The usage of social media networks, such as websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, had become the number one activity on the internet by 2010. The sweeping increase in usage led organizations to explore the marketing possibilities the networks offered. The turning point occurred when organizations began to ask whether it was feasible to use…

One significant manifestation of the proposition of a "classroom without walls" is the online learning environments evident in most contemporary Australian universities. A key element of the effectiveness of those environments is the quality of the interactions that they foster. Planning and implementing rigorous research into that…

Social media sites furnish an online space for a community of practice to create relationships and trust, collaboration and connections, and a personal learning environment. Social networking sites, both public and private, have common elements: member profiles, groups, discussions, and forums. A community of practice brings participants together…

The ethnographic study utilized the research techniques of observations, content analysis, and semi-structured interviews with tween participants (i.e., 9- through 13-year-old youth) during an 8-week literary blog project. Twenty-six participants created individual blog pages within a member-only classroom blog site that allowed for online…

While schools have been using computers within their classrooms for years now, there has been a purposeful ignoring of the growing power of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Many schools ban students from accessing and using sites such as Facebook at school and many English and literacy teachers ignore or deny their value as a teaching…

This study examines the acquisition of target-like patterns of variation by 22 American learners of French during study abroad (SA) in France and correlates such acquisition with the creation of dense, multiplex, exchange-based social networks (Milroy 1980) with native speakers (NSs) during the SA period. In this longitudinal study, naturalistic…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact text messages, social networks, Instant Messaging, email, and blogging had on rural middle school students' ability to decipher between formal and informal writing. Students completed self-evaluation logs, completed Formal and Informal Writing Assessments, and were scored on their use of…

The purpose of this qualitative, multiple-case study was two-fold: 1) to describe, analyze, and interpret the experiences of school principals and superintendents who use multiple social media tools such as blogs, microblogs, social networking sites, podcasts, and online videos with stakeholders as part of their comprehensive communications…

Intra-group differences among Black undergraduate students remain understudied. To gain a more nuanced understanding of Black student life, we must examine how other social locations, like gender and class, connect to the racialized experiences of Black students. This dissertation argues that for Black students, class and gender, along with race,…

This paper presents language learners as social networkers and describes and discusses the types of users that can be identified by analysing the content created by them using a situated mobile language learning app, LingoBee, based on the idea of crowd sourcing. Borrowing ideas from other studies conducted on social network users, we can identify…

Social networking and electronic channels of communication are effective tools in the process of teaching and learning and have increasingly improved the quality of students' learning outcomes in higher education in recent years. The process encourages students' active engagement, collaboration, and participation in class activities and group…

In Pacific Rim countries parents of children with developmental disabilities have organized peer support organizations. One form of peer support is Parent to Parent based on one to one connections between two parents. The movements to create and sustain peer support in the U.S., New Zealand, China, and Korea are described. Qualitative evidence…

The present study examines the interactions within 4 Facebook groups devoted to supporting people who self-injure. Content analysis was used to analyze posts made to the group during the 3-month period of the study to explore the nature of interactions and the frequency of themes. High prevalence themes included responses to verbal abuse against…

Numerous recent media accounts indicate that teachers are being fired, put on probation, or otherwise censured because of information found on their social networking sites (SNS). While the literature in business, psychology, and pharmacy shows initial investigations of the impact of SNS information on hiring decisions, this area has not been…

Views about the role of Facebook and other social networking sites in education are extremely varied. Facebook threatens academic success and yet "certain kinds of Facebook use" can support study; indeed, Facebooking students may perform better than their unwired peers (Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe 2007). Facebook is emphatically a…