As members of a nationally accredited research project (I?+?D+i) InterMED (ref.: FF2011-25500) being carried out in the field of Intercultural Mediation, we are aware of the mediator's delicate role in communicative interactions between health professionals and foreign population. Sales has pointed out the dangers of stereotyping minorities and…

The role of new media in the Arab uprisings and the news of widespread surveillance of digital and mobile media have triggered a renewed interest in Arab audiences research, particularly as it pertains to these audiences' critical abilities and digital media literacy competencies. Taken for granted have been Arab youth's widespread use of social…

This article offers a theoretical analysis and phenomenological study of the leadership experiences of black women college students at a predominantly white higher education institution. Existing literature argues that leadership development is vital to the college experience as an opportunity to empower and engage students in social change.…

The potential represented by the usage of Internet-based communication technologies in parallel with e-instruction is enabling learners to cooperate and collaborate throughout the world. However, an important dimension, namely the socialization of learners through online dialogues via e-mail, discussion forums, chats, blogs, wikis and virtual…

The present study investigated the district-wide characteristics of relational ties among a sample of K-12 teachers implementing the Common Core comprehensive education reform. This study addressed deficits in current scholarly understanding of the social influences in schools that impact delivery of educational reform efforts such as the Common…

For the thirty-eighth time, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

How academic disciplines are constituted and the related professional development must be viewed within their wider social, political and economic aspects. When studying the organisation, transformation and spheres of influence of professions, the Development Ecology model provides a tool for understanding the encounter between societal,…

Most traditional age college students communicate regularly on social networking sites such as, MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Bebo, and LiveJournal. These are member-based internet communities that allow users to create a username, enter personal profile information, post photographs and communicate with others in innovative ways. Since Facebook…

Internet usage has dramatically increased over the past decade, and adolescents, or digital natives as they are sometimes called, are readily immersing themselves in life online. In the past ten years, teens' use of the internet has risen from just under 75% of teens in 2000 to over 93% in 2009. With so many teens online and able to access the…

Much research has explored the role of social networks in promoting health through the provision of social support. However, little work has examined how social networks themselves may be structured by health. This article investigates the link between individuals' health and the characteristics of their social network positions.We first develop…

Purpose: The article seeks to identify patterns of service utilization among informal caregivers of frail older adults. In particular, the study examined determinants that explain heterogeneous variations in caregivers' service use patterns. Methods: Using a latent class analysis (LCA) on the 2004 National Long-Term Care Survey and Informal…

For many Digital Natives, text messaging or SMS is the communication channel of choice, but preferences in communication channels aren't the only distinguishing traits of Digital Natives. Attitudes and perceptions related to digital privacy, identity, creativity, piracy, and advocacy also help to set younger generations apart. So how does one take…

The internet has fast become a prevalent medium for collaboration between people and social networks, in particular, have gained vast popularity and relevance over the past few years. Within this framework, our paper will analyse the role played by social networks in current teaching practices. Specifically, we focus on the principles guiding the…

The Open Educational Resources (OER) movement and the Open Access began only over a decade ago. During this period, the progress of the Open Educational Resources movement took place in developed countries for the most part. Recently, new projects have begun to emerge with a strong emphasis on open education. Yet, the concept of openness in…

Despite the increase in massive open online courses (MOOCs), evidence about the pedagogy of learning in MOOCs remains limited. This paper reports on an investigation into the pedagogy in one MOOC--Oxford Brookes University's "First Steps in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education" MOOC (FSLT12). FSLT12 was an open and free professional…