‘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.     

基于微信的虚拟学习社群研究

微信作为一款集通讯、社交和平台功能于一体的移动应用软件,为构建虚拟学习社群提供了技术支持。运用社会网络分析法中的整体网研究,针对一个基于微信的虚拟学习社群进行案例分析,通过群中学习者的行为特点及网络结构,构建其社会网络分析模型,并通过分析模型中网络结构关系、网络密度及小团体数目等因素探究微信好友关系对社群发展的影响,以期为成功构造基于微信的虚拟学习社群提供借鉴与启示。     

在线学习中活动感知对社会性技能、社群归属感和学习满意度的影响

本研究目的在于探讨增强性的活动感知与网上学习的社会性互动本质之间的关系及其相互影响。作为一个基于设计的研究项目,我们已建立了对网路学习之社会性因素的深入了解,且开发了一个背景感知活动通知系统以支持活动感知,用于提升学习者网上学习的社会性技能。本研究通过问卷调查的方法收集资料,主要针对六门使用活动感知支持系统的网上学习课程,学生对其自身网上学习经验的认知。研究结果显示,学生获取活动讯息的途径、他们对活动讯息有效性的认知,对他们网上学习的社会性技能、社群归属感、以及学习满意度有正向的影响。此外,学生的网上社会性技能的组成要素也以不同的方式影响着他们的网上社群归属感和学习满意度,例如,学生对同伴与教师存在的感知以及分享个人资料的舒适度,影响着他们对社群归属感的认知;学生对教师存在的认识和社群归属感,也影响他们的学习满意度。     

试析乡村社区建设的多元价值

基于哲学价值的理论,分析农村社区建设的实践形成了以留守群体、农民工为主体,以社区为客体的价值关系,按照是否有利于留守群体、农民工的生存与发展,是否有利于促进社会的和谐这个尺度进行研究,认为弘扬农村社区信任合作、互助互惠优秀传统文化,能够及时有效地化解留守群体的困难;建设社区同外部联系的现代交通通讯设施,社区内部的生产生活设施,满足农民工可以进城,也可以退出,自主选择,进退两宜的空间;而通过深化村民自治,加快社会建设,改革社会管理的农村社区建设,则是和谐社会建设的需要。     

Getting the Feel: Email Usage in a Nonprofit Community Organization in a Low-Income Community

Through in-depth interviews of 26 employees, this study examined how social norms and values influence email usage in a nonprofit organization in a low-income urban community. Although adequate technical infrastructure was in place, a shared norm on getting a feel in social interactions reinforced face-to-face communication as the primary mode of communication among members. This norm, coupled with a lack of computer literacy and of technical support, led to low email usage and slow adaptation to external technological change. These findings revealed the importance of improving members' technical competence to experience a feel in computer-mediated communication before initiating changes in technology use.     

传播网络社会支持：以网络抑郁症支持群体为例

社会支持是人类沟通的基本形式,能减少发病率和死亡率、延长患者的寿命以及提高患者对应激性生活事件的应对水平。近年来。随着互联网的普及,网络社会支持已经发展成为信息传播技术社会应用的主题之一。研究发现,抑郁症支持群体最主要的社会支持类型是信息和情感支持,自尊支持和网络支持居次．实物支持最少。     

Improving online social presence through asynchronous video

Online learning has become a reality for many students in higher education. Unfortunately, something that has also become a reality is a sense of isolation in online courses, and Moore (1980) has warned that students' sense of distance can threaten their ability to learn. The community of inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) has provided insight into ways that online interactions can improve students' and instructors' social presence and learning. Emerging video technologies may be able to improve these interactions and thus more easily support the development of communities of inquiry. In this study we interviewed students in three distinct courses using different video-based instructional strategies. A large majority of students indicated feeling that the video-based communication made their instructors seem more real, present, and familiar, and that these relationships were similar to face-to-face instruction. Video communication impacted students' social presence in similar ways, although to a lesser degree than they believed it impacted instructor social presence. We conclude with discussion for future research and practice.     

Limits and potentials of social networking in academia: case study of the evolution of a mathematics Facebook community

The use of social networking services has rapidly increased in recent years, especially by university students. Some authors assert that they have educational potential in terms of promoting collaborative learning practices among undergraduate students which enhance engagement and understanding. This possibility is particularly relevant to mathematics learning, because university communities are frequently experienced as isolating and performance-oriented. This case study reports on the use of Facebook to support mathematical communication and more participative learning identities within a UK university mathematics department. It describes how the reactive formation of a student-led Facebook community became a source of conflict within the wider academic social community and how this conflict was eventually resolved. While it raises questions about the extent to which Facebook can encourage open collaborative learning within the wider context of student aspirations in a competitive climate, it notes its potential for fostering cross-cohort student support in a subject which frequently induces anxiety in its students.     

Community detection with opinion leaders’ identification for promoting collaborative problem-based learning performance

In the 21st century when knowledge-based economy is emphasized, the cultivation of autonomous learning and problem-solving abilities presents the importance. With web-based collaborative problem-based learning (CPBL), learners could more conveniently cultivate their problem-solving abilities through autonomous learning. Nevertheless, learners are often guided to solve a target problem by the information announced by teachers during the CPBL processes. Individual learners often could not effectively absorb such standard information, thus ignoring the important information from teachers. In the information communication theory, the two-step flow of communication through opinion leaders has been proved that it can better change audiences’ attitudes than the one-step flow of communication through mass media. This study thus employs the modularity Q function as the fitness function of genetic algorithm to optimally detect learning communities and uses PageRank measure to accurately find out community opinion leaders according to the social network interaction data of learners in the CPBL process. Based on quasi-experimental design, this study examines whether learners in the experimental group using the two-step flow of communication through opinion leaders to convey information for solving the target CPBL missions could more significantly enhance web-based CPBL performance, social network interaction and group cohesion than learners in the control group using the one-step flow of communication through teachers’ information. Analytical results show learners in the experimental group remarkably outperform those in the control group on learning performance and peer interaction under a CPBL environment. Particularly, female learners in the experimental group notably outperform female learners in the control group on learning performance, while there is no significant difference in male learners between both groups. More importantly, learners in the experimental group present significantly higher group cohesion than those in the control group. This study confirms that using the two-step flow of communication instead of the one-step flow of communication traditionally used in web-based learning environments could significantly promote web-based CPBL performance, social network interaction and group cohesion.     

对一例成年智障者社会交往技能的社区干预研究

在以往文献报告中,对智障者的干预训练主要针对的是儿童和青少年,场所主要在特殊学校,而对成年智障者干预训练的报告却很少。这篇文章采用个案研究的方式,探讨了社区干预对成年智障者社会交往技能的辅导过程和效果,为提高成年智障者的社会适应力提供了依据。研究结果证明:(1)社区支持和家庭力量相结合是成年智障者社区干预的有效途径;(2)行为疗法的各种技术更适合于成年智障者社会交往技能的提高。     

新媒体环境下的广告本质

从广告数字化信息沟通功能、广告中附着的意义和价值取向以及广告传播的社会责任等三个层面分析认为,新媒体环境下,广告融入了消费者生活环境和媒体环境,在互动性、个性化、人性化的媒体特征中,消解了企业与消费者,消费者与其他社会成员之间的界限,其本质在于让广告成为融入生活的一种信息形态,并以广告为中心构建一个具有共同的价值观念和强烈的社会责任意识,同时也能协同解决社会公共问题的生活共同体。广告本质的这种变化和转型,顺应了时代和消费语境变化的需要。     

微群网络学习共同体的实践探索

社会性建构理论倡导和支持在一定的社会文化情境脉络之中实现知识的流动、生产和创生,如何利用社会化网络建构学习共同体成为研究的热点问题之一。微群是随着Web2.0而兴起的一类开放的互联网社交服务社群,具有内容的微型化与简明性、操作方式的多样化与便捷性、交流的时效性与临场感等特征,可以多渠道地使隐性知识显性化、便捷地将海量碎片信息重组并提供良好的应用程序接口,实现软件功能移植。河南师范大学以"数字媒体技术导论"课程内容为主题,通过13周、三轮行动研究法,进行基于微群的网络学习共同体实践,发现利用微群进行学习,能发挥教师主导和学习者主体作用,激发学习者学习兴趣,加深学习者对知识的理解,促进成员之间的情感交流,培养个人协作学习、自我管理、问题探究等方面的能力。     

山城“棒棒军”社会支持网络的构建——基于奉节县四个社区的深入访谈

采用结构化访谈,选取暂租类居住在重庆市奉节县四个社区的"棒棒军"作为个案访谈对象。采用社会支持理论视角,同时查阅相关文献资料,发现"棒棒军"缺乏必要的情绪支持、物质援助和相关服务,他们获取信息渠道单一且信息利用度低。根据问题,剖析"棒棒军"缺乏社会支持的具体原因。应以政府为主导、社区为载体、媒体为媒介、社工介入为抓手四方联动才能构建"棒棒军"社会支持网络,改变其生存状况,进而帮助其适应城市化的进程。     

Community colleges maintain modest response rates to prospective student inquiry

None of the community colleges in this study responded with a text message, as requested in the prospective student’s inquiry. Only 1.38% (n = 3) of the institutions responded to the inquiry with a telephone call. This research realized a slightly higher rate of e-mail response within five working days; 54.98% (n = 116) as opposed to the 2009 results of 50.5% (n = 110) in Shadinger’s (2014) study. More community colleges (n = 12, 5.5%) also had e-mail addresses or information request forms (n = 182, 83.5%) than in the original study (n = 170, 78.0%). Nearly 100% of community college websites had social media links, even when an e-mail address or information request form was not available. In an expansion of previous statements about communication, Noel-Levitz (2014a) reported prospective students were “more likely to consider schools that use e-mail, text messages or social media to communicate” (p. 4). Concurrently, the underutilization of e-mail, social media, and cell phones will simply exacerbate communication and recruiting issues for community colleges.     

Exercising older people´s brains in Costa Rica: Design principles for using information and communication technologies for cognitive activity and social interaction

This study is part of a design-based research project aimed at designing a learning intervention for enabling Costa Rican older people to use information and communication technologies for cognitive activity and social interaction. Data from relevant literature, a focus group with older adults, and interviews with professionals teaching older adults how to use information and communication technologies were analyzed, in order to create context-sensitive design principles that could guide the design of learning interventions that meet the needs of older learners. The analysis derived context-sensitive design principles that include wider topics that influence the learning process, such as emotions and stereotypes related to learning about and using information and communication technologies, as well as the social support to that learning. The resulting eight design principles argue for respectful learning environments, in-depth comprehension of changes related to aging, time and space to reflect on emotions related to the learning process, and acknowledgment of participants’ individuality.     

The Relationship of Social Presence and Interaction in Online Classes

The purpose of this research was to study social presence in the online learning environment. Dimensions of social presence were examined using quantitative and qualitative methods. Three dimensions of social presence-social context, online communication, and interactivity-emerged as important elements in establishing a sense of community among online learners. The privacy factor was also an important element in the level of comfort for students online. An increase in the level of online interaction occurs with an improved level of social presence. This can be fostered by considering characteristics of the learners, by selecting the appropriate computer-mediated communication medium, and by applying appropriate instructional elements to course design.     

Social isolation from communities and child maltreatment: a cross-cultural comparison

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to determine: (1) the differences between Spanish and Colombian cultures in relation to community social support variables, and (2) the relationships between community social support variables and child maltreatment in both cultures. METHOD: The study was based on 670 nonabusive families and 166 abusive families. The parents were asked to complete the Community Social Support Questionnaire. This instrument measures community social support in terms of Community Integration and Satisfaction, membership in voluntary organizations and community participation, and use of Community Resources of Social Support. RESULTS: Differences between both cultures were found in the pattern of community social support for the nonabusive groups. However, the relationships between community social support and child maltreatment were similar cross-culturally. Our results indicate that in both cultures abusive parents show lower levels of community integration, participation in community social activities and use of formal and informal organizations than the parents that provide adequate care. CONCLUSIONS: The results largely support the literature that has repeatedly reported the link between social isolation and child maltreatment and they confirm this relation within two cultural contexts, Colombian and Spanish, quite different from the Anglo-Saxon context, where most of the previous studies have been carried out.     

SRL in Online Cooperative Learning: implications for pre-service teacher training

The aim of this article is to investigate the relation between self-regulated learning and online collaborative environments. Based on the study of a blended course for trainee teachers, it explores the potential of the online collaborative component of the course for the practice and development of Self-Regulated Learning. The study made use of two questionnaires, developed within the TELEPEERS European project, to evaluate the potential support to SRL provided by technology-enhanced learning environments. The results provide information about the aspects of SRL practised in our environment. These include social competences, such as communication and negotiation with tutors and peers, emotional and motivational aspects, such as keeping up motivation and maintaining and restoring a positive working attitude, and cognitive and metacognitive skills such as management of time and learning environment and reflection on learning outcomes. The study also suggests the need to consider not only the SRL of the individuals involved in the learning process, but also the SRL of the whole community, that is, the result of the mediation between individual autonomy and group collaboration.     

转型时期社区在社会支持中的作用研究

社区的作用是随着社会结构的转型而凸显的。只有完善社区建设才能充分发挥社区在社会支持中的作用。本文阐述了社会支持的概念蕴涵、社区在社会支持中的作用,在此基础上提出了具体的建议。     

即时通讯网络支持的分布式教育实习共同体培育研究

教育实习是职前教师教育过程中不可或缺的综合实践环节,教育实习共同体是实践共同体在教育实习情境下的具体化。即时通讯技术和平台支持分布式教育实习共同体成员之间的即时联系,利于分布式共同体的培育和发展。即时通讯网络支持的分布式教育实习共同体培育模型包括四个核心要素：定义实践领域、明确共同体成员、界定共同体实践行为以及发挥即时通讯网络的关键作用。基于这一模型,利用手机媒体和中国移动飞信平台,从实证层面验证了教育实习共同体培育的有效性。研究表明：即时通讯网络切实有效地支持了分布式教育实习共同体成员之间的即时、持续互动,能够促进共同体实践成果的丰富与发展。