Where are the Students? Social and Learning Practices in Digital Settings

2020 ◽  
pp. 201-207
Author(s):  
Daniel Domínguez ◽  
Inés Gil-Jaurena ◽  
Javier Morentin ◽  
Belén Ballesteros ◽  
Alberto Izquierdo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Mediated Learning ◽  
Learning Practices ◽  
Digital Spaces

The aim of the study is to understand the role of social presence in digitally mediated learning processes and, consequently, to improve the design of the courses we teach at UNED. The spaces of greatest interaction between students are social networks and mobile instant messaging services, not only for social purposes but also for learning. That is why we are researching about students’ practices in those spaces while they are studying. In this paper, we present preliminary findings identifying if those social interactions happen within the online courses or in other digital spaces.

scholarly journals Awesome women and bad feminists: the role of online social networks and peer support for feminist practice in academia

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-435
Author(s):  
Hannah Bayfield ◽  
Laura Colebrooke ◽  
Hannah Pitt ◽  
Rhiannon Pugh ◽  
Natalia Stutter
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Online Collaboration ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
Feminist Practice ◽  
Digital Spaces

In her book, ‘Bad Feminist’, Roxane Gay claims this label shamelessly, embracing the contradictory aspects of enacting feminist practice while fundamentally being ‘flawed human[s]’. This article tells a story inspired by and enacting Roxane Gay’s approach in academia, written by five cis-gendered women geographers. It is the story of a proactive, everyday feminist initiative to survive as women in an academic precariat fuelled by globalised, neoliberalised higher education. We reflect on what it means to be (bad) feminists in that context, and how we respond as academics. We share experiences of an online space used to support one another through post-doctoral life, a simple message thread, which has established an important role in our development as academics and feminists. This article, written through online collaboration, mirrors and enacts processes fundamental to our online network, demonstrating the significance and potential of safe digital spaces for peer support. Excerpts from the chat reflect critically on struggles and solutions we have co-developed. Through this, we celebrate and validate a strategy we know that we and others like us find invaluable for our wellbeing and survival. Finally, we reflect on the inherent limitations of exclusive online networks as tools for feminist resistance.

scholarly journals Culture in Mind

2020 ◽  
pp. 273-300
Author(s):  
Florence Passy ◽  
Gian-Andrea Monsch
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Theoretical Conclusion ◽  
The Mind

Chapter 7 wraps up the book’s main findings and highlights our main theoretical conclusion: The interplay between the mind and social interactions helps explain the process behind sustained commitment. But what does our conclusion imply for the study of social movements and activism more generally? We begin by emphasizing the necessity to bring the mind back in all its complexity. Second, we argue for the need to take into account considerations regarding the interpretative dimensions of social networks. Third, we advocate a better integration of culture in the study of social movements, as this places an emphasis on the role of culture in shaping a person’s mind, and ultimately provides for finer theories of mobilization. Finally, as with any research, this study faces limits; we expose these in this final chapter, providing us with the opportunity to suggest avenues for further research.

Urban Magic: Concluding Remarks

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannis M. Ioannides
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
The Other ◽  
Urban Networks ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

This chapter considers the prospect of a deeper understanding of social interactions in urban settings as well as their significance for the functioning and future role of cities and regions. It introduces broader sets of tools for exploring the properties of urban networks, from the lowest microscale up to the highest levels of aggregation. Graph theory, for example, offers a promising means of elucidating the urban social fabric and the interactions that define it, and more specifically the link between urban infrastructure and aspatial social networks. The chapter also compares individuals and their social interactions to an archipelago, a metaphor that offers a picture of the magic of the city. It concludes by emphasizing the interdependence between the creation of cities over physical space, on the one hand, and the urban archipelago and its internal social and economic structures, which are man-made, on the other.

scholarly journals Scaffolding Social Presence in MOOCs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilrukshi Gamage
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Community Leader ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Real Person

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) often lack valuable social presences that provide learners opportunities to interact and to be feel as a real person. This subjective experience of being present with a “real” person and having access to their thoughts and emotions increase the learning experience. Although MOOCs provide forums for such interactions, they are often populated with cognitive types of presence limiting social presence. Meaningful social interactions are challenging in MOOCs due to scale and design limitations. This research presents a conceptual framework of 4 phases: Cluster, Orient, Focus and Network to scaffold better social interaction in MOOCs. The framework introduce a re-design of interactions in MOOC forums space — leverages clustered groups by creating many communities in forums spaces with a community leader facilitating the conversations leading social presence. It also provides a community structure with orientation, focus to work in the community and better networking opportunities. An initial integration of the framework to a real MOOC with 27, 554 students provides preliminary results indicating effective scaffolding ofsocial presence in MOOC communities, yet the framework poses challenges relying the social interactions centered upon community manger. However, the study opens new directions to leverage communities in MOOCs and potential to scale.

Social Networks and Vote Choice

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Ratliff Santoro ◽  
Paul A. Beck
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Electronic Interactions ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Do social networks influence vote choice? This chapter reviews if and how social interactions shape individual voting choices. While the literature on social networks and the decision to turn out to vote is extensive, less scholarly attention has been devoted to understanding the link between social networks and vote choice. This work is dominated by studies of voting behavior in American and European elections, in which special features of the elections themselves must be considered when drawing conclusions about the role of social networks. The connection of social networks to voting choices provides an area of opportunity for scholars who seek to understand both networks and voting behavior, but it also poses substantial challenges, especially in differentiating selection from influence and moving beyond face-to-face discussion to electronic interactions, which future work needs to address.

MOOCs

2015 ◽  
pp. 1282-1300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Camilleri ◽  
Leonard Busuttil ◽  
Matthew Montebello
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Collective Intelligence ◽  
International Markets ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Social Applications

MOOCs have become a new trend in education, taking the world by storm in 2012. Is this just a fad or is it because of their nature in opening education to the masses? In this chapter, the authors explore how Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) use networks that connect people across the globe to foster education that cannot be replicated in any walled classroom. They illustrate case studies, emphasizing best practice strategies employed as well as lessons learned, in an attempt to understand what makes these courses the new cry in higher education. The authors ask whether the local, European, and international markets are ready to accept these massive, open learning environments and how the transfer and transformation of information occurs during exploits of massive collective intelligence. They address learning that is manifested inside social networks and this can be augmented through the sharing of knowledge within the global community. In this digital economy, the authors look at capturing and harvesting “open knowledge” using means that are accessible to all. Is academia ready for all of this? The authors propose an outline of a journey from the birth of MOOCs to their indicative future directions. The scope of this chapter is that of discussing the role of social networks and social applications in these massive courses, as the authors describe why they think this lies at the root of the courses' success.

MOOCs

2014 ◽  
pp. 348-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Camilleri ◽  
Leonard Busuttil ◽  
Matthew Montebello
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Collective Intelligence ◽  
International Markets ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Social Applications

MOOCs have become a new trend in education, taking the world by storm in 2012. Is this just a fad or is it because of their nature in opening education to the masses? In this chapter, the authors explore how Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) use networks that connect people across the globe to foster education that cannot be replicated in any walled classroom. They illustrate case studies, emphasizing best practice strategies employed as well as lessons learned, in an attempt to understand what makes these courses the new cry in higher education. The authors ask whether the local, European, and international markets are ready to accept these massive, open learning environments and how the transfer and transformation of information occurs during exploits of massive collective intelligence. They address learning that is manifested inside social networks and this can be augmented through the sharing of knowledge within the global community. In this digital economy, the authors look at capturing and harvesting “open knowledge” using means that are accessible to all. Is academia ready for all of this? The authors propose an outline of a journey from the birth of MOOCs to their indicative future directions. The scope of this chapter is that of discussing the role of social networks and social applications in these massive courses, as the authors describe why they think this lies at the root of the courses’ success.

Social Interactions

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannis M. Ioannides
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Spatial Econometrics ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Random Graph Theory ◽  
Individual Actions ◽  
Individual Decisions

This chapter discusses the theory and empirics of social interactions, with particular emphasis on the role of social context in individual decisions. It begins by introducing a sequence of models that highlight applications in different empirical social interaction settings, including a simple static model that is used to link social interactions theory with social networks theory, notably random graph theory. A dynamic model, where the social structure accommodates a variety of social interaction motives, is then described and solved as a dynamic system of evolving individual actions. The solution links social interactions theory with spatial econometrics. The chapter examines the econometrics of social interactions in social networks and social learning in urban settings before concluding with a review of the literature on social interactions in economics.

The origins of narrative

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Dautenhahn
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Intelligence ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Developmental Continuity ◽  
Narrative Format

This article presents work in progress towards a better understanding of the origins of narrative. Assuming an evolutionary and developmental continuity of mental experiences, we propose a grounding of human narrative capacities in non-verbal narrative transactions in non-human animals, and in pre-verbal narrative transactions of human children. We discuss narrative intelligence in the context of the evolution of primate (social) intelligence, and with respect to the particular cognitive limits that constrain the development of human social networks and societies. We explain the Narrative Intelligence Hypothesis which suggests that the evolutionary origin of communicating in a narrative format co-evolved with increasingly complex social dynamics among our human ancestors. This article gives examples of social interactions in non-human primates and how these can be interpreted in terms of narrative formats. Due to the central role of narrative in human communication and social interaction, we discuss how research into the origins of narrative can impact the development of humane technology which is designed to meet the biological, cognitive and social needs of human story-tellers.

Best Practices of Distance Dissertation Mentorship through Social Presence

2014 ◽  
pp. 215-234
Author(s):  
Libi Shen ◽  
Irene Linlin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Social Presence ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Online Instructors ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Virtual Interaction ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Use Of Social Media

This chapter explores online instructors’ distance dissertation mentorship through social presence. Eight dissertation chairs were invited to answer in-depth interview questions in this case study. The theories and definitions of social presence, the effectiveness of social presence in online courses, and the strategies to improve social presence in online settings were reviewed. Major findings of this study reveal the critical role of social presence in dissertation mentoring, successful strategies to improve social presence in online dissertation courses, teachers’ limited use of social media, emoticons, and University Mobile 3.0, the need for synchronous virtual interaction in online dissertation classes, and teachers’ challenges of online dissertation mentorship. Finally, the study recommends future research directions.

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