M-Learning + Facebook: experiencias y percepciones de estudiantes de diseño

Durante los últimos años, diversas instituciones y universidades han comenzado a experimentar con el m-learning y Facebook a través de diferentes proyectos como parte de sus metodologías de aprendizaje y como una oportunidad para trabajar con los jóvenes. Sin embargo, poco se sabe de las percepciones y experiencias que pueden obtener estudiantes de diseño sobre este tema. En este estudio 24 estudian - tes han completado sus actividades de aprendizaje durante dos meses, utilizando un smarthphone y la popular red social Facebook. Al final del plazo, los estudiantes participaron además en un grupo de discusión para expresar sus experiencias. Los resultados indicaron que los estudiantes utilizaron Facebook como parte de su rutina diaria y que fueron creadores de contenido proporcionando estos a otros. Además los resultados indican que durante el primer mes perdieron mucho tiempo observando contenidos propuestos en Facebook, que después comentaron. El grupo en Facebook fue utilizado para la interacción social principalmente con otros estudiantes y el profesor, como un complemento a las sesiones presenciales. Los resultados obtenidos y el empleo de estrategias, puede ayudar a la concep - tualización del m-learning y mostrar como Facebook puede funcionar como un entorno de aprendizaje para apoyar la enseñanza y aprendizaje en el área del diseño.During recent years, many institutions and universities have started to experiment with mobile learning and facebook through different projects as part of their e-learning methodology, like an oportunity for work with young adults. However, little is known about the perceptions and experiences with design students.In this study, 24 undergraduates completed learning activities for two months, using a smarthphone and the popular social networking site, Facebook. At the end of the term, the students also participated a focus group. The results indicated that students use Facebook as part of their daily routine and they were the creators disseminating content to others. Also the results indicated the first month they spent more time observing content on Facebook than actually posting content. Facebook’s group was used for social interaction, primarily with students and the professor like a complemet to the face to face class. The experience gained and the employment of strategies, can assist with the conceptualization of mobile learning, and show Facebook as a learning environment to support teaching and learning in the design area

Percepciones de estudiantes sobre el Aprendizaje móvil; la nueva generación de la educación a distancia

Durante años, muchas instituciones y universidades han comenzado a experimentar con los dispositivos móviles en el aprendizaje a través de diferentes proyectos como parte de su metodología de aprendizaje. La experiencia adquirida con el empleo de estrategias y enfoques en la educación a distancia puede facilitar la conceptualización del aprendizaje móvil, así como el desarrollo de aplicaciones para este nuevo medio de aprendizaje. Los dispositivos móviles abren además nuevos caminos para el aprendizaje y una nueva generación para la educación a distancia, y los investigadores conocen estos nuevos caminos para el aprendizaje y oportunidades de llegar a un público más amplio. Este trabajo, muestra los resultados de un grupo de discusión que se llevó a cabo entre 20 estudiantes de licenciatura con el fin de explorar las percepciones, y en general todo aquello que afecta a la interpretación subjetiva de los individuos y su interacción con un fenómeno social como el aprendizaje móvil.During recent years, many institutions and universities have started to experiment with mobile learning through different projects as part of their e-learning methodology. The experience gained with the employment of strategies and approaches within distance education can assist with the conceptualization of mobile learning as well as the development of applications for this new learning medium. The mobile devices open up new paths for learning, and a new generation of distance education, and the Researchers know that the mobile devices open up new paths for learning and opportunities to reach a wider audience. This paper shows a focus group that was conducted amongst 20 degree students in order to explore the student’s perceptions, and in general the individual interpretation and the user's interaction with a social phenomenon like the mobile learning

Developing a Framework Explaining Continuous Participation in Digitally Engaged Communities

Digitally engaged communities are virtual communities in the sense that they exist in a cyberspace connecting different people with shared interests. They provide real-world communities a place to come together using the Internet. The eventual success of digitally engaged communities cannot thrive without continuous users’ involvement and participation. Therefore, interests have been rising in studying the behaviour of continuous participation, and examining what influences the continuation of use of these communities. In this paper, we propose a framework explaining human behaviour and intentions of why would users continue or discontinue participating in digitally engaged communities and what sort of behaviours they might undertake. This framework is grounded on the decomposed theory of planned behaviour and consequently develops three main taxonomies along with their interrelationships: (1) the social influences affecting members’ attitudes, (2) the intentional value elements offered by the community, and (3) the behavioural roles played by members. Implications of the developed framework for theory and practice have been explained demonstrating its value and efficacy on helping decision and policy makers, service providers, users and developers in pertaining a successful operation of a community where value elements are offered, exchanged and met at the same time

Construire la confiance pour construire les savoirs : Apprendre ensemble, en ligne, sans se connaître

National audienceSans même vous connaître, quelqu’un sur un forum vous adresse la parole, vous demande votre avis, vous transmet quelque chose … Pourquoi à vous plutôt qu’à quelqu’un d’autre ? Et pourquoi accorder votre intérêt à cette personne en particulier ? Comment cette forme banale d’interaction, rapportée aux échanges dans le cadre de relations pédagogiques à distance, vous permettra-t-elle, ensemble, de construire des savoirs ? Ces questions nous rappellent que peu de connaissances peuvent être acquises sans l’aide d’autrui, sans la médiation d’institutions sociales ou de technologies inventées et maîtrisées par d’autres que soi, et que l’acte de communication, entendu comme engagement dans une interaction, permet alors d’établir un environnement cognitif partagé. En épistémologie sociale, ces questions rappellent aussi l’importance du statut de la crédibilité de la communication et de la fiabilité du témoignage comme véhicules de connaissance, soulignant ainsi la place centrale du concept de confiance dans les échanges. Notre recherche, à partir de l’étude des interactions sur un Campus Numérique en Sciences de l’Education, tout au long d’une année, s’intéresse à voir comment cette confiance, établie à distance, peut constituer ou non une variable explicative des interactions sociales, de la construction des connaissances et plus largement des modèles pédagogiques applicables au technologies de l’éducation

Explaining users’ intentions to continue participating in Web 2.0 communities: The case of Facebook in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Traditional communications media has been transformed and reshaped with the introduction of the Internet and its technologies. The Internet has massively evolved over time, and the World Wide Web or otherwise referred to as Web 1.0 has developed to what is so called Web 2.0. The explosive diffusion of this global system has fostered the emergence of Web-based communities supported by the existence of globally connected individuals. As both the number of World Wide Web virtual community sites and users has expanded and grown quickly, these communities have become a subject of study to researchers of multiple disciplines. However, sustaining a successful operation of any Web 2.0 community depends on the continuous participation of its own users. It is massively important to maintain committed members in terms of continuous participation. Yet, their level of participation might vary depending on one‘s personal, social, situational, and cultural influences that eventually affect their intentions and behaviour on whether to continue or discontinue participating in that community. Facebook as a particular Web 2.0 community has been used as an exemplary case study in this research reflecting the drivers of its continuous usage in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Moreover, very few studies on Web 2.0 communities covered the Middle East area and more specifically there is almost absence of research in Jordan on how users of Facebook along with their cultural and behavioural influences would continue using this Web 2.0 community or not. Therefore, this study tackles this issue to investigate the influences affecting the continuous participation in these communities This research develops a conceptual framework that can be used as an instrument to guide empirical work in the field of Web 2.0 communities. The empirical context of the research is random Facebook users in Jordan, where data were analysed using quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Results and findings show that Personal attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control has shown to be all significant and highly influential on affecting users‘ intentions to continue participating on Facebook, perceived behavioural control (i.e. facilitating conditions, controllability) ranked the highest in its significance towards examining users’ intentions to continue participating on Facebook. Followed by the subjective norms (i.e. critical mass, compliance, and informational influences), then ranked the personal attitude (i.e. satisfaction, compatibility). Results have proved that most Facebook users in Jordan do participate on this site in the first place to deliver epistemic value elements, not with a much difference came the social value after, then ranked the hedonic third. The utilitarian value proved to be insignificant by all means, therefore, users intend to continue participating on Facebook despite of the perceived value elements to be delivered. Interestingly, analysis have proved the insignificance of the three cultural dimensions (i.e. masculinity vs. Femininity, individualism vs. Collectivism, and long-term vs. Short-term orientation), therefore, it has not been considered moderating in the framework of this research. Furthermore, the study concludes with specific implications for relevant theories, and useful findings on the individual, organizational, and the societal levels. Additionally, researchers in similar areas can find this work useful as a way to approach new streams in studying participation in Web 2.0 communities

Communautés virtuelles médicales : les motivations et les freins à la participation

De nos jours, les individus souffrant d'un problème de santé se tournent vers des solutions alternatives à la médecine traditionnelle. Ces solutions émergentes et de plus en plus nombreuses ont toutes pour dénominateur commun, Internet. Une de ces alternatives prend la forme de communautés virtuelles médicales. Définies entre autres comme des réservoirs de connaissance sur la santé, elles permettent entre autres de véhiculer de l'information et d'offrir différentes formes de soutien provenant des autres membres de la communauté. Bien que largement critiquées par le corps médical pour diffuser parfois des informations pas toujours justes et soulevant la question du niveau de confiance qu'il est possible de leur consacrer, elles ont de nombreux bénéfices susceptibles de contribuer à l'amélioration de l'état de santé de patients qui participent aux interactions communautaires. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif de ce mémoire est de comprendre ce qui pousse les patients à rechercher ces bénéfices ou ce qui tout au contraire les freine. Nous tenterons alors de répondre à la question de recherche suivante : « Qu'est-ce qui influence les patients à participer à des communautés virtuelles en ligne? » Pour cela, nous cherchons à identifier d'une part les motivations à la participation et d'autre part les freins à la participation à des communautés virtuelles médicales. Nous analyserons ainsi l'influence du degré de participation sur la détermination de ce qui constitue des motivations ou des freins pour les utilisateurs de ces communautés. Pour ce faire, nous avons réalisé une analyse quantitative afin de tester les hypothèses de recherche nous permettant de répondre à notre problématique. Par le biais d'un questionnaire anonyme administré en ligne, les répondants ont été interrogés sur leurs comportements de participation à des communautés virtuelles médicales. Les résultats du sondage en ligne ont permis de collecter un total de 233 répondants qualifiés, c'est-à-dire utilisant et participant à des communautés virtuelles médicales. Suite aux analyses menées à partir de notre échantillon de répondants qualifiés, nous avons validé six hypothèses sur les sept que nous avions définies; nous permettant de conclure que les dimensions du soutien social motivaient les utilisateurs de communautés virtuelles médicales à participer tandis que l'absence de confiance interpersonnelle et une mauvaise qualité des informations faisaient office de freins à la participation. Cette recherche contribue ainsi à continuer d'expliquer l'importance que jouent les communautés virtuelles médicales dans le milieu médical et à définir les éléments qui influencent les comportements de participation sur ces communautés.\ud ______________________________________________________________________________ \ud MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : communautés virtuelles médicales, e-santé, soutien social, interactions communautaires, système de santé, relation patient-médecin, scepticisme médical, confiance, qualité des information

SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING TRUST DEVELOPMENT IN VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES

This study explores how people trust each other in Virtual Communities (VCs). The online presence is certainly different from the physical world.; the broad question in this research is whether trust is developed differently or not. The main sociological factors that influence trust in physical communities have been hypothesized for their contribution to the development of trust in VCs. A quantitative online survey instrument was developed based on existing literature on Sociology detailing the sociological perspective of trust, as well as on the fields eCommunities, eCommerce and Information Systems (IS). Virtual Community (VC) is a phenomenon that some describe as “new social life forms” [11 pp.1] and due to the ease in which communities can be established online e.g. via a forums and bulletin boards, they are spreading at a rate greater than physical societies. However, it is widely believed that VCs are in fact an online manifestation of physical communities, despit