The use of Facebook to build a community for distance learning students: a case study from the Open University

Social media platforms such as Facebook are commonplace throughout society. However, within higher education institutions such networking environments are still in the developmental stage. This paper describes and discusses case study data from the Open University’s Faculty of Social Science Facebook page. It starts by giving an overview of the literature surrounding social media in higher education before examining how the Social Sciences Faculty at the Open University has used Facebook to help build an academic community. Data includes numerical information on number of likes, demographic data on students who use the page, analysis on the type and nature of comments and more qualitative extracts from postings related to academic questions. It also discusses challenges and difficulties with using such social media tools in a university environment and suggests fruitful areas for future research.     

‘Breaking Ground’ in the use of social media: A case study of a university earthquake response to inform educational design with Facebook

On September 4 2010, a massive 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Canterbury region in the South Island of New Zealand. The response from the University of Canterbury was immediate and carefully co-ordinated, with the university's web-based environment and a responsive site developed on the social media platform ‘Facebook’ becoming prominent sources of support for many months. This case study illustrates how the university effectively utilised these environments and their impact within the wider university community. Case study methodology draws upon literature from the fields of social media, social network communities and crisis informatics. The findings propose that social media can effectively support information sharing, communication and collaboration in higher education contexts, in particular in times of crisis, but suggest there needs to be a defined purpose to integrate these within an institution's communications strategy given the resource implications and range of social media already used by students.     

Use of Facebook: a case study of Singapore students' experience

Facebook has become one of the most popular social network sites among many students. However, current research on Facebook use has focused mainly on Anglo-American students. Relatively little is known about Facebook use in Singapore. Data were collected from 83 students (ages ranged from 15 to 23). This study uses a naturalistic case study wherein the students' decision to use Facebook is a personal decision and on a voluntarily basis; their participation is not a required or graded component. The specific objectives of the study are first, to examine Singapore students' motives for using Facebook; second, to investigate the types of friends they communicated with on Facebook; and third, to examine how students manage their privacy on the social networking site. Findings suggested that the current sample of Singapore students used Facebook primarily for non-educational purposes. Specifically, Facebook was used to maintain relationships with existing known friends such as former or current schoolmates. Respondents also reported using Facebook for entertainment purposes and to vent their emotions. No respondent reported using Facebook for educational purposes. The most common strategy for privacy protection utilized by the respondents was to decrease profile information visibility through restricting access to only known friends. Educational implications of the findings as well as suggestions for future research are provided.     

Professional learning of observers,collaborators, and contributors in a teacher-created online community in Korea

This study investigated professional learning taking place in a teacher-created online community. In particular, this aimed to explore how teachers at different levels of participation learn in an online community. The results showed that teachers usually began as observers, reading others' postings and using contributors' teaching resources, and moved to collaborators, posting their comments on teaching resources and discussing their problems with other teachers, and then to contributors, sharing their teaching resources with other teachers and providing information, advice, and help to other teachers. As they participated in the online community at different levels, teacher learning took place in multiple ways including learning through tryout, collaborative problem solving, and critical reconstruction. Yet, not all teachers moved toward full participation in the online community. The majority of teachers remained as observers and their lack of participation in the negotiation of meaning constrained teacher learning. For the online community to be a fertile ground for teacher learning, more emphasis needs to be placed on the collaborative construction of knowledge and the transformation of shared practice, rather than the transmission of knowledge and the dissemination of good practice.     

高中数学学习兴趣与能力的现状研究

以数学学习兴趣（I）和学习能力（J）两个指标针对高中三个年级的数学学习现状进行调查表明：1）年级因素、性别因素以及年级和性别的交叉因素对数学学习的状况非常明显的影响,年级对学习兴趣和学习能力均有显著的影响,而性别只对学习能力有影响,对学习兴趣无显著影响。2）随着年级的升高,男、女生的数学学习兴趣和学习能力都随之发生显著地变化,男生的学习兴趣和学习能力随着年级的增加而增强,因此高三男生的数学学习兴趣和能力最高;高一年级女生的学习兴趣最低,而高三女生的学习兴趣和学习能力都高于高一、高二年级。3）通过年级因素的多重比较发现,在学习兴趣方面,高二、高三无显著差别,且均高于高一;在学习能力方面,均存在非常显著的差异,且高三最高,高二次之,高一最低。     

The difficult bridge between university and industry: a case study in computer science teaching

Recently, there has been increasing criticism concerning academic computer science education. This paper presents a new approach based on the principles of constructivist learning design as well as the ideas of knowledge transfer in communities of practice. The course ‘High‐tech Entrepreneurship and New Media’ was introduced as an interdisciplinary project management lab in which students collaborate in groups to develop software solutions for authentic problems. Main goals were the tighter integration of university and local start‐up companies, an intense knowledge transfer on software engineering methods, as well as the implementation of constructivist learning principles in academic teaching. This paper presents the background and structure of the course as well as the results of a formative evaluation. While being successful in introducing a course based on digital‐media assisted, constructivist learning arrangements, establishing lasting communities of practice between university and industry is still an open issue. After discussing several reasons, the paper concludes with a list of general recommendations on how to improve the approach and its implementation.     

新课程理念下中学数学史的讲授与学习

数学史教育是新课程的内在要求．为了更好地发挥数学史作为数学文化最佳载体的作用,对中学数学史的讲授与学习进行了详细讨论．     

I just do not have time for new ideas: resistance,resonance and micro-mobilisation in a teaching community of practice

There is growing interest in the role Communities of Practice (CoPs) play in continuing professional development of academics. However, very little research has explored how CoP theory is applied in practice in academic settings. Using the concepts of resonance and micro-mobilisation from social movement theory, we explore academic engagement (and disengagement) in the online aspects of a CoP in a large, multi-campus, multi-disciplinary university business school. Our findings demonstrate that while some found this environment useful and minor patterns of micro-mobilisation emerged, there were challenges in developing resonance using online technologies. Difficulties in finding technologies fit for purpose, concerns about confidentiality online and time jealousy were key issues that need further exploration.     

引导学生欣赏与发现数学美——以极限教学为例

数学既求真又求美.数学求真在于用数量关系和空间图形表达世界;数学求美则在于用美丽的图形、精炼的语言、简练的定理、公式给人以视角和精神上的享受.在数学教学中,应挖掘教材人文因素以培养学生人文精神,充分利用数学史料以提升学生人文品质,在解题中揭示哲理以丰富学生人文素养,利用教师人格魅力以提升学生人文品位,建设数学课堂文化以充实学生人文内涵.     

Examining the development of a teacher learning community: The case of a video club

Learning communities have become a widespread model for teacher development. However, simply bringing teachers together does not ensure community development. This study offers a framework for the development of a teacher learning community in a video club. Qualitative coding of video data resulted in characterizing the evolution of the video club group as they collaboratively explored issues of teaching and learning that arose in each other’s classrooms. The relationship between dimensions of the framework and how development on one feature interacts with development on another is discussed. The results inform the design of video-based learning environments for examining teaching practice.     

Listening to Students,Listening to Myself: Addressing pre-service teachers' fears of mathematics and teaching mathematics

This paper describes a self-study in which I, as a teacher educator, seek to understand how to respond effectively to my pre-service students' fears about learning and teaching primary mathematics. I studied my students' response to a new mathematics methods course that is tied to practicum. Results include the importance of listening closely to students' feelings about learning and teaching math, responding with opportunities to re-learn primary math concepts in a collaborative and hands-on environment, and providing opportunities for pre-service teachers to experience success with math teaching in primary school settings. What I did not realize at the outset was that the students and I would be on a parallel journey. While I endeavored to listen to their voices, I struggled with my limited voice as a sessional instructor. While they struggled to feel like “real” math teachers, I struggled to feel like a “real” math professor. Fear of teaching math to young children was mirrored by my fear of pioneering a new course. Examination of a key incident in the first year of the course and of the role of a critical friend helped me to see and understand these parallel paths.     

Modelling the influences on learning outcomes of study processes in university mathematics

The field trialling of inventory scalesreflecting variation in students' mathematicsstudy and learning processes is described.These scales predict learning outcomes (finalmarks), but with differentiated patterns ofrelationship to those outcomes. In combination,the scales also detect cohorts of students atrisk of study failure. The work reported is inthe broader context of developing anindividual-differences-based model of studentlearning. Although this model is sitedspecifically within mathematics learning, themethodology of its development is transferableto other discipline contexts. The trialledscales complement others already developed thatreflect affective variation in students'mathematics study.     

Learning from instruction: the case of mathematics

Starting from a brief analysis of adaptive competence in mathematics, this article describes a series of research-based characteristics of the kind of learning processes that should be elicited in students to facilitate and support in them the progressive acquisition of such competence. Four major characteristics are discussed in some detail: learning is constructive, self-regulated, situated or contextual, and collaborative. A rather new approach to transfer of learning is then presented in which transfer is conceived as the preparation for future learning. Throughout the article it is argued that, notwithstanding the progress made in research on learning from instruction, numerous and complex issues and problems remain for continued inquiry.     

Teacher change: ideas emerging from a project for the teaching of university mathematics

This paper reports the changes that occurred in the didactic approaches of three professors who participated in a project intended to develop new ways of teaching mathematics to second year university students. An enactivist perspective is used to address the process of change that emerged as a result from interactions during project meetings. We describe changes in the participants' actions by looking at data obtained from the meetings and the classrooms. Teachers were able to ‘see more’ and modify their teaching practices incorporating a more open and flexible approach in accordance to their structural state which depended on their previous history. Therefore, the results varied. It was possible to observe, however, similar changes in all members of the group which included the use of vocabulary from learning theories and the inclusion of in-depth reflections on teaching and learning.     

Motivating adults to learn mathematics in the workplace: a trade union approach

ABSTRACT

The aim of this qualitative study is to explore adults’ motivation to learn mathematics in the workplace and the role that the trade union education approach promoted in the United Kingdom plays in that motivation. The findings draw on data from 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews with adults learning mathematics, organised through their trade union representatives. Trade unions promote education which uses teaching and learning approaches based on collectivist and activist principles, which is different from mainstream education, so the research explores what might be learnt from this approach. The findings show that the trade union-led approach enables even long-held negative feelings towards mathematics to become positive. The research finds a strong link between supportive social networks, including Union Learning Representative, as well as positive social and emotional encounters in the classroom that develop adult learners’ confidence, increasing their motivation to both learn and use mathematics in their everyday lives. This change in feelings and motivation is termed an Affective Mathematical Journey. These findings, while taking place in a non-traditional context, nevertheless are relevant to practitioners working with adults in both traditional (school and college) and non-traditional (workplace and community) settings. There are also indications of the positive influence this learning has on the relationship between individual members and their trade union organisations.     

Building an online community to support the professional development of casual teachers

Abstract

With the burgeoning casualisation of the higher education workforce, the precarious nature of casual teaching has become increasingly well documented. Universities are recognising that enhancing quality learning and teaching must include attention to the provision of services, support, and professional development for teachers employed on a sessional or casual basis. This paper presents a study investigating an online course for supporting and connecting dispersed and diverse casual teachers at an Australian university. The study explores the role of community and the impact of professional development for casual teachers across discipline boundaries in an institution-wide online course.     

The role of attachment in Facebook usage: a study of Canadian college students

Considering the increasingly ubiquitous and frequent use of Facebook among college students, this study sought to explicate and unravel the salient determinants of Facebook use. Specifically, the main goal was to ascertain the factors influencing Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEP) students’ Facebook use, for which a structural equation model was proposed to examine the relationships between constructs affecting this process. Using a recently proposed extended technology acceptance model, Dhammic Technology Acceptance Model (DTAM) for Facebook use, proposed by Teo and Jarupunphol [2015. Dhammic technology acceptance model (DTAM): Extending the TAM using a condition of attachment in Buddhism. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 52(1), 136–151. doi:10.1177/0735633114568859], we present results of the study using 233 completed survey data from a sample of CEGEP students in Montreal, Quebec. The DTAM was originally tested using a sample of Thai university students; this leads to a natural question as to whether this extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) model holds in a Western sample. The findings from the present study support the validity of the DTAM for explicating Facebook use, and add empirical evidence to the DTAM, according to which the condition of attachment exerts influence on Facebook use. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications, limitations, and future extensions of the study.     

Conceptual and procedural approaches to mathematics in the engineering curriculum: views of qualified engineers*

The research interest underpinning this paper concerns the type of mathematical knowledge engineering students may acquire during their specialised education in terms of the conceptual and procedural dimensions of doing and using mathematics. This study draws on interviews with 25 qualified engineers from South Africa and Sweden regarding their views on the role of mathematics in engineering education, with special focus on the conceptual and procedural aspects of mathematical knowledge. A thematic analysis of the interview data led to the identification of two main themes. According to the conceptual view a predominantly conceptual approach is needed and valued more than procedural skills, while the balanced view emphasises a balance of conceptual understanding and procedural fluency as well as links between them. It is suggested that the mathematical education of engineers would need to be more conceptually oriented to prepare for the demands at the workplace.