Towards an online design studio: a study of social networking in design distance learning

In this paper we examine the role of social networking and online community building in distance design learning. We analysed interactions of Facebook, a popular social network site, using qualitative content analysis and social network analysis. Two distinct learner identities could be identified – a design course Content Focused Learner and a course Context Centred Socialiser. We discuss the implications of this finding particularly in respect to online design studio education

Student Perceptions Of Online Education At Community Colleges: A Review Of The Literature

ABSTRACT There is a need to identify and discuss community college student perceptions of online education as a window to an array of challenges that these institutions face. Student perspectives can confirm, or disconfirm, the impressions and accounts of other community college stakeholders and decision makers. The purpose of this study was to provide a comprehensive review of the literature from 1995-2015 that answered the primary research question, What are the student perceptions of online education at community colleges in the United States? Extensive strategies were used to locate information for review. Analysis of the literature yielded a framework for formulating findings. That heuristic consisted of input elements interacting within a context to yield an outcome, and for some interactions, also a product. This research produced six findings: 1) early distance education and Internet technology interacted within the context of a community college yielding online education infrastructure, 2) student attributes and online education infrastructure interacted within the context of open access at community colleges yielding learning opportunities for students, 3) online education infrastructure and learning opportunities interacted within a context of instruction resulting in student perceptions of online education at community colleges, 4) interactions among course content, the instructor, and the students within the context of online education yielded the potential for learning which produced student perceptions of online education, 5) cognitive, social, and teaching presence interacted within the context of a community of learners yielding the potential for learning which produced student perceptions of the quality of online education, and 6) currently, there are no reports of student-identified best practices that are essential for student satisfaction, learning, and success in online education at community colleges. There is only a small body of literature on student perceptions of online education at community colleges--much of which offers conflicting findings which make it difficult to formulate generalizations. Further, for the case studies of online courses, disciplines, or a single college there are yet no follow-up investigations that test the verification, reliability, and generalizability of the findings. Both qualitative and quantitative research are needed in the areas identified in this study

Digital literacy: a Palestinian refugee perspective

This paper is the first attempt to explore digital literacy in the specific context of the Palestinian refugee community in the Middle East by looking at the cultural specificity of digital literacy theorising and practice, by analysing current digital education policy in the countries hosting the Palestinian refugee community and by documenting the digital environment of the Palestinian refugee. It identifies the distance or deficit between the community’s current access to digital literacy education, appropriately defined, and its digital environment, needs and opportunities. Finally, the paper provides a brief agenda for further empirical research

Bridging Teacher Candidates, School Communities, and the World During a Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic caused distance that separated the teacher from the learner as schools and higher education moved to virtual and flexible learning communities. Likewise, at the same time racial tensions were growing further increasing the distance and divide across the country. This positions teacher educators with the responsibility to bridge this distance. The challenges of preparing educators for activism in a post-Covid educational context that considers cultural literacy, ethical leadership, and community engagement is explored with three narratives. These narratives provide the opportunity to think with and through our commitments in early childhood and elementary teacher education. Collectively, these narratives use the conditions of learning and teaching in a pandemic to consider educational challenges of the past and the things we must do to create a more equitable and just future. We conclude this essay with essential commitments as we work to bridge the distance and build community. Classification: Reflective Essa

The Perfect Marriage: Community Based and Online Learning

Community based projects are an integral part of most student’s higher education experience. It has become a popular pedagogical method that moves teaching and learning out of the traditional classroom and into the community where learning outcomes can be integrated into a particular context. Online learning has also emerged as a popular pedagogical practice in education and is continuing to gain popularity in higher education. Each has distinct benefits for teaching and learning and both provide instructors ways in which they can differentiate learning. To consider merging these two practices may seem challenging and ultimately, to some, impossible. Some may discredit the instructor’s ability to appropriately monitor community based learning activities while teaching a course from a distance and that the assessment of a student’s work will be too challenging. This presentation will provide examples and support for conducting community based learning projects into an online course and demonstrate ways in which assessment can be very authentic and meaningful. The examples used in this presentation are in the area of sport management but community based learning projects across other disciplines could also considered for these types of projects. Keywords Online Learning, Distance Learning, Community Based Learning, Service Learning, Assessmen

Analisis Wacana Kritis Berita ‘Tentang Social Distance, Cara Pemerintah Cegah Penyebaran Virus Corona’ Di Detik.com

Mass media has an important role to construct the community about the discourse that is built or events that occur. Event packed into discourse through production so well that people believe in the news. mass media also has a role to channel information and public education. This is caused by journalists producing texts, discourses that have been disconnected by the mass media have a high value of trust in the perspective of the community. Whereas the concept of truth presented by the media is not true truth, but rather something that society considers as truth or the mass media that determines truth. In this study, researchers sought to uncover how a discourse was produced so as to construct social patterns of society, and see how the ideology contained in the discourse, as well as how the results of the context of the news discourse produced to the public. This study analyzes 1 news and 8 other news as material for analysis of social distance as a step to prevent the spread of the corona virus with a qualitative approach and the Teun A. Van Dijk analysis method. In the process of analysis of this study revealed that the production of text in the coverage of "About Social Distance, How the Government Prevents the Spread of Corona Virus" on detik.com has topics that tend to support the term social distance. The plot and style of the news are made as supporttopics. Ideology contained in the production of the text is a government tool to construct the community in the effort to handle and pandemic birus corona and as a public servant to provide education in dealing with the corona virus. Then there are impacts that occur related to the context of social reporting. Impacts that occur such as the pros and cons of social distance, economic decline, social behavior is greatly changed, changes in the teaching and learning system in education, disruption of religious ritual activities. Keywords: Social Distance, Text Production, Social Cognition, Social Context, Critical Discourse Analysi

Formal and informal support systems in a rural town and county : report of the research on mental health in Dannevirke Borough and County : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy at Massey University

The Dannevirke project was designed to provide a view into one rural borough and county in order to discern how that community provided services for those in need of emotional and psychological support. Professional human service providers and a representative sample, of the general population were interviewed to identify the formal and informal supports that were available to the community and to define mental health and mental illness. This project was based on two assumptions: 1) rural and small town life in New Zealand had networks of self-help and support and these networks were different from those found in the urban environment; 2) clinical and professional practitioners adopted unique responses to practice in a rural area. This study demonstrated that a rural community based on the romantic notion of a small homogenous, caring community was simplistic. Intrarural differences in the numerous settlements revealed a more complex fabric. The data did reflect an intricate and caring network of informal supports but it was unclear as to how different (e.g. more supportive) these rural networks were to those in an urban/suburban community. Respondents with low group membership and low visitation from family and friends reported a statistically significant low sense of psychological well-being using the Bradburn Well-Being Scale (1969). The actual roles these networks played in caregiving and prevention needed further inquiry. The pathways to service for people experiencing emotional/psychological problems were traced, including a ten year statistical analysis of inpatient psychiatric care. The general practitioner was identified by the respondents in the community and by other professionals as the primary gatekeeper for services, underlining the medical bias in their definitions of mental illness. Delivery of services by the professionals in the rural area was complicated by distance, minimal interprofessional coordination, shortage of specialist services, and a lack of ongoing professional education in the field of community mental health. Treatment in the community was favoured over sending the clients away for services and the local hospital was a unique resource for short-term respite care. The findings brought forth numerous questions including: What models of practice are effective for mental health care in the rural context? How do geographical distance and isolation affect community mental health practice? Does the urban base of most professional training prepare formal caregivers for life and practice in the rural setting? Specific recommendations for policy development and for further research were discussed

Building communities of practice in distance learning courses for higher education teacher development

A ‘communities of practice’ approach has been shown to be an effective way of supporting the development of educators within higher education (HE). It enables members of a group with common interests and experiences to learn from each other and to develop their professional practice together. Distance learning has become an increasingly important means of delivering professional development for teachers in HE, but to build and develop communities of practice in an online context can be a real challenge. This article explores the ways in which distance learning teacher development courses can effectively build communities of practice. It investigates participants’ experiences of community on modules with different distance learning delivery modes. It finds that a community of practice was developed to an extent, but that this was established more successfully within synchronous delivery modules with webinars than in asynchronous modules. However, across all modes of delivery, the presence of peer feedback, peer learning and collaborative activities within the learning design was crucial for effective development of a community of practice

Social Collaboration Style Preferences and Cognitive Receptivity to Technological Change and Innovation in Open and Distance e-Learning

The proliferation of online courses in open and distance e-learning higher education contexts brought attention to the role of social collaboration activities in enhancing student learning. Constructive social collaboration in an e-learning environment is influenced by the interaction dynamics of the relevant virtual learning community. Social learning involves the acquisition of knowledge and skills relevant to the individual’s unique work or learning context through collaborative endeavours and interactions that often include the use of technological tools such as web-based platforms and social media technological applications. This chapter focuses on how the social collaboration style preferences of members of the virtual learning community relate to their cognitive receptivity to technological change and innovation. The practical implications for virtual learning in open and distance e-learning contexts are outlined