In organizations of any size, communication, collaboration and informal learning among employees can be critical contributors to meeting goals and succeeding in the marketplace (Mason & Lefrere, 2003). When done well, over time these groups of employees form loose bonds and evolve into communities of practice that promote shared learning and…

The vitality of socio-technical networks, like online communities and social networks, is predominantly dependent upon active member participation. In most socio-technical networks a minority of members participate more than others and thus play key roles that sustain the value of the network. The overarching objective of this study was to extend…

Decades of research have established that there is a significant issue retaining teachers in America's schools. In fact, upwards of 50% of all teachers do not last more than five years (Ingersoll, 2001). Despite a tremendous amount of research, very little in the form of social network analysis has been utilized to study the problem. This…

Much of the research on cultural identity development does not capture experiences of individuals with parents from two or more cultural backgrounds or those living in multicultural contexts. Our study explores how immigrant youth in a multicultural city view and use identities to negotiate at school, with peers, and with family. Participants (N =…

Increasingly, disability is being conceptualized through a social-ecological framework that emphasizes the match or mismatch between the person and their environment (Wehmeyer et al., 2008). With that, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have examined what supports are necessary to create truly inclusive communities for individuals with…

Leadership in Educational Technology is a relatively new field that is changing as fast as technology itself. Success for an educational leader includes maintaining a firm grasp of how to diagnose the needs of a district, a school, or a classroom while aligning policies, procedures, and protocols into a format that will empower the individual…

In life, one will come across diverse types of leaders. While each leadership type has positive and negative qualities, each style fits appropriately in distinct situations. Supervisors must determine how to manage their staff in constructive ways, engaging and motivating them to learn more and do more within their specific professional area. The…

Facilitating an interpersonal knowledge transfer among employees constitutes a key building block in setting up organizational training initiatives. With practitioners and researchers looking for innovative training methods, online Communities of Learning (CoL) have been promoted as a promising methodology to foster this kind of transfer. However,…

This author has often heard teachers refer to kids as "experts" when it comes to using technology. She has found, however, that, while they may be great at navigating a new app or figuring out how to use the latest gadget, kids are not experts when it comes to properly communicating and ethically handling everything that goes along with…

Based on a qualitative study documenting how Spanish teachers bear an especially heavy burden as unofficial translators, interpreters, and school representatives, this article documents how some Latina high school Spanish teachers struggle to form social networks with Latino students in new Latino school communities. Employing social frameworks,…

In this study, the relationships among gender, empathetic responsiveness, perceived group norms, prosocial affiliations, and bullying roles were examined for 262 fifth- through eighth-grade students (n = 141 males; n = 121 females). According to the Bullying Participant Roles Survey (BPRS), participants were identified as defenders (n = 135;…

This paper reports on a case study of the impact of professional doctorate programmes on graduates and their work organisations. Telephone interviews were carried out with graduates and nominated peer and senior colleagues to elucidate the types of change apparent and the impact of those changes. We found that all interviewees reported development…

An increasing number of institutions utilize social media tools, including student-written blogs, on their admission websites in an effort to enhance authenticity in their recruitment marketing materials. This study offers a framework for understanding what contributes to prospective college students' perceptions of social media authenticity…

Pervasive social networking and media sharing technologies have augmented perceptual understanding and information gathering and, while text-based resources have remained the standard for centuries, they do not appeal to the hyper-stimulated visual learners of today. In particular, the research suggests that targeted YouTube videos enhance student…

Social interactions between students are a major and underexplored part of undergraduate education. Understanding how learning relationships form in undergraduate classrooms, as well as the impacts these relationships have on learning outcomes, can inform educators in unique ways and improve educational reform. Social network analysis (SNA)…