Role of social software tools in education: a literature review

Minocha, Shaíley

doi:10.1108/00400910910987174

Cited by 115 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(9 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Researchers propose that SNS have the potential to improve learning experiences in a variety of ways, including improving communicative efficiency (Towner & Muñoz, 2011), providing positive social transformations (Gallon, 2010;Levickaitė, 2010), facilitating openness (Roblyer, McDaniel, Webb, Herman, & Witty, 2010), and fostering learner participation, community building, and social presence (Lee & McLoughlin, 2010;Minocha, 2009). Despite such promising possibilities, scant empirical evidence on the applications of SNS in educational contexts exists (Greenhow, 2011;, which prevents researchers from being able to advocate for educational SNS use from a position of empirical certainty.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fragmented educator 2.0: Social networking sites, acceptable identity fragments, and the identity constellation

Kimmons

Veletsianos

2014

Computers & Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social Networking Sites (SNS) have been used to support educational and professional endeavors. However, little research has been done to understand the relationship between educator identity and participation in SNS or to examine the implications that institutional regulation of such media may have upon educator identity. Using grounded theory, in this study we developed a framework for understanding how a group of teacher education students viewed their developing identities within social networking sites as they began the life transition to becoming educators. The theory that emerged from this study proposes that educator identity consists of a constellation of interconnected acceptable identity fragments, which are each intentional, authentic, transitional, necessarily incomplete, and socially-constructed andresponsive. This view of educator identity contrasts sharply with previous views of identity by highlighting the complicated, negotiated, and recursive relationship that exists between educator participation in SNS and educator identity. Additionally, this perspective suggests that educator participation in SNS is neither fully representative of authentic identity (as prominent SNS models imply) nor dramaturgical. These findings yield important implications for educators, researchers, educational institutions, lawmakers, and SNS developers alike, because they lead to a more sophisticated understanding of identity and online participation that is essential for developing mechanisms to support moral and legal judgments, professionalism, and social interactions relative to SNS. 1 1 Abbreviations: AIF -acceptable identity fragment; SNS -social networking site Fragmented Educator 3

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fragmented educator 2.0: Social networking sites, acceptable identity fragments, and the identity constellation

Kimmons

Veletsianos

2014

Computers & Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As Minocha (2009a) observed, this is because the educational landscape of social software is just beginning to emerge. Further, Minocha (2009b) cautioned that it may be difficult to trust the quality of voluntary contributions without authentication. We believe we have addressed both of these issues in our positive psychology course.…”

Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The term Web 2.0, often referred to as social software or social media (Boyd & Ellison, 2007), includes a range of software tools which enable users to share information with other users (Minocha, 2009b). These tools include blogs, a contraction of 'web-based logs', which are online journals in which a writer publishes a series of chronological entries or posts that can be updated on a regular basis (Farmer, Yue, & Brooks, 2008).…”

Section: Web 20 Technology: Blogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching Undergraduate Positive Psychology: An Active Learning Approach Using Student Blogs

Bridges

Harnish

Sillman

2012

Psychology Learning & Teaching

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In just over ten years positive psychology has become a major subfield in psychology. This is reflected in the development of positive psychology courses at many universities and in over a thousand empirical articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Thus far, there is little published research suggesting ways to incorporate active learning techniques into these courses. This article describes the use of student blogs, employing a university blog platform, to teach several interventions in an undergraduate positive psychology course. The authors asked students enrolled in an introductory positive psychology course at a large university to complete three exercises, referred to as Three Good Things (recalling three good things that happened in the last 24 hours), Signature Strengths (using signature strengths in novel ways), and the Gratitude Letter (writing a letter of gratitude to someone who has been a positive influence in one's life), and record their experience in a blog. These exercises have been found to increase happiness and positive emotions. Students made a significantly higher evaluation of the course with blogs than of the same course without blogs. The authors describe how the techniques were assigned and scored, and examine the benefits and challenges of this method.In 1998, the president of the American Psychological Association, Martin E. P. Seligman, reminded psychologists of the largely forgotten mission of psychology -to focus on well-being and the strengths and virtues that allow people to thrive (Compton, 2005). In asking psychology to reorient itself, Seligman, along with colleague Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, had conceived a new subfield for psychology, called positive psychology, which focuses on the empirical study of positive emotions and character strengths (Azar, 2011). Prior to the creation of positive psychology the study of mental illness had been the disproportionate focus of psychology (Azar, 2011).Seldom had a science added a new subfield that was embraced as quickly; Compton (2005) noted that within a few years of its founding, positive psychology had become an influential area of inquiry in psychology. Indeed, this paradigm shift was so rapid that many universities began to offer courses and programs in positive psychology almost immediately. Such a transformation is usually much more gradual, especially at large institutions. This change resulted in the creation of positive psychology centres at several major universities, the addition of over 70 colleges and universities with positive psychology faculty (Penn Positive Psychology Center, 2011), and the development of more than 50 positive research groups at universities all over the world (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). The swift development of positive psychology also saw the creation of the Journal of Positive Psychology, devoted to research on optimal human functioning, and the publication of more than 1000 articles related to the field published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000(Azar, 2011. Our institution,...

show abstract

“…Thus this could be viewed as a challenge to schools to encourage uptake and usage of ePortfolios (Minocha, 2009) particularly when linked to CPD.…”

Section: Purposementioning

confidence: 99%

ePortfolios beyond pre-service teacher education: a new dawn?

Boulton¹

2013

European Journal of Teacher Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The context of this paper is the final phase of a longitudinal action research project investigating whether an ePortfolio, created as a pre-service teacher to evidence a digital story of developing professional identity, could transition into employability, ie the first year as a newly qualified teacher. Thus this paper focuses on a new area of ePortfolio related research in teacher education; the transition from university into employment. The research findings indicate a changing purpose of the ePortfolio from training to the workplace, along with an increasing strength of ownership as part of the transition, and empowerment in becoming a teacher. Key outcomes are discussed and arguments presented for an ePortfolio to support professional development from university to employment.Keywords: ePortfolio; technology; secondary; pre-service teachers; newly qualified teachers; continuing professional development; employablity. IntroductionThis paper presents the findings of a research project focussing on ePortfolios in pre-service teacher education from university into employment and is therefore of interest to teacher educators both in the United Kingdom (UK) and internationally. This paper thus builds on existing research into ePortfolios in pre-service teacher education and explores a new area of development by examining how and if the ePortfolio, created as a pre-service teacher, can be extended into the NQT year. The research draws on key theories of: identity, self-regulation leading to self-efficacy, and situated learning; these are discussed in more detail later in the paper. The project was part funded by the Training Development Agency, UK.The context is the final phase of a longitudinal action research project spanning four years at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), United Kingdom (UK), focussing on the evaluation of ePortfolios for pre-service teachers to present evidence of their digital journey to becoming a teacher. This final phase aimed to identify whether the e-Portfolio, developed as a pre-service teacher, could create a space where a newly qualified teacher (NQT), working in a 'situated' context could reflect on teaching and plan targets for future action.Two key aims were identified for this phase: to pilot the use of ePortfolios beyond teacher training, initially into the NQT year; and to identify if whether an ePortfolio tool could continue to support the professional development for NQTs during their continuing teaching career. The focus for this phase was NQTs employed in the secondary sector (11-18 years) who had completed either a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) 1 or a Graduate Teacher Programme 2 (GTP) in the previous year within the School of Education at NTU. This paper thus builds on existing research into ePortfolios in teacher education and explores a new area of development by examining how and if the ePortfolio can be extended into the NQT year. The research draws on key theories: identity, self-regulation leading to self-efficacy, and situated learning; th...

show abstract

Role of social software tools in education: a literature review

Cited by 115 publications

References 7 publications

The fragmented educator 2.0: Social networking sites, acceptable identity fragments, and the identity constellation

The fragmented educator 2.0: Social networking sites, acceptable identity fragments, and the identity constellation

Teaching Undergraduate Positive Psychology: An Active Learning Approach Using Student Blogs

ePortfolios beyond pre-service teacher education: a new dawn?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About