Routinisation of Audience Participation: BBC News Online, Citizenship and Democratic Debate

Leading up to the 2010 UK general election, Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, stressed the importance of the Corporation’s ability ‘to provide a strong and independent space where the big debates can take place, free from political or commercial influence’. ‘In this public space,’ he continued, ‘everyone can have access to the lifeblood of healthy democratic debate – impartial news and information’. Affirming the importance of BBC Online, Thompson described it as ‘being a cornerstone of what the BBC should be about’ (Thompson, 2010). As with previous elections, one of the key strategic priorities for the BBC’s Election 2010 website was to help inform the citizenry about the campaign and empower voters to make an informed choice. In the most traditional sense, this was achieved through the BBC’s journalism and a series of rich background features – e.g. guidance on voting procedures, MPs and parliamentary politics, and comparisons of party manifestos. The BBC election websites have also featured experimentation with various forms of audience engagement, exemplified by different interactive features on the BBC micro websites for the 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2010 UK general elections. This has traditionally been anchored in the Corporation’s public service commitment to facilitating ‘civic engagement’ and providing ‘democratic value’ to British citizens (see also Thorsen et al., 2009, Thorsen, 2010, 2011, Allan and Thorsen, 2010). The BBC’s news website was incredibly popular during the 2010 election according to visitor statistics. On results day, May 7, BBC News Online had 11.4 million individual users, breaking the previous record set on November 5, 2008, for the election of Barack Obama as US President (Herrmann, 2010). Comparing this to 2005, the number of unique visitors to the BBC’s election site on results day, May 6, was 3 million taking the overall BBC News Online total to 4.3 million (Ward, 2006:17). This demonstrates a near three-fold increase in individual users from one election to the next and indicates that whilst the internet might not be perceived as having had a significant impact on the election outcomes, the BBC has certainly had a considerable impact on citizens’ online activities. Based on a larger study into BBC’s election websites involving interviews, observations and textual analysis, this chapter will examine how audience participation had by 2010 become a routinised part of the Corporation’s newsroom. It will begin by providing an historical overview of how public access programming has developed within the BBC and its influence on how the Corporation has sought to facilitate participatory spaces online. Following a discussion of online participatory spaces on the BBC’s election websites, it will offer a critique of how these are operationalized internally. It will argue that despite converged newsroom practices, the scale of the BBC’s operations means facilitation of civic engagement is fragmented between competing stakeholders within the Corporation each with their own routinised practices and perception of its value. This tension has a dramatic effect not only on the dialectic relationship between BBC journalists and its audiences, but also on the type of ‘public space’ the Corporation is able to foster and by extension the empowerment of citizens to engage in ‘healthy democratic debate’

Anchored Asynchronous Online Discussions: Supporting Learning Conceptions

Online discussions show promise for improving students’ learning. We conducted two case studies to explore the potential benefits of using anchoring in asynchronous online discussions. We compared anchored asynchronous online discussions (AAODs) with standard asynchronous online discussions (AODs) on students’ experience and learning in a blended environment. Qualitative data were obtained from students based on a “take-home” essay. The students’ answers were coded and analyzed for differences using open, axial, and selective methods. We found that AAODs were more likely to be perceived as helping improve understanding, problem solving, comprehension, and social learning. AAOD students reported more enjoyable and positive experiences with AAODs. Overall, a significantly higher number of AAOD undergraduate students stated that they would like to use online discussions in future courses. The implications for this study are notable for theory and practice. AAODs can increase sharing of ideas, perspectives, and support learning conceptions

Aiding Participation and Engagement in a Blended Learning Environment

This research was conducted as a field experiment that explored the potential benefits of anchoring in asynchronous online discussions for business statistics classes required for information systems majors. These classes are usually taught using traditional methods with emphasis on lecturing, knowledge reproduction, and treatment of students as dependent learners. Course activities are typically centered on the teacher as the source of all knowledge and understanding. Moreover, student interactions are often limited to face-to-face meetings in the classroom, where students have exerted little effort towards engaging themselves. Online discussions show promise for improving students’ learning in business statistics classes. We examined and compared the impact of anchored asynchronous online discussions (AAODs) and standard asynchronous online discussions (AODs) on students’ participation and engagement in a blended learning environment. The findings show that AAODs facilitated more and better quality participation and engagement for undergraduates. AAODs were more likely to be perceived as helping increase students’ efforts. The findings provide useful insights for improving student interaction and aiding learning

The Pronunciation Component in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90128/1/3586981.pd

Bicycles, ‘informality’ and the alternative learning space as a site for re-engagement: a risky (pedagogical) proposition?

The great possibility of alternative education programs rests in the affront to established conventions that these present for what counts as learning, engagement and the experience of schooling. This paper takes as its point of focus one specific, in-school alternative learning program, and considers the possibilities for student re-engagement that emerged via the repair and restoration of old bicycles. The discussion focusses particularly on the 'informality' that presented within the day-to-day dynamics of the program and how the space provided in the program’s workshop sessions offered the opportunity for students to re-configure their relationships with each other, their teachers and the larger practice of schooling. A discussion of both the potential and risk of a 'pedagogy of informality' is posited in light of current discussions in the literature of alternative education in Australia

Patterns Of Academic Help-Seeking In Undergraduate Computing Students

Knowing when and how to seek academic help is crucial to the success of undergraduate computing students. While individual help-seeking resources have been studied, little is understood about the factors influencing students to use or avoid certain re- sources. Understanding students’ patterns of help-seeking can help identify factors contributing to utilization or avoidance of help resources by different groups, an important step toward improving the quality and accessibility of resources. We present a mixed-methods study investigating the help-seeking behavior of undergraduate computing students. We collected survey data (n = 138) about students’ frequency of using several resources followed by one-on-one student interviews (n = 15) to better understand why they use those resources. Several notable patterns were found. Women sought help in office hours more frequently than men did and computing majors sought help from their peers more often than non-computing majors. Additionally, interview data revealed a common progression in which students started from easily accessible but low utility resources (online sources and peers) before moving on to less easily accessible, high utility resources (like instructor office hours). Finally, while no differences between racial groups was observed, the lack of diversity in our sample limits these findings

What's Going on in Community Media

What's Going On in Community Media shines a spotlight on media practices that increase citizen participation in media production, governance, and policy. The report summarizes the findings of a nationwide scan of effective and emerging community media practices conducted by the Benton Foundation in collaboration with the Community Media and Technology Program of the University of Massachusetts, Boston. The scan includes an analysis of trends and emerging practices; comparative research; an online survey of community media practitioners; one-on-one interviews with practitioners, funders and policy makers; and the information gleaned from a series of roundtable discussions with community media practitioners in Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Portland, Oregon

Teaching and learning in information retrieval

A literature review of pedagogical methods for teaching and learning information retrieval is presented. From the analysis of the literature a taxonomy was built and it is used to structure the paper. Information Retrieval (IR) is presented from different points of view: technical levels, educational goals, teaching and learning methods, assessment and curricula. The review is organized around two levels of abstraction which form a taxonomy that deals with the different aspects of pedagogy as applied to information retrieval. The first level looks at the technical level of delivering information retrieval concepts, and at the educational goals as articulated by the two main subject domains where IR is delivered: computer science (CS) and library and information science (LIS). The second level focuses on pedagogical issues, such as teaching and learning methods, delivery modes (classroom, online or e-learning), use of IR systems for teaching, assessment and feedback, and curricula design. The survey, and its bibliography, provides an overview of the pedagogical research carried out in the field of IR. It also provides a guide for educators on approaches that can be applied to improving the student learning experiences

Building Citywide Systems for Quality: A Guide and Case Studies for Afterschool Leaders

This guide is intended to help cities strengthen and sustain quality afterschool programs by using an emerging practice known as a quality improvement system (QIS). The guide explains how to start building a QIS or how to further develop existing efforts and features case studies of six communities' QIS