Twitter data analysis for studying communities of practice in the media industry

Today, more and more physical communities of practice, a concept that describes a group of people that share a passion and interact regularly at events to exchange knowledge, utilize social media, such as Twitter. Brotaru, for instance, is such a physical community of practice for media professionals in Brussels. It is a monthly meet-up of videogame developers in various locations in Brussels. Furthermore, Twitter becomes widely acknowledged as important instrument for learning and community formation in the virtual world. But, do these communities of practice use Twitter only to promote their physical activities of learning? Or, are the activities of the physical communities further extended into the virtual world meaning that virtual communities of practice emerge from them? This article suggests a novel mixed-methods approach based on qualitative and quantitative data to measure the role of Twitter for physical communities of practice. The method applies different statistical measures and analysis on harvested Twitter data and additionally brings two of the most used methods in Twitter analysis together, social network analysis and text data analysis (a.k.a., content analysis). Four different communities of practice in Brussels’ media industry and their activities and followers on Twitter have been analysed. The findings showed that the activities of the communities of practice extend into the Twitter sphere as the online communities are characterised by a shared domain, a lively community and shared practices. The analysis further revealed that Twitter offers three main opportunities for the activities of communities of practice: it offers geographical extension; it gives temporal autonomy; and, it can be used to diversify the practices

Life Satisfaction and Online-Gambling Communities : A Cross-National Study of Gambling Activities Among Young Finnish, American, South Korean and Spanish People

Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).Gambling is a potential hazard to life satisfaction, yet peer relationships online might buffer this risk. This study analyzed the ways problem gambling is associated with life satisfaction as well as the extent to which the use of online-gambling community participation and, alternatively, offline belonging affect this association. A web-based survey was conducted among people aged 15–25 in Finland (n = 1,200), the United States (n = 1,212), South Korea (n = 1,192), and Spain (n = 1,212). The main variables included life satisfaction, problem gambling measured by the South Oaks Gambling Screen, online-gambling community participation, and offline belonging. Controls included compulsive internet use, hazardous drinking, psychological distress, income, age, and gender. Linear regression models were employed with country interactions. Results showed problem gambling had a negative relationship with life satisfaction, but the association was explained by control variables. Online-gambling community participation had a positive relationship with life satisfaction, especially among pathological gamblers who had poor offline relationships. Country comparisons revealed that the direct effect of excessive gambling and the compensating effect of online-gambling communities were most prominent in Finland.Peer reviewe

Driving educational change at school federation level: A case study of team-based learning

This case study is the response to an institutional need. It explores the suitability of promoting a university teaching method called Team-Based Learning as the key driver for educational change in the sixth-form of a Spanish school federation seeking to move towards active learning. Yet, the transformation of classroom teaching practices has been widely ignored by the field of educational change or, at best, considered to be the result, rather than the driver, of a dramatic shift in pedagogic culture. One that has proven elusive in large-scale, and mostly unsuccessful public policies of school reform, which underestimate the capacity of local settings to initiate and deliver change. This study reverses this top-down strategy, aligning with, and complementing, recent bottom-up approaches which, while devising conceptual frameworks to promote small-scale initiatives for educational change, fail to provide educators with operational teaching methods; it contends that Team-Based Learning might be one of them. Drawing on the field of educational change, the Team-Based Learning framework, and organisational development theory, the study involves 18 teachers of 9 subjects, from 12 state-sponsored schools under the umbrella of the federation, in a one-year inter-school intervention that impacts on more than 500 sixth formers across Spain. The empirical research, focused on the sixth-form teachers’ perspective, develops a triangulation method to analyse data gathered from a mixed-method approach that encompasses a bespoke questionnaire, an online forum, 6 interviews, and collaborative visual charts. The research argues that promoting Team-Based Learning across the federation is a suitable, worthwhile strategy to drive educational change. In highlighting the centrality of teachers’ attitudes towards innovative pedagogies and the crucial role played by the 16% of staff members proactive about change, it focuses on exploring the extent to which sixth-form innovators’ stance on TBL is favourable. The findings are encouraging: those expected to lead the change find TBL dramatically transformative, would like to adopt it, and are willing to collaborate in its dissemination, considering it to be feasible with the appropriate institutional support. The study further develops the Team-Based Learning framework by addressing several gaps in research and might be helpful for other multi-site institutions seeking educational change. It has enhanced the organisational development of the school federation by encouraging the adoption of autonomous, research-based policies and has greatly reinforced my leadership role by creating a thriving, transformative community of practice

Análisis de la aplicación de técnicas de coaching, motivación y medios sociales como instrumentos de salario emocional en la cadena de valor agraria

Actualmente, las empresas de la cadena de valor agraria (CVA) se enfrentan a continuos procesos de cambio: la apertura económica, la competencia nacional e internacional entre empresas, adaptación a nuevos modelos de gestión empresarial, los mercados cambiantes y por la necesidad de cumplir con normativas o certificaciones que así lo exigen. Lo que ha llevado a la generación de una gran demanda de conocimiento, preparación y motivación de las personas que laboran en las organizaciones y el entorno empresarial. En vista de ello, las empresas de la CVA se ven en la obligación de buscar estrategias o técnicas empresariales que les permitan garantizar la supervivencia e incrementar sus niveles de competitividad. Entre estas técnicas de gestión humanista se encuentran bien posicionadas la motivación, el coaching, los medios sociales y las retribuciones flexibles de salario emocional. Debido a que no se encontraron evidencias de investigación y/o implementación de nuevos instrumentos de gestión empresarial que hayan sido empleados para mejorar la CVA y mucho menos de la consideración de herramientas del nuevo capitalismo humanista; y a que tampoco se encontraron trabajos previos que hayan analizado el uso de las técnicas de coaching, motivación y medios sociales (MS) como instrumentos de salario emocional en la CVA; y mucho menos de la caracterización de las empresas de la cadena de valor que usan este tipo de herramientas para la gestión humanista de la empresa, el objetivo de la investigación es analizar la aplicación de las técnicas de motivación, coaching y MS como instrumentos de salario emocional en la CVA. Proporcionando una contribución teórica y práctica al aumento del conocimiento sobre la aplicación de estas técnicas en las empresas de la CVA. Para dar solución a este objetivo la investigación se dividió en cuatro etapas. En la primera etapa de la investigación el primer objetivo es determinar el grado de penetración del coaching en la CVA. El segundo objetivo es determinar las motivaciones y los resultados de aplicar coaching en las empresas de la CVA según los expertos de coaching y los expertos de la CVA. En la segunda etapa de la investigación el objetivo es determinar el uso de los MS en las empresas de la CVA. En la tercera etapa de la investigación el objetivo es determinar la aplicación de estrategias de coaching, motivación, MS y retribuciones flexibles de salario emocional en las empresas de la CVA. Y en la cuarta etapa de la investigación el objetivo es determinar si las preferencias de los futuros egresados universitarios al momento de elegir un empleo están relacionadas con el salario emocional. En la investigación se han utilizado una combinación de métodos de investigación en consonancia con los objetivos e hipótesis propuestas en el trabajo, que van desde revisión en medios de comunicación, internet, congresos y redes de coaching. Utilización de herramientas como: encuestas, Howsociable y Tagxedo. Análisis de: significación, clúster jerárquico, panel Delphi, t-student, regresión logística y análisis Kruskal – Wallis. A partir del desarrollo de cada una de las etapas se obtuvieron los siguientes resultados: actividad de coaching en la CVA, conglomerados clúster de las empresas que reciben coaching por eslabones en la CVA, circunstancias y resultados (beneficios) de aplicar coaching en empresas de la CVA, comparación de las opiniones sobre los resultados de aplicar coaching entre los expertos de coaching y las empresas de la CVA, penetración de los MS en las empresas de la CVA y usos que le dan a los MS en las empresas de la CVA; predecir la satisfacción de los trabajadores de las empresas de la CVA que aplican técnicas de motivación, coaching, MS y retribuciones flexibles de salario emocional, la importancia del salario emocional, las preferencias de los universitarios pre titulados al momento de elegir un trabajo y la realidad del mercado laboral según lo que valoran los empleados de la CVA.Departamento de Ingeniería Agrícola y ForestalDoctorado en Ciencia e Ingeniería Agroalimentaria y de Biosistema

Twitterotopia and the rise of a tweacher: towards a (post)critical ontology of #edutwitter, the tweacher society, and a teacher who tweets

I am @sputniksteve. This grammatically simple sentence carries a discursivelyloaded statement that has taken a number of years to formulate. Even then, the formulation of this statement remains incomplete as what constitutes @sputniksteve is fluid, dynamic, and ever-growing. This thesis sets out to explore what it means to be @sputniksteve: a teacher who uses Twitter. It does this in two parts. In the first, it employs tools from Foucault to theorise eduTwitter as a heterotopia that people ‘visit’ and in which they are transformed. I consider the extent to which tweets may be considered as statements that may be analysed from a Foucauldian perspective, and explore Foucault’s notions of the Author in relation to twitter identities. In the second, I turn an analytical lens upon the birth and rise of sputniksteve through three key points of development: the first year or so of tweets; my involvement with ResearchED; and the publication of my first book. I conclude by reflecting upon how participation in the tweacher society could be seen as an ethic of Foucauldian self-writing which could provide a potent improvement upon teacher ‘continuing professional development’