Social networking technologies as vehicles of support for women in learning communities

Abstract

Adult women students are stressed with the realities of conflicting role responsibilities and external demands that serve as barriers to academic success and persistence. It is argued that women learn best in inclusive learning environments characterized by experience, connection, and access to a network of peer relationships that provide much-needed support in managing the challenges (Preece and Houghton, 2000).Most online instructional designs, however, reflect a male, patriarchal communication paradigm that focuses on data and rationality rather than relationships. Women (and some men) who are socialized to value relationships and connections are marginalized in these traditional approaches to formal online learning and communities. Whether the intention is to be gender-neutral or gender-absent, it seems as if the unique learning experiences of women are being ignored (Dines and Humez, 2003;Young, 1998).Women have long since used social networking as a means of coping with their struggles (Gittler, 1999), educating and empowering themselves

Understanding Chinese-speaking open courseware users: a case study on user engagement in an open courseware portal in Taiwan (Opensource Opencourse Prototype System)

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Productive Tensions in a Cross-Cultural Peer Mentoring Women’s Network: A Social Capital Perspective

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Attitudes Toward Using Social Networking Sites in Educational Settings With Underperforming Latino Youth

“…In 2008, Facebook surpassed MySpace in active users (Arrington, 2008) and by the end of 2012 claimed over 1 billion active users (Whittaker, 2012). Advocates of Facebook in the classroom suggest that SNSs can enhance the learning and social capital of students if they are utilized as instructional tools (Burgess, 2009; Tomai et al, 2010). The U.S. Facebook user base of 180 million includes 9.8 million users between the ages of 13 and 17 (Saul, 2014).…”