Don’t throw rocks from the side-lines: A sociomaterial exploration of organizational blogs as boundary objects

Purpose Social media such as blogs are being widely used in organizations in order to undertake internal communication and share knowledge, rendering them important boundary objects. A root metaphor of the boundary object domain is the notion of relatively static and inert objects spanning similarly static boundaries. A strong sociomaterial perspective allows the immisciblity of object and boundary to be challenged, since a key tenet of this perspective is the ongoing and mutually-constituted performance of the material and social. Design/methodology/approach The aim of our research is to draw upon sociomateriality to explore the operation of social media platforms as intra-organizational boundary objects. Given the novel perspective of this study and its social constructivist ontology, we adopt an exploratory, interpretivist research design. This is operationalized as a case study of the use of an organizational blog by a major UK government department over an extended period. A novel aspect of the study is our use of data released under a Freedom of Information request. Findings We present three exemplar instances of how the blog and organizational boundaries were performed in the situated practice of the case study organization. We draw on literature on boundary objects, blogs and sociomateriality in order to provide a theoretical explication of the mutually-constituted performance of the blog and organizational boundaries. We also invoke the notion of ‘extended chains of intra-action’ to theorise changes in the wider organization. Originality/value Adoption of a sociomaterial lens provides a highly novel perspective of boundary objects and organizational boundaries. The study highlights the indeterminate and dynamic nature of boundary objects and boundaries, with both being in an intra-active state of becoming, challenging conventional conceptions. The study demonstrates that specific material-discursive practices arising from the situated practice of the blog at the respective boundaries were performative, reconfiguring the blog and boundaries and being generative of further changes in the organization

Active Algorithms: Sociomaterial Spaces in the E-learning and Digital Cultures MOOC

This paper will explore two examples from the design, structure and implementation of the ‘E-learning and Digital Cultures’ Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the University of Edinburgh in partnership with Coursera. This five week long course (known as the EDCMOOC) was delivered twice in 2013, and is considered an atypical MOOC in its utilisation of both the Coursera platform and a range of social media and open access materials. The combination of distributed and aggregated structure will be highlighted, examining the arrangement of course material on the Coursera platform and student responses in social media. This paper will suggest that a dominant instrumentalist view of technology limits considerations of these systems to merely enabling or inhibiting educational aims. The subsequent discussion will suggest that sociomaterial theory offers a valuable framework for considering how educational spaces are produced through relational practices between humans and non-humans. An analysis of You Tube and a bespoke blog aggregator will show how the algorithmic properties of these systems perform functions that cannot be reduced to the intentionality of either the teachers using these systems, or the authors who create the software, thus constituting a complex sociomaterial educational enactment

Social media and self-curatorship : Reflections on identity and pedagogy through blogging on a masters module

El uso de los medios sociales se ha extendido notablemente y se considera ya como una oportunidad única para el diseño de entornos innovadores de aprendizaje, donde los estudiantes se conviertan en protagonistas de experiencias de multialfabetización participativas y entre iguales. El trabajo cuestiona la conexión entre los usos sociales de los nuevos medios y las prácticas educativas relevantes, y propone marcos teóricos más rigurosos que puedan orientar en futuras investigaciones sobre el papel de los medios sociales en la educación. El trabajo reflexiona sobre el estudio de caso llevado a cabo en un grupo de alumnos en un módulo on-line como parte de un programa de máster sobre medios de comunicación, cultura y comunicación. Se invitó a los estudiantes a desenvolverse en estrategias de evaluación más allá de las convencionales, con el fin de teorizar y reflexionar sobre sus experiencias con los medios sociales como soporte y materia del curso. El artículo analiza la experiencia de los estudiantes evaluados en el conjunto del proyecto. Durante la exposición de resultados, los autores situaron los argumentos en el contexto del debate sobre las nuevas alfabetizaciones, la pedagogía y los medios sociales, así como en el marco de la teoría emergente de la autogestión del individuo en estos contextos, como marco metafórico para comprender la producción y la representación de la identidad en los medios digitales.The widespread uses of social media have been celebrated as a unique opportunity to redesign innovative learning environments that position students at the center of a participatory, multiliteracy and peer learning experience. This article problemitizes the connection between the social uses of new media and relevant educational practices and proposes more rigorous theoretical frames that can be used to guide future research into the role of social media in education. This article reports on a case study of a small group of students who use an online module to study media, culture and communication as part of a wider master’s programme. The students were invited to reflect in a more reflexive and theoretical manner than is commonly used in a standard course evaluation about their experiences of engaging with social media as both the medium and the subject of the course. The article discusses the student experience as it unfolded in the context of an assessed piece of project work. In discussing the findings the authors locate the arguments in the context of debates about new literacies, pedagogy and social media as well as in an emergent theory of self-curatorship as a metaphorical frame for understanding the production and representation of identity in digital media

Blogging: Promoting Learner Autonomy and Intercultural Competence through Study Abroad

The current study explores closely how using a combined modalities of asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) via blogs and face-to-face (FTF) interaction through ethnographic interviews with native speakers (L1s) supports autonomous learning as the result of reflective and social processes. The study involves 16 American undergraduate students who participated in blogs to develop their intercultural competence over the course of one-semester study abroad. The results show that blogs afforded students the opportunity to work independently (e.g., content creation) and reflect upon cross-cultural issues. Critical reflection, however, relied on the teacher’s guidance and feedback, as most of the students were cognitively challenged by not being able to clearly articulate different points of view. It is likely that students were not accustomed to reflecting. The findings also indicate that task type fostered autonomy in different ways. While free topics gave students more control of their own learning, teacher-assigned topics required them to critically think about the readings. Lack of access to Internet at the host institution and family also contributed to a limited level of social interaction. The study concludes that well-designed tasks, effective metacognitive and cognitive skills, and the accessibility to Internet are essential to maximize the potentials of blogs for learner autonomy and intercultural communication

Analyzing the Intersection of Transparency, Issues Management and Ethics: The Case of Big Soda

This article critically analyzes the ethics of Coca-Cola’s public relations strategies through the lens of corporate social responsibility, issue management, and moral legitimacy. Corporate legitimacy is essential for corporate survival and, in today’s complex environment, expectations for legitimacy have shifted. Corporations are called on to consider their roles in the context of the greater good. These changes call for an examination of what constitutes ethical communication for public relations practitioners. While theoretical advancements in the area of ethics sketch the landscape for providing for greater transparency in what the aims of organizations should be in providing for ethical communication, more needs to be done to examine the specific content of this communication. Toward this end, the authors seek to extend conversations and draw from Habermas’s theories of communicative action and Principle U to propose a new direction for evaluating public relations ethics

Managing systemic risk using systems thinking in practice

Managing uncertainties associated with, say, water security, toxic wastes, or biotechnology, invites growing relevance from the field of complexity sciences that everything is connected. Systems ideas such as complex adaptive systems or the ecosystems approach have consequently gained attention in recent years for promoting more joined-up thinking. But such ideas of systems have limited currency. Issues about interconnections – and calls for joined-up thinking – ought not to be seen in isolation from related systems issues of multiple values and different stakeholder perspectives. Moreover, such issues are related to political issues of partiality and selectivity – that is, system boundary judgements that circumscribe perspectives. A practical dimension of systems thinking using the metaphor of conversation and creative space prompts a more systemic appreciation of real world interconnections in relation to multiple perspectives and boundary judgements. Systems thinking in practice provides a more appropriate systemic space for managing systemic risk

Connectivism: a knowledge learning theory for the digital age?

<b>Background</b> The emergence of the internet, particularly Web 2.0 has provided access to the views and opinions of a wide range of individuals opening up opportunities for new forms of communication and knowledge formation. Previous ways of navigating and filtering available information are likely to prove ineffective in these new contexts. Connectivism is one of the most prominent of the network learning theories which have been developed for e-learning environments. It is beginning to be recognised by medical educators. This paper aims to examine connectivism and its potential application.<p></p> <b>Content</b> The conceptual framework and application of connectivism are presented along with an outline of the main criticisms. Its’ potential application in medical education is then considered.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> While connectivism provides a useful lens through which teaching and learning using digital technologies can be better understood and managed, further development and testing is required. There is unlikely to be a single theory that will explain learning in technological enabled networks. Educators have an important role to play in online network learning

Challenging Pre-Service Students\u27 Teaching Perspectives in an Inquiry-Focused Program

Inquiry teaching based on constructivist learning theory has been an emphasis in pre-service education for over a decade. In general, a developmental teaching perspective supports inquiry-based instruction where teachers view learners as constructors of knowledge and teaching as providing questions, problems, and challenges that form a bridge from the learners\u27 prior knowledge to a new, more sophisticated form of reasoning. Since teaching perspectives influence student learning, teacher effectiveness, and teacher attrition, challenging pre-service teachers to overcome experience-based convictions of a transmission perspective is necessary in teacher education. In this study, we examined the teaching perspectives of secondary, pre-service methods students at the midpoint of an inquiry-focused program. Our findings suggest that, despite being introduced to a variety of teaching perspectives, overcoming preconceptions of good teaching and considering a perspective counter to one\u27s disciplinary major presents a dilemma for pre-service teachers

A reality check: Taking authentic e-learning from design to implemntation

Tampere University of Applied Sciences has developed a postgraduate certificate program for teaching in higher education that is currently being implemented at Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. In the design of the program, the principles of authentic e-learning (Herrington, Reeves, & Oliver 2010) have been used as a guideline. This paper examines how the design principles have been transferred into practice and how the elements of authentic learning have been realized from the student perspective. The experiences of the students have been mapped in a survey conducted after the first semester of the program. The data was analyzed with the help of the authentic e-learning framework in order to identify the challenges and successes regarding the implementation of the elements of authentic e-learning and thus draw guidelines for future development

Evolving perspective(s) of Teacher Leadership: an exploration of Teacher Leadership for inclusion at preservice level in the Republic of Ireland

There is an increasing body of literature that extols the virtues of teacher leadership despite the concept remaining underdeveloped and under-theorised (King & Stevenson 2017; Torrance 2013). Acknowledging the dearth of literature exploring the development of teacher leadership at preservice level, this article reports on results from a qualitative study which employed Bond’s (2011) theoretical framework for preparing preservice teachers in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) to become teacher leaders for inclusion. This study adopted a self-study approach (Vanassche & Kelchtermans 2015) involving two teacher educators, in the ROI, where the researcher, being relatively new to teacher education, was supported by a critical friend in the design, implementation and evaluation of the modules. Results strongly indicate that student teachers felt prepared to exercise leadership for inclusion through lived experiences of leadership, understanding change, being research informed and having many opportunities for reflection. This article argues for unlocking the potential for leadership for inclusion to begin with student teachers and concludes by suggesting that this article may help to address the paucity of literature around teacher leadership at preservice level and in particular teacher leadership for inclusion