An introduction to the potential of social networking sites in education
This paper reviews Social Networking Sites (SNS) that have become available via the Internet in the light of usability for teaching and learning. Membership rules relating to entries for some popular sites, such as “Facebook” and “MySpace” are reviewed. Characteristics of these sites are reviewed and then compared to evaluate the trust and privacy issues of shared information available to any given social group. Trust and privacy plays a critical role when SNS are used for the purpose of teaching and learning. Thus, the negative and positive aspects of SNS are reviewed in detail. This knowledge will form the basis to assist with regulating SNS for teaching and learning. Publication Details This conference paper was originally published as Griffith, S and Liyanage, L, An introduction to the potential of social networking sites in education, Proceedings of the Emerging Technologies Conference, University of Wollongong, 18-21 June 2008. This conference paper is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/etc08/9
Appropriating Online Social Networking (OSN) Activities for Higher Education: Two Malaysian Cases
Online social networking (OSN) activities are becoming more prevalent in higher education. The phenomenon can be observed in many higher learning institutions around the world. There are many ways of appropriating OSN for teaching and learning. OSN enables lecturers and students to publish and share knowledge quickly and easily. However there are also several challenges which include the limited skills in using social technologies among lecturers and students. This paper discusses the findings from two case studies conducted using an exploratory approach employing semi-structured interviews to gather lecturers’ perspectives on their appropriation and use of OSN. The findings demonstrate a range of approaches used as well as the benefits and challenges faced by the lecturers in appropriating social technologies for teaching and learning. The finding can be used as a guide for other lecturers and educational designers to improve the use of OSN activities in higher education.
The interrelationship of student ratings of instructors' immediacy, verbal aggressiveness, homophily, and interpersonal attraction
This study explored the relationships of immediacy and verbal aggression with homophily and interpersonal attraction in the instructional context. Immediacy was negatively related to verbal aggression and positively related to all dimensions of homophily and interpersonal attraction. Verbal aggression was also found to be negatively related to both dimensions of homophily and all three dimensions of interpersonal attraction. It is recommended that the relationship between verbal aggression and immediacy be examined in greater detail, including possible’ interactions between these variables and various instructional outcomes.