Can we be \u27Friends\u27? Social Networking and Student Engagement in an Academic Environment

Students’ methods of engagement in third level education are very different to those of a decade ago (Cloete, de Villiers & Roodt 2009). There are a number of factors impacting on these changes in students’ profiles, expectations and willingness to engage. One of these factors which is addressed by the author is the way in which students now use social networking tools to engage and communicate. Popular new technologies such as wikis, blogs and podcasts are now being used for academic purposes. But what are the roles of such tools? Do they merely aid staff-student communication and student-student communication, do they help lecturers seem more relevant and current, or can they provide an interface for academic material? In summary, can social networking actually enhance the learning experience and if so, for whom? This paper explores the adoption of social networking (with particular reference to Facebook and Twitter) within the context of hospitality, tourism, event and leisure management first-year undergraduate programmes in the school of Hospitality Management & Tourism, D.I.T. The research is in the specific context of an initiative called “Get Smart!” which targets the personal and professional development of first year students on these programmes. The specific objective of the paper is to examine whether Facebook and Twitter can help students engage more in an academic environment, and whether they are viewed as academic tools to any real extent. A comparison will be offered between Facebook/Twitter and the more traditional virtual learning environment (VLE), in the D.I.T’s case Webcourses

A-Lib 2.0: New Avatar Academic Libraries with Web 2.0 Applications

The web has seen the explosion of social networking tools, which are empowering ordinary people to connect, collaborate and contribute in a global collaboration. These social software applications are now the hottest properties of the Internet users. This article explains the how Web 2.0 tools could be applied in academic libraries to convert them as A-Lib 2.0 or Academic Library 2.0. The paper further includes a few cases from different libraries which have already adopted these new services. One recent survey found that 34.41% of total academic libraries in New York State are using Web 2.0 Services; the major ones include IM, Blogs, RSS, Book marking, Wiki, Social Networks, etc. Library 2.0 has changed the traditional way of thinking about the profession where library only engage in creating the content and services for user shifted to the side of user where librarian will enable user to create them for themselves

Second Life: the seventh face of the library?

Viewpoint/Discussion Paper Purpose This paper gives a brief introduction to Second Life, an outline of how one academic librarian has got involved with using it and reviews the issues that have arisen from a library perspective. Approach It offers a reflection on whether library activities in Second Life are different to library services in the real world and suggests that Second Life is just another ‘face’ of the library. Findings Second Life is still in the very early stages of development. There are various barriers and challenges to overcome before it can be used widely within universities. However, this paper shows it does provide an opportunity to experiment and explore what information resources are required in this environment and how librarianship and librarians need to evolve to cater for users in a three dimensional world. Originality/value This paper is based on personal experience and offers as many questions as answers

Are digital natives a myth or reality?: Students’ use of technologies for learning

This paper outlines the findings of a study investigating the extent and nature of use of digital technologies by undergraduate students in Social Work and Engineering, in two British universities. The study involved a questionnaire survey of students (n=160) followed by in-depth interviews with students (n=8) and lecturers and support staff (n=8) in both institutions. Firstly, the findings suggest that students use a limited range of technologies for both learning and socialisation. For learning, mainly established ICTs are used- institutional VLE, Google and Wikipedia and mobile phones. Students make limited, recreational use of social technologies such as media sharing tools and social networking sites. Secondly, the findings point to a low level of use of and familiarity with collaborative knowledge creation tools, virtual worlds, personal web publishing, and other emergent social technologies. Thirdly, the study did not find evidence to support the claims regarding students adopting radically different patterns of knowledge creation and sharing suggested by some previous studies. The study shows that students’ attitudes to learning appear to be influenced by the approaches adopted by their lecturers. Far from demanding lecturers change their practice, students appear to conform to fairly traditional pedagogies, albeit with minor uses of technology tools that deliver content. Despite both groups clearly using a rather limited range of technologies for learning, the results point to some age differences, with younger, engineering students making somewhat more active, albeit limited, use of tools than the older ones. The outcomes suggest that although the calls for radical transformations in educational approaches may be legitimate it would be misleading to ground the arguments for such change solely in students’ shifting expectations and patterns of learning and technology use

Exploring students’ use of the social networking site WhatsApp to foster connectedness in the online learning experience

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the use of social networking tools in higher education teaching and learning. Drawing on data from a larger study focusing on student engagement in the online virtual classroom, this paper is based on research conducted with three separate cohorts of students from the Masters in Special Educational Needs (MSEN) at St. Patrick’s College now the Institute of Education, Dublin City University (DCU). Emerging from the first two phases of the research was the use of the WhatsApp social media tool by students as an informal learning space and a means of building connectedness. We explored this finding in more detail in phases three and four by inviting respondents to comment specifically on their use of social media throughout the programme. It emerged that the use of WhatsApp was widespread, offering students an opportunity to forge a sense of connection and the basis for developing a learning community. This paper will present findings around the use of WhatsApp with reference to literature in three areas connected to the online learning experience: online learning as a second class learning experience, fostering connectedness within online learning contexts and social media and learnin

Innovate Magazine / Annual Review 2009-2010

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Cultural consequences of computing technology

Computing technology is clearly a technical revolution, but will most probably bring about a cultural revolution\ud as well. The effects of this technology on human culture will be dramatic and far-reaching. Yet, computers and\ud electronic networks are but the latest development in a long history of cognitive tools, such as writing and printing.\ud We will examine this history, which exhibits long-term trends toward an increasing democratization of culture,\ud before turning to today's technology. Within this framework, we will analyze the probable effects of computing on\ud culture: dynamical representations, generalized networking, constant modification and reproduction. To address the\ud problems posed by this new technical environment, we will suggest possible remedies. In particular, the role of\ud social institutions will be discussed, and we will outline the shape of new electronic institutions able to deal with the\ud information flow on the internet

ClouNS - A Cloud-native Application Reference Model for Enterprise Architects

The capability to operate cloud-native applications can generate enormous business growth and value. But enterprise architects should be aware that cloud-native applications are vulnerable to vendor lock-in. We investigated cloud-native application design principles, public cloud service providers, and industrial cloud standards. All results indicate that most cloud service categories seem to foster vendor lock-in situations which might be especially problematic for enterprise architectures. This might sound disillusioning at first. However, we present a reference model for cloud-native applications that relies only on a small subset of well standardized IaaS services. The reference model can be used for codifying cloud technologies. It can guide technology identification, classification, adoption, research and development processes for cloud-native application and for vendor lock-in aware enterprise architecture engineering methodologies