about

We must spend more time talking to each other about teaching (Palmer, 2007, 148)

Inspired by the hugely successful #edchat and Sue Beckingham’s original idea to lead a tweetchat for a HEA emplyability event hosted at Sheffield Hallam in 2011 and then to embed tweetchats into the successful cross insitutional Bring Your Own Device for Learning open course in 2014, there was an opportunity to focus conversations on learning and teaching in Higher Education (HE). The weekly chat is open to anyone interested in higher education and will provide an opportunity to share practices as well as ideas and connect with other practioners on a regular basis.

Please join us on Wednesday between 8-9pm GMT using the hashtag #LTHEchat.

If you would like to discuss a possible collaboration with us, please get in touch with Sue Beckingham.

Each week the chat has a focus on a specific aspect of learning and teaching in HE. The topic of the week is communicated both here on the site and also via Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/lthechat.bsky.social and the hashtag #LTHEchat (Previously Twitter from @LTHEchat) .

History

2014/15 In the first year of running the steering group took also responsibility to organise the weekly tweetchats.

2015 A collaboration was formed with HEA and continued with Advance HE who led a dual chat on the last Wednesday of the month.

2015/16 A rotating organising team per term was introduced which operates with at least one member of the #LTHEchat steering group for one semester, visible or invisibly in the background. During this time, the organising group will be responsible for the planning, organisation and running of the #LTHEchat.

2015/16 On the 10th of February 2016 we organised our very first bilingual #LTHEchat with Julie Tardy. Languages: French and English.

2015/16 On the 16th of May 2016 we organised our second bilingual #LTHEchat with Martina Emke. Languages German and English.

2019/20 Mentors where introduced to support the rotating organising teams. These would be from colleagues who had participated in an #LTHEchat organising team in the past.

2020/21 An evaluation started on the 17 March 2021 during the 200th #LTHEchat. Thinking about the present and the future.

2021 Sue assumes full responsibility for leading LTHEchat with the support of a rolling organising who are educators with various roles in higher education.

2023/24 A new Open Badge scheme is launched led by Deb Baff and Teresa MacKinnon commencing with badges to recognise the contribution of members of the Organising Teams and their Mentors.

2025 Transitioned to Bluesky

Acknowledgements

Founding Steering Group

#LTHEchat (Learning and Teaching in Higher Education chat) was an idea conceived by Dr Chrissi Nerantzi and shared with Sue Beckingham to extend her use of tweetchats as an opportunity for educators in higher education to discuss learning and teaching. Peter Reed and Dr David Walker were invited to join the steering group.

Dr Chrissi Nerantzi @chrissinerantzi, University of Leeds

Sue Beckingham, @suebecks, SHU

Peter Reed, @reedyreedles, now Laureate

Dr David Walker, @drdjwalker, Uni of Sussex

The #LTHEchat banner and all related artwork was created by the very talented Artist Ellie Livermore. We are grateful for her creative input.

References

Palmer, P. J. (2007) The Courage to Teach. Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.