Astrophysicists and physicists as creators of ArXiv-based commenting resources for their research communities. An initial survey

This paper conveys the outcomes of what results to be the first, though initial, overview of commenting platforms and related 2.0 resources born within and for the astrophysical community (from 2004 to 2016). Experiences were added, mainly in the physics domain, for a total of 22 major items, including four epijournals, and four supplementary resources, thus casting some light onto an unexpected richness and consonance of endeavours. These experiences rest almost entirely on the contents of the database ArXiv, which adds to its merits that of potentially setting the grounds for web 2.0 resources, and research behaviours, to be explored. Most of the experiences retrieved are UK and US based, but the resulting picture is international, as various European countries, China and Australia have been actively involved. Final remarks about creation patterns and outcome of these resources are outlined. The results integrate the previous studies according to which the web 2.0 is presently of limited use for communication in astrophysics and vouch for a role of researchers in the shaping of their own professional communication tools that is greater than expected. Collaterally, some aspects of ArXiv s recent pathway towards partial inclusion of web 2.0 features are touched upon. Further investigation is hoped for.Comment: Journal article 16 page

Interactive learning online: Challenges and opportunities

Since the early 1990s online education and online learning systems have held the promise of increasing instructional productivity and reducing costs without sacrificing educational quality. There is no evidence to date that such promise has materialized. The impetus of the newest developments with free online courses to hundreds of thousands of students might drastically transform how we teach more and better with less. The innovation that prompted this panel is called Interactive Learning Online (ILO), and has the distinctive feature of highly interactive, machine-guided instruction that can be scaled to accommodate a large number of students who benefit from targeted and personalized learning. The panelists have experimented with online learning in different ways. Their perspectives will address challenges and opportunities with the adoption of ILO systems

Cloud services, interoperability and analytics within a ROLE-enabled personal learning environment

The ROLE project (Responsive Open Learning Environments, EU 7th Framework Programme, grant agreement no.: 231396, 2009-2013) was focused on the next generation of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). A ROLE PLE is a bundle of interoperating widgets - often realised as cloud services - used for teaching and learning. In this paper, we first describe the creation of new ROLE widgets and widget bundles at Galileo University, Guatemala, within a cloud-based infrastructure. We introduce an initial architecture for cloud interoperability services including the means for collecting interaction data as needed for learning analytics. Furthermore, we describe the newly implemented widgets, namely a social networking tool, a mind-mapping tool and an online document editor, as well as the modification of existing widgets. The newly created and modified widgets have been combined in two different bundles that have been evaluated in two web-based courses at Galileo University, with participants from three different Latin-American countries. We measured emotional aspects, motivation, usability and attitudes towards the environment. The results demonstrated the readiness of cloud-based education solutions, and how ROLE can bring together such an environment from a PLE perspective

Student-pull instead of instructor-push: in preparation for a student learning dash­board

A typical model of blending in-class learning with technology-enabled student experiences outside class makes use of a course management system (CMS), such as Blackboard. In this model, all the course management work is exclusively performed by the course instructor. Some attempts have been made to steer away from having the online content and activities be created, maintained, and monitored solely by the instructor. Discussion boards, student breakout groups, and student portfolios are examples of shifting some responsibilities to the students. However, the instructor continues to be the main arbiter of these activities, and tools that support student contributions are entirely under the control of the same, monopolistic CMS

Exploring the Changing Teaching Practices and Needs of Business Faculty at Santa Clara University

This report will present the findings and recommendations of a study designed to explore Santa Clara University (SCU) business faculty’s current and emerging undergraduate teaching practices. The study was led locally by researchers in the SCU Library, with parallel studies conducted at fourteen other institutions of higher education in the United States during the 2018-19 academic year. These studies were coordinated at the national level by Ithaka S&R, a not-for-profit research and consulting service that helps academic and cultural communities serve the public good and navigate economic, technological, and demographic change. Ithaka will publish a capstone report of major themes across all fourteen institutions in Winter 2020 and will include recommendations that libraries, universities, and business schools can use to support the changing teaching practices of their business faculty

Political Marketing: How Social Media influenced the 2008-2016 U.S. Presidential Elections and Best Practices Associated

Political marketing has become a growing facet of marketing that has infiltrated the campaigning of U.S. presidential elections. Within this cognate of marketing, social media has become a major component of predicting election outcomes starting with the 2008 U.S. presidential election. An analysis of the social media performance of candidates from the 2008 to 2016 U.S. presidential elections reveals how the power of social media can be harnessed to increase voter participation, connect voters to offline political activity, and engage voters with candidates on a more personal note. Social media political marketing should further emphasize the candidate’s brand and build followership through targeted messaging to desired segments. Social media continues to grow in use and bypass direct news sources; therefore, it must complement and create a dialogue with traditional media, as it will likely surpass it someday. To use social media effectively in political marketing, best practices are outlined in this paper with regards to content, engagement, security, platform selection, targeting, group membership environment creation, and display