Social technologies for online learning: theoretical and contextual issues

Abstract

Three exemplars are presented of social technologies deployed in educational contexts: wikis; a photo-sharing environment; and a social bookmarking tool.Students were found to engage with the technologies selectively, sometimes rejecting them, in the light of their prior conceptions of education. Some students (a minority in all the studies) were unsympathetic to the educational philosophy underpinning the technology's adoption. The paper demonstrates, through an examination of in-context use, the importance of socio-cultural factors in relation to education, and the non-deterministic nature of educational technology. The academic study of technology has increasingly called into question the deterministic views which are so pervasive in popular discourse and among policy makers. Instead, socio-cultural factors play a crucial role in shaping and defining technology and educational technology is no exception, as the examples in the paper show. The paper concludes by drawing out some implications of the examples for the use of social technologies in education.

Maintaining and Enhancing Students' Collaborative Learning in a Japanese EFL Higher Education Context

“…However, students who only superficially reacted to others' posts demonstrated insufficient learning outcomes, which indicated the significance of students' awareness of constructive discussion as well as instructional intervention (d'Alessio et al, 2019;Joksimović et al, 2015). Some students tend to be resistant to online collaborative activities, which could be related to their discomfort in engaging in student-led tasks that were incompatible with their expectations towards rote-learning (Kear, Jones, Holden, & Curcher, 2016).…”

“…Lastly, effective instructional intervention remains essential. Teachers would play a crucial role in scaffolding students' skills for meaningful online interaction and building a supportive learning community (d'Alessio et al, 2019;Kear et al, 2016).…”

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances

“…There are three blocks of study, guided by an online study calendar and supported by both printed and online materials, online audio-visual resources, and module forums (Kear, 2001(Kear, , 2010Kear et al, 2016). The module will be followed for most students by the module TM112 Introduction to Computing and Information Technology II.…”

Unfitting, uncomfortable, unacademic: a sociological reading of an interactive mobile phone app in university lectures

“…Literature review: the case for a sociology of educational technologies Sociology of education technology scholarship critiques the dominant 'technological determinist' approach to educational technologies. Through a technological determinist lens, educational technologies are perceived as 'acting upon' student cohorts (Jones & Bissell, 2011;Kear, Jones, Holden, & Mark, 2016;Oliver, 2011;Selwyn, 2012;Selwyn & Facer, 2014;Webster, 2013). Such an approach presumes that the agency to effect change is broadly in the hands of technologies that can coerce students into learning, if only they are set up appropriately.…”