This case study focuses on issues and dilemmas I faced when collecting data on a social networking site that enabled sociability, communication, and collaboration among teachers. To understand teacher online participation, I used an eclectic mixed-methods design with three phases to collect qualitative and quantitative data. This design allowed me…

We propose a mixed methods approach to digital ethnographic research. Treating online conversational environments as communities that ethnographers engage with as in traditional fieldwork, we represent those conversations and the codes made by researchers thereon in network form. We call these networks "semantic social networks" (SSNs),…

Researchers have proposed that social media provide complementary learning environments for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that might engender participation, engagement, and peer-support. Although suggestive, nearly all of the research in this area consists of case studies, making it challenging to determine whether or to what extent findings…

Down syndrome is a sensitive subject and one that requires efforts being made to improve conditions for individuals with Down syndrome across multiple dimensions. Social awareness is one of the important dimensions for the inclusion of individuals with Down syndrome. Online spaces, as well as offline spaces, are an important part of our daily…

Background: Studies continually show benefits of active learning in college classrooms, yet it is difficult to get faculty to adopt these methods. Particularly challenging is the final step of the instructional change process, "refreezing," when after making initial changes in instructional methods, instructors decide whether to continue…

This paper discusses the process of analysing online discussion and argues for the merits of mixed methods. Much research of online participation and e-learning has been either message focused or person focused analysis. The former covers methodologies such as content and discourse analysis, the latter interviewing and surveys. The paper discusses…

Approaching the new media literacies as social practices through the lens of Participatory Culture Framework, the present study adapted new media literacies to online social networks and examined the social media literacy practices of international graduate students (IGSs). The data was collected through an online survey of 90 IGSs,…

This case study is the first iteration of a large-scale design-based research project to improve Pepper, an interactive discussion-based learning environment. In this phase, we designed and implemented two social features to scaffold positive learner interactivity behaviors: a "Like" button and linking tool. A mixed-methods approach was…

This article contributes to the literature on connectivism, connectivist MOOCs (cMOOCs) and rhizomatic learning by examining participant interactions, community formation and nomadic learner behavior in a particular cMOOC, #rhizo15, facilitated for 6 weeks by Dave Cormier. It further focuses on what we can learn by observing Twitter interactions…

The purpose of this research was to investigate female Arab college students' use of and perceptions about social networking sites (SNSs) as an English language learning environment. A mixed methods approach was adopted for data collection and analysis. First, a questionnaire was used to explore the extent to which participants (n = 182) were…

#PhDChat is an online network of individuals that has its roots to a group of UK doctoral students who began using Twitter in 2010 to hold discussions. Since then, the network around #PhDchat has evolved and grown. In this study, we examine this network using a mixed methods analysis of the tweets that were labeled with the hashtag over a…

Feedback has long been utilised as an effective tool to enhance learning. Between students and teachers; students and students; students and schools, feedback provides a channel of communication between all parties within an education system. With the emergence and development of social networking sites (SNSs) over the past decade, it has become…

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is a social construct that examines whether students are concerned that they are missing out on experiences that others are having, and we examined this relation to their concerns over missing activities in their home culture. This mixed-methods pilot study sought to determine how social media affects the study abroad…

This study sought to examine how educators are using Twitter to increase their professional learning opportunities beyond the boundaries of traditional professional development offers, and whether educators feel a greater sense of fulfillment receiving professional development through networking and community learning than they do through…

During the course of pre-and in-service teacher education programmes, reflection can happen in a number of ways, for example: reflective journals, personal stories and pair/group co-operative discussions, professional development portfolios, and blogs and electronic portfolios. The aim of this paper is to examine various technologies such as…