Abstract. Our work analyzes the usefulness of microblogging in second language learning using the example of the social network Twitter. Most learners of English do not require even more passive input in form of texts, lectures or videos, etc. This input is readily available in numerous forms on the Internet. What learners of English need is the chance to actively produce language and the chance to use English as tool of communication. This calls for instructional methods and tools promoting 'active' learning that present opportunities for students to express themselves and interact in the target language. In this paper we describe how we used Twitter with students of English at the Distant College of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. We analyze the students' messages and show how the usage of Twitter trained communicative and cultural competence.
The term "Web 2.0" is used to describe applications that distinguish themselves from previous generations of software by a number of principles. Existing work shows that Web 2.0 applications can be successfully exploited for technologyenhance learning. However, in-depth analyses of the relationship between Web 2.0 technology on the one hand and teaching and learning on the other hand are still rare. In this article, we will analyze the technological principles of the Web 2.0 and describe their pedagogical implications on learning. We will furthermore show that Web 2.0 is not only well suited for learning but also for research on learning: the wealth of services that is available and their openness regarding API and data allow to assemble prototypes of technology-supported learning applications in amazingly small amount of time. These prototypes can be used to evaluate research hypotheses quickly. We will present two example prototypes and discuss the lessons we learned from building and using these prototypes.
Abstract. This paper reports student interaction patterns and self-reported results of using Twitter microblogging environment. The study employs longitudinal probabilistic social network analysis (SNA) to identify the patterns and trends of network dynamics. It is building on earlier works that explore associations of student achievement records with the observed network measures. It integrates gender as an additional variable and reports some relation with interaction patterns. Additionally, the paper reports the results of a questionnaire that enables further discussion on the communication patterns.
Abstract-The last years have seen an increased usage of apps, applications that are downloaded from a centralized repository and run in a particular environment. However, smaller app environments face the major challenge of attracting sufficient awareness and usage by third-party developers and users to become sustainable. This is a typical chickenand-egg problem. Without apps, few people will be using the environment. Few users lead to limited incentive for app developers. We analyze work done in a very similar domain, namely learning object repositories (LORs), to learn about factors that inhibit participation in app environments. We also present an approach to overcome these problems, which aims at lowering the barriers of participation for app production as much as possible. The framework was partly implemented and is being applied at a higher education institution, where teachers and teaching assistants created over a hundred of apps.
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