Feeling Connected

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-28
Author(s):  
Sara Jane Archard
Keyword(s):  
Social Presence ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Equitable Access ◽  
Attrition Rates ◽  
Participation In Higher Education ◽  
Integral Feature

A sense of belonging is an integral feature of an online community of learners (OCL). This article explores the ways in which digital technologies in an online teacher education programme can facilitate social presence and in turn nurture a sense of belonging in an OCL. A sense of belonging can lower attrition rates in distance programmes that attract learners who are marginalised from on campus education. This can help address issues of social justice by supporting equitable access and participation in higher education. Findings from a qualitative case study indicate the power that digital technologies can have in facilitating social presence and a sense of belonging in an OCL. This study identifies the importance of several factors in this. Firstly, the importance of pedagogical understandings that digital technologies have different affordances in nurturing an OCL, and secondly, that each participant had a different perspective on the affordances of each digital technology in their usefulness for fostering social presence and a sense of belonging.

When Digital Technologies Enable and Threaten Occupational Identity: The Delicate Balancing Act of Data Scientists

MIS Quarterly ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 1087-1112
Author(s):  
Emmanuelle Vaast ◽  
Alain Pinsonneault ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Online Community ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Critical Case ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
Occupational Identity ◽  
Dialectical Process ◽  
Optimal Distinctiveness ◽  
Critical Case Study

Occupations are increasingly embedded with and affected by digital technologies. These technologies both enable and threaten occupational identity and create two important tensions: they make the persistence of an occupation possible while also potentially rendering it obsolete, and they magnify both the similarity and distinctiveness of occupations with regard to other occupations. Based on the critical case study of an online community dedicated to data science, we investigate longitudinally how data scientists address the two tensions of occupational identity associated with digital technologies and reach transient syntheses in terms of “optimal distinctiveness” and “persistent extinction.” We propose that identity work associated with digital technologies follows a composite life-cycle and dialectical process. We explain that people constantly need to adjust and redefine their occupational identity, i.e., how they define who they are and what they do. We contribute to scholarship on digital technologies and identity work by illuminating how people deal in an ongoing manner with digital technologies that simultaneously enable and threaten their occupational identity.

scholarly journals Live streaming as participation: A case study of conflict in the digital and physical spaces of "Supernatural" conventions

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Live Streaming ◽  
Technology Platforms ◽  
Ticket Purchase ◽  
Physical Spaces

Mobile digital technologies allow copresence in digital and physical spaces, including those surrounding fan conventions. Fans attending these events may wish to share real-time experiences with a wider online community who are keen to participate. However, this can create conflict with other stakeholders. This case study of activities that took place in 2016 and 2017 during Supernatural (2005–) conventions run by Creation Entertainment uses ethnographic and survey methods to examine the effect of technology platforms used for online participation during these events, including live streaming apps such as Periscope. Results show that live streaming provides positive benefit both for fans and the event organizers, and that the liveness of streams can be critical to community building and can encourage ticket purchase. However, lessons can be learned regarding transitions and boundaries between grassroots fan activity and commercial service.

scholarly journals A Case Study of ESL Students’ Remote Speaking Class Learning Experiences in a Canada University During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 32-44
Author(s):  
Min Huang
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Photo Production

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a transfer from face-to-face (F2F) learning to remote online learning in universities worldwide. A university in southern Ontario delivered English courses to language learners living globally. This study, adopting a photo-production visual method, explored four English as a second language (ESL) students’ perceptions of this online learning compared to typical F2F learning and investigated activities enabling speaking opportunities and students’ expectations for online learning. The results showed that students perceived minor differences between online learning and F2F learning, including a non-academic English environment, a sense of community, and instant communications. The learning process involved interactive and collaborative discussions and presentations that allow students’ speaking opportunities. The online discussions contributed to students’ confidence but lacked adequate feedback towards students’ speaking skills. Students expected more types of learning activities that contribute to collaborations among peers, a sense of belonging to the online community, and examination orientated English skills.

Supplier Development at LG Electronics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyojin Kim ◽  
Daesik Hur ◽  
Tobias Schoenherr
Keyword(s):  
Management Practice ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Supply Management ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Supplier Development ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Competitive Capabilities ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Buyer Firm

Supplier development has been a critical supply management practice since the 1990s. In many instances, it has even become imperative for buyer firms to support and prepare their supply bases for uncertain economic and market environments, socially and environmentally conscious customers, advances in digital technologies, and increasing competition. Yet, research that approaches supplier development with the objective to advance all these dimensions in an integrated fashion is scarce. This study fills this void by exploring how a buyer firm may address these emerging challenges in its supply base. Specifically, an in-depth case study of LG Electronics explores how the firm designs and operates multidimensional supplier development activities to foster the stability and sustainability of its supply base while enhancing its core suppliers’ competitive capabilities. This chapter illustrates how supplier development can be taken to the next level, presents implications for managerial practice, and outlines promising future research avenues.

Empowering professionalism in mission-oriented innovation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus M Bugge ◽  
Fazilat Siddiq
Keyword(s):  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Teaching Tools

Abstract In the literature on mission-oriented innovation supply side and tech-oriented approaches have been complemented by broader and more inclusive societal approaches. Here, it is highlighted that both directionality and broad anchoring of diverse stakeholders across private, public, and civic domains are key to successful implementation. Still, it is unclear how these dimensions relate and unfold in practice. Using digital literacy in education as an example of mission-oriented innovation, this paper investigates what prerequisites and capabilities are needed to envision and govern such processes. Based upon a case study of innovative teaching practices in twenty-five classes at ten primary schools in Norway, the paper finds that the motivation, dedication, and engagement of the teachers is not primarily related to the digital technologies themselves, but to the professional and pedagogical anchoring of the digital teaching tools. The mobilization of the professionalism of the teachers is enabled by a process of balanced empowerment.

scholarly journals Building on Strategic eLearning Initiatives of Hybrid Graduate Education a Case Study Approach: MHEI-ME Erasmus+ Project

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7675
Author(s):  
Radovan Madleňák ◽  
Stephen P. D’Alessandro ◽  
Agostino Marengo ◽  
Jenny Pange ◽  
György Iván Neszmélyi
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Teaching Methodology ◽  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Strategic Commitment ◽  
Self Learning

Online courses are gaining popularity because they provide extensive and varied course material, information, knowledge, and skills, whilst also creating an effective educational online community. This research adopts a case study approach to focus on the teaching method and the manner in which a strategic commitment to eLearning provides scope for the development and implementation of top quality educational online fully accredited programs. Entrepreneurship focuses on developing businesses that add value and create wealth and prosperity in our societies. Therefore, entrepreneurship is a key area of learning for graduate students seeking to set up and operate their own SME organizations. It can serve as a benchmark for the teaching of other graduate subjects that require a sound correlation for the correlation of concepts and theories to the challenging complexities of the real world. The program was developed on the basis of the implementation of a state-of-the-art eLearning platform that allowed for a combination of varied self-learning and collaborative learning elements and activities within a single platform. This enabled students to access the online content material efficiently and effectively. It allows for the development of a program based on the flipped classroom teaching methodology. The underlying concept of the flipped classroom methodology is that effective eLearning should comprise both synchronous and asynchronous learning activities. This combination of self-learning and collaborative learning calls for careful planning by the tutor to ensure that the learning objectives are clearly defined for each activity and that the relevant deliverables are monitored. The content material for each subject course module was designed, developed, produced, and presented by the different project partners in a holistic manner structured to motivate participants to learn. The results of our analysis have shown that students were able to learn, discuss their projects, and cooperate during an online course in an effective and participant-focused manner with their tutors. The feedback given highlights the importance of ongoing communications between students and the tutors who often need to act as mentors to retain student engagement.

scholarly journals Exploring the Transformation in the ‘Spirit of Place’ by Considering the Changed and Unchanged Defensive Spaces of Settlements: A Case Study of the Wugoushui Hakka Settlement

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 490
Author(s):  
Yan-Feng He ◽  
Chie-Peng Chen ◽  
Rung-Jiun Chou ◽  
Hai-Feng Luo ◽  
Jin-Xiong Hou
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Cultural Preservation ◽  
Street Network ◽  
Context Analysis ◽  
Network Nodes ◽  
Site Analysis ◽  
Spirit Of Place ◽  
Depth Interviews

Over generations, economic development has accelerated traditional settlements in Taiwan while losing traditional culture. In Hakka villages, this is manifested in the changes in defensive spaces, the ‘spirit of place,’ and land use. Although some progress has been made through research into related issues, a correlated view has been missing. To explore the connection between the ‘spirit of place’ and defensive spaces in Wugoushui, a traditional representative settlement in Taiwan, this paper probes three questions: What are the changes in defensive spaces? What are the changes in the spirit of place? What are the connections between them? Taking the sixteen criteria of secure defensive space as the theoretical foundation, through more than a year of structured observations and in-depth interviews with ten representative residents, and based on context analysis and site analysis of the information collected, this paper has concluded that, although the actual functionality of Wugoushui settlement’s spiritual, behavioural, and physical defences have disappeared, cultural characteristics related to the settlement traditions, including religious beliefs, trust, sense of belonging, street network, nodes, institutions, territory, and social networks, constitute a concrete manifestation of the defensive space and the spirit of place as of today. This research contributes to developing a theory of the relevance of the spirit of place to the defensive space of settlements from a sustainability perspective and improving the cultural preservation and land management of traditional settlements.

From Community to Public Familiarity: Neighborhood, Sociability, and Belonging in the Neoliberal City

2021 ◽  
pp. 107808742110215
Author(s):  
Felipe Link ◽  
Andrés Señoret ◽  
Felipe Valenzuela
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Pedestrian Space

Current urban neoliberalism processes have shaped and changed contemporary cities, including the local scale’s built environment and social relations. This article aims to study how such transformations affect local sociability by analyzing the effects of neighborhoods’ morphology and socio-demographic characteristics on different forms of interactions and how they affect the sense of belonging. Taking the Metropolitan Area of Santiago, Chile, as a case study, we gathered secondary data on urban morphology and surveyed ten neighborhoods to measure sociability patterns. The results obtained from multilevel logistic regression models show that time living in the neighborhood and public pedestrian space is the most critical factor affecting neighborhood sociability. Moreover, instead of local ties, public familiarity is the form of sociability with the most substantial effects on a sense of belonging. We conclude that recent neighborhoods, formed by neoliberal urbanization, tend to discourage neighborhood sociability and a sense of belonging.

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