What Drives Students' Loyalty-Formation in Social Media Learning Within a Personal Learning Environment Approach? The Moderating Role of Need for Cognition

Our study analyzes an educational experience based on the integrated use of social media within a higher education course under a personal learning environment approach and investigates the factors that determine students' loyalty to social media learning. We examined the moderating role of need for cognition (NFC) in students' formation of attitudes, satisfaction, and loyalty toward this learning experience. The results indicate that NFC has an influence on these variables, significantly moderating how loyalty toward social media learning is formed. For high-NFC students, satisfaction with the learning experience is the most important variable to explain loyalty; whereas for low-NFC students, attitudes have a stronger effect. Different strategies are suggested, according to the learners' NFC levels, for increasing the use of social media in personal learning environments. Practical implications for improving the integration of such informal resources into formal education are discussed.Junta de Andalucía – Programa Andaluz de I + D P12 SEJ 259

A Black Swan in a Sea of White Noise: Using Technology-Enhanced Learning to Afford Educational Inclusivity for Learners with Asperger’s Syndrome

Against a backdrop of increasingly vocation-focussed course provision within higher education, of widening participation initiatives intended to promote greater inclusion for learners affected by learning difficulties, and of moves towards greater use of social and collaborative forms of learning, this paper discusses the case of an undergraduate Computing student affected by Asperger’s Syndrome (AS).While there is recognition in the literature of problems associated with face-to-face dialogue for persons affected by AS, there is a paucity of research both into the experience of students in higher education, and around the issue of participation in group-work activities increasingly found in creative aspects of computing. This paper highlights a tension between moves towards collaborative learning and UK disabilities legislation in relation to learners with AS. Employing a qualitative case-study methodology, the investigation revealed how a technology-enhanced learning intervention afforded an AS-diagnosed learner greater opportunities to participate in group-work in a higher education context. The findings suggest that not only can computer-mediated communications afford AS-diagnosed learners opportunities to participate meaningfully in group-work, but also that the learner demonstrated higher levels of collective-inclusive versus individual-exclusive phraseology than neurotypical peers, thereby challenging assumptions around participation in collaborative learning activities and assimilation of peer-feedback

Virtual University And Globalisation

Globalization as an inevitable process in the twenty-first century in economic, political and cultural dimensions creates changes in education and higher education. Virtual universities have important role in globalization. It is clear that globalization in higher education can affect on other area same economic, culture and etc. Virtual university with special programs and use of information and communication technology (ICT) can show the impact of globalization on society, the economy, and the world system. At virtual universities there are international programs that extend globalization. Globalization requires the existence and development of an advanced information and communications infrastructure. And at virtual university that is new phenomenon in new age we can provide these infrastructures. Also, globalization requires a different education that enhances the ability of learners to access, assess, adopt, and apply knowledge, to think independently to exercise appropriate judgment and to collaborate with others to make sense of new situations. In this paper researcher want to show the impact of keys factors at virtual university on the globalization. Keywords: Virtual University, Globalization, Higher education

Learning with IT: Towards a research agenda ‐questions and issues

Learning with information technology (IT) is at the top of the research agenda for further and higher education. It is also at the centre of many post‐16 investments and policy initiatives. The widespread use in recent years of the term ‘information and learning technology’ (ILT) in further education (FE) colleges illustrates the particular focus in that sector. This paper analyses why this conjunction of learning and technology is seen as so important and describes how it has been articulated in practice. It outlines the scope of related research and how this matches the political and social imperatives, the professional development concerns of staff in the sector, and the ever‐changing technological context. In its summary of the pertinent research questions, the paper shows how research priorities can be and are being matched by concrete developmental practice

VCU Media Lab

We propose the establishment of a VCU Media Lab – a professional creative media technology unit whose mission is to support the development, design, production and delivery of innovative media, multimedia, computer-based instruction, publications and tools in support of VCU education, research and marketing initiatives. This centrally administered, budgeted and resourced facility will acknowledge, refine, focus and expand media services that are currently being provided at VCU in a decentralized manner