Archive for the ‘Research’ Category

The educational problem that MOOCs could solve: professional development for teachers of disadvantaged students

The demographics of massive open online course (MOOC) analytics show that the great majority of learners are highly qualified professionals, and not, as originally envisaged, the global community of disadvantaged learners who have no access to good higher education. MOOC pedagogy fits well with the combination of instruction and peer community learning found in most […]

Main Research Topics in Knowledge Management: A Content Analysis of ECKM Publications

Knowledge Management (KM) has already reached the level of a scientific discipline and attracts increasing interest in research and practice. As a consequence, the number of KM publications is growing exponentially. The wide spectrum of publications comprises a variety of topics ranging from terminological, conceptual, and technological approaches to managerial implementation approaches. Several attempts have […]

Self-presentation in scholarly profiles: Characteristics of images and perceptions of professionalism and attractiveness on academic social networking sites

Online self-presentation is of increasing importance in modern life, from establishing and maintaining personal relationships to forging professional identities. Academic scholars are no exception, and a host of social networking platforms designed specifically for scholars abound. This study used Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service to code 10,500 profile pictures used by scholars on three platforms — […]

Twitter-Based EFL Pronunciation Instruction

This paper looks at the use of Twitter as a language teaching/learning tool. It describes the results of a study aimed at testing Twitter’s effectiveness for pronunciation teaching. The purpose of the study was to determine whether Twitter can foster online participation and whether it may have a positive effect on the pronunciation of a number of words commonly mispronounced […]

Language Learning Through Social Networks: Perceptions and Reality

Language Learning Social Network Sites (LLSNSs) have attracted millions of users around the world. However, little is known about how people participate in these sites and what they learn from them. This study investigated learners’ attitudes, usage, and progress in a major LLSNS through a survey of 4,174 as well as 20 individual case studies. […]

The rhizome: A problematic metaphor for teaching and learning in a MOOC

Deleuze and Guattari’s principles of the rhizome were used to inform the design of a massive open online course (MOOC), Rhizomatic Learning: The Community is the Curriculum, which came to be known as Rhizo14. In a previous paper about learner experiences in this course our reported findings from a qualitative survey (which enabled anonymous responses) raised […]

Understanding how students perceive the role of ideas for their knowledge work in a knowledge-building environment

This study explored how students viewed the role of ideas for knowledge work and how such view was related to their inquiry activities. Data mainly came from students’ online interaction logs, group discussion and inquiry, and a survey concerning the role of ideas for knowledge work. The findings suggest that knowledge building was conducive to […]

Twitter friend repertoires: Introducing a methodology to assess patterns of information management on Twitter

This paper argues that previous Twitter research has mainly employed a “broadcast perspective” by focusing on follower relations and concepts such as popularity, reach, or influence. But the microblogging platform is also a tool for users to combine a personalized set of sources. We propose the concept of “Twitter friend repertoires” and present a novel […]

Learning outcome, presence and satisfaction from a science activity in Second Life

Although problem-based learning (PBL) has many advantages, it often fails to connect to the real world outside the classroom. The integration with the laboratory setting and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been proposed to address this deficiency. Multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) like Second Life (SL) are 3D collaborative virtual environments that […]

Educational heterotopia and students’ use of Facebook

Facebook use in higher education has grown exponentially in recent years, with both academics and students seeking to use it to support learning processes. Noting that research into educational cyberspace has generally ignored spatial elements, this paper redresses this deficiency through using Foucault’s (1986) discussion of different spaces to examine Facebook use. Recognising that more than simple façade space is […]