Bluesky a try.
There’s definitely something happening here, with hashtags like #AcademicSky, #PhDSky, #AcademicChatter and #HigherEd in active use, and plenty of folks from universities around the world sharing experiences, suggestions and resources on all the usual topics from research updates and career development to higher education policy, innovations and technology.
How do I find my kind of people?
We already know the potential pitfalls of hanging out in echo chambers and social media filter bubbles, but sometimes you just need to see a few familiar faces whilst you settle in and get your bearings. If you follow the work of certain academics, pop them in the search and see if they’re active there – you might be surprised!
There are also some useful, curated lists and ‘starter packs‘ (a curated group of users you can follow) on specialist topics from GenerativeAI and assessment design to international education, student experience and more – if you have a specialist interest, chances are someone has already starting curated relevant people to follow. For more practical tips, take a look at this quick intro from Ned Potter (LSE) on how to get started with academic bluesky.
Is it a bird? Nope… but it might be a #Flutterchat!
If you’re searching for authentic voices and a global community, Bluesky looks like it has a chance of reviving some of that 2010s energy. By way of example, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (#LTHEchat on Bluesky) is a collaborative project which uses the platform for synchronous discussion – lovingly coined a ‘flutterchat‘ (I hope this sticks). Each weekly chat has a specific focus relating to learning and teaching in higher education. Guests are invited to choose a topic, write a short blogpost and provide 6 questions for the chat. The questions are posted on Bluesky via @lthechat.bsky.social and all you have to do is rock up online at the chosen time (currently 8pm GMT, 7am AEDT) and look up the hashtag to follow along.
The other week I dropped by for the first time, part curious to hang out in Bluesky, part nostalgic for the good old days of authentic online chatter. The chosen topic of implementing feedback was relevant to both my own teaching practice and ongoing conversations across our sector, and I was keen to see what others had to say about it, even if it meant getting up for a 7am kick-off.
That synchronous feeling…
60 minutes later I was buzzing, tired, inspired, and reassured that there are still a bunch of people out there in higher ed trying to do good things in teaching and learning. With a new question every 10 minutes, you need to stay focussed as you read comments, consider your own responses, respond to comments and note resources to follow up later. When I stepped away from the laptop at 8am, I couldn’t believe an hour had gone by so quickly.
It’s not a deep conversation, but that’s okay. It felt a bit like when you bump into some colleagues at work and find yourselves exchanging quick ideas on an interesting topic – no one planned or designed it, but you walk away feeling energised, connected, and a little bit more optimistic about the work you’re doing that week.
Will I be back on Bluesky? I think so. I’m keen to see how it develops, and whether that sense of community and shared learning can be maintained as people continue to migrate from other platforms. If you’d like to connect, I’m @lucyblakemore.bsky.social – maybe we’ll see each other on a #FlutterChat sometime soon… ?