Social Media Tools And Platforms In Learning Environments

Online social media have transformed the face of human interaction in the 21st century. Wikis, blogs, online groups and forums, podcasts, virtual worlds, and social tagging are but a few of the applications enabling innovative behaviors that support acquisition, access, manipulation, retrieval, and visualization of information. It is, therefore, no surprise that educational practitioners and theorists have begun to explore how social media can be harnessed to describe and implement new paradigms for communication, learning, and education. The editors’ goal in publishing this book was to identify original research on the application of online social media and related technologies in education as well as emerging applications in Web technologies that could provide and shape future educational platforms. The selected contributions deal with questions such as how social media can truly enrich and enhance learning and teaching experiences in ways not otherwise possible; how learning can be integrated in a distributed and ubiquitous social computing environment; or what theories, paradigms, and models are applicable for the support of social computing in education. Researchers in education or educational software will find interesting and sometimes provocative chapters on paradigms and methodologies, virtual and mobile learning spaces, and assessment and social factors. Practitioners in these fields will benefit from an additional section devoted to case studies and first experience reports.

Online social media have transformed the face of human interaction in the 21st century. Wikis, blogs, online groups and forums, podcasts, virtual worlds, and social tagging are but a few of the applications enabling innovative behaviors that support acquisition, access, manipulation, retrieval, and visualization of information. It is, therefore, no surprise that educational practitioners and theorists have begun to explore how social media can be harnessed to describe and implement new paradigms for communication, learning, and education. The editors’ goal in publishing this book was to identify original research on the application of online social media and related technologies in education as well as emerging applications in Web technologies that could provide and shape future educational platforms. The selected contributions deal with questions such as how social media can truly enrich and enhance learning and teaching experiences in ways not otherwise possible; how learning can be integrated in a distributed and ubiquitous social computing environment; or what theories, paradigms, and models are applicable for the support of social computing in education. Researchers in education or educational software will find interesting and sometimes provocative chapters on paradigms and methodologies, virtual and mobile learning spaces, and assessment and social factors. Practitioners in these fields will benefit from an additional section devoted to case studies and first experience reports.

Online social media have transformed the face of human interaction in the 21st century. Wikis, blogs, online groups and forums, podcasts, virtual worlds, and social tagging are but a few of the applications enabling innovative behaviors that support acquisition, access, manipulation, retrieval, and visualization of information. It is, therefore, no surprise that educational practitioners and theorists have begun to explore how social media can be harnessed to describe and implement new paradigms for communication, learning, and education. The editors’ goal in publishing this book was to identify original research on the application of online social media and related technologies in education as well as emerging applications in Web technologies that could provide and shape future educational platforms. The selected contributions deal with questions such as how social media can truly enrich and enhance learning and teaching experiences in ways not otherwise possible; how learning can be integrated in a distributed and ubiquitous social computing environment; or what theories, paradigms, and models are applicable for the support of social computing in education. Researchers in education or educational software will find interesting and sometimes provocative chapters on paradigms and methodologies, virtual and mobile learning spaces, and assessment and social factors. Practitioners in these fields will benefit from an additional section devoted to case studies and first experience reports.

As the world rapidly moves online, sectors from management, industry, government, and education have broadly begun to virtualize the way people interact and learn. Virtual Learning Environments: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications is a three-volume compendium of the latest research, case studies, theories, and methodologies within the field of virtual learning environments. As networks get faster, cheaper, safer, and more reliable, their applications grow at a rate that makes it difficult for the typical practitioner to keep abreast. With a wide range of subjects, spanning from authors across the globe and with applications at different levels of education and higher learning, this reference guide serves academics and practitioners alike, indexed and categorized easily for study and application.

Most technologies have been harnessed to enable educators to conduct their business remotely. However, the social context of technology as a mediating factor needs to be examined to address the perceptions of barriers to learning due to the lack of social interaction between a teacher and a learner in such a setting. Developing Technology Mediation in Learning Environments is an essential reference source that widens the scene of STEM education with an all-encompassing approach to technology-mediated learning, establishing a context for technology as a mediating factor in education. Featuring research on topics such as distance education, digital storytelling, and mobile learning, this book is ideally designed for teachers, IT consultants, educational software developers, researchers, administrators, and professionals seeking coverage on developing digital skills and professional knowledge using technology.

English Studies Online: Programs, Practices, Possibilities represents a collection of essays by established teacher-scholars across English Studies who offer critical commentary on how they have worked to create and sustain high-impact online programs (majors, minors, certificates) and courses in the field. Ultimately, these chapters explore the programs and classroom practices that can help faculty across English Studies to think carefully and critically about the changes that online education affords us, the rich possibilities such courses and programs bring, and some potential problems they can introduce into our department and college ecologies. By highlighting both innovative pedagogies and hybrid methods, the authors in our collection demonstrate how we might engage these changes more productively. Divided into three interrelated conversations — practices, programs, and possibilities — the essays in this collection demonstrate some of the innovative pedagogical work going on in English departments around the United States in order to highlight how both hybrid and fully online programs in English Studies can help us to more meaningfully and purposefully enact the values of a liberal arts education. This collection serves as both a cautionary history of teaching practices and programs that have developed in English Studies and a space to support faculty and administrators in making the case for why and how humanities disciplines can be important contributors to digital teaching and learning. Contributors include Joanne Addison, William P. Banks, Lisa Beckelhimer, Dev K. Bose, Elizabeth Burrows, Amy Cicchino, Erin A. Frost, Heidi Skurat Harris, John Havard, Marcela Hebbard, Stephanie Hedge, Ashley J. Holmes, George Jensen, Karen Kuralt, Michele Griegel-McCord, Samantha McNeilly, Lilian Mina, Catrina Mitchum, Janine Morris, Michael Neal, Cynthia Nitz Ris, Rochelle Rodrigo, Cecilia Shelton, Susan Spangler, Katelyn Stark, Eric Sterling, and Richard C. Taylor.

Social media are increasingly popular platforms for collaboration and quick information sharing. This title collects reports on how these technologies are being used to educate educators with social media in creative and effective ways. It examines the processes, design, delivery and evaluation of instruction using social media.

As face-to-face interaction between student and instructor is not present in online learning environments, it is increasingly important to understand how to establish and maintain social presence in online learning. Student-Teacher Interaction in Online Learning Environments provides successful strategies and procedures for developing policies to bring about an awareness of the practices that enhance online learning. This reference book provides building blocks to help improve the outcome of online coursework and discusses social presence to help improve performance, interaction, and a sense of community for all participants in an online arena. This book is of essential use to online educators, administrators, researchers, and students.