Participatory Transformations

Learning, in its many forms, from the classroom to independent study, is being transformed by new practices emerging around Internet use. Conversation, participation and community have become watchwords for the processes of learning promised by the Internet and accomplished via technologies such as bulletin boards, wikis, blogs, social software and repositories, devices such as laptops, cell phones and digital cameras, and infrastructures of internet connection, telephone, wireless and broadband. This chapter discusses the impact of emergent, participatory trends on education. In learning and teaching participatory trends harbinge a radical transformation in who learns from whom, where, under what circumstances, and for what and whose purpose. They bring changes in where we find information, who we learn from, how learning progresses, and how we contribute to our learning and the learning of others. These trends indicate a transformation to "ubiquitous learning" ??? a continuous anytime, anywhere, anyone contribution and retrieval of learning materials and advice on and through the Internet and its technologies, niches and social spaces.not peer reviewe

The Analysis of Online Communities using Interactive Content-based Social Networks

published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

An Information Policy Perspective on Learning Analytics

Policy for learning analytics joins a stream of initiatives aimed at understanding the expanding world of information collection, storage, processing and dissemination that is being driven by computing technologies. This paper offers a information policy perspective on learning analytics, joining work by others on ethics and privacy in the management of learning analytics data [8], but extending to consider how issues play out across the information lifecycle and in the formation of policy. Drawing on principles from information policy both informs learning analytics and brings learning analytics into the information policy domain. The resulting combination can help inform policy development for educational institutions as they implement and manage learning analytics policy and practices. The paper begins with a brief summary of the information policy perspective, then addresses learning analytics with attention to various categories of consideration for policy development

Ionospheric studies at Saturnian satellites

An ionosphere refers to the region of charged particles contained in the upper regions of a body's atmosphere. They are typically fed from the neutral atmosphere, which ionises due to sources such as solar photons or precipitating particles. Except Mercury, all planets in the solar system have ionospheres, in addition to this, ionospheres have been observed at several moons including: Europa, Triton and Titan. This thesis covers several studies regarding ionospheric composition and dynamics at the Saturnian moons of Enceladus and Titan, utilising data from the Cassini-Huygens mission which studied these moons between 2004 and 2017. The first study focuses on ion velocities in Enceladus's plume as measured by sensors from the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer instrument. One of the key findings from the Cassini mission was a large water ice plume emanating from the south polar region of the moon Enceladus. Cassini made several passes through the plume and the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer sensors made insitu measurements of positive and negative ions. The recorded energies of the ions were used to infer ion velocities along Cassini's trajectory. Two populations were found, associated with faster and slower moving water ion populations. These were linked with velocity characteristics found in the neutral water population. Comparing the velocities of positive and negative ions also indicated the presence of an electrostatic field in the plume. The second study covers heavy positive ion measurements in Titan's ionosphere. Previous studies of Titan's ionosphere have revealed a plethora of hydrocarbon and nitrile cations and anions. Using data from the Cassini Ion Beam Spectrometer sensor taken across five Titan flybys, positive ions were studied with masses ranging from 170 amu up to 350 amu. Examining the possible molecular structure of the ions, the most abundant ions masses were found to be consistent with molecular ions of polycyclic aromatic compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nitrogen-bearing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. This was further supported by examining the mass difference between the most abundant ions. A difference of 12 or 13 amu was found to be the most common, indicating the addition of a carbon or carbon-hydrogen molecule, consistent with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon growth pathways. The third and fourth studies were performed in tandem and cover ion velocities within Titan's ionosphere. Previous studies have examined ion velocities parallel to Cassini's trajectory over a selection of Titan flybys from early in its mission. Here, ion velocities both parallel and perpendicular to Cassini's trajectory were derived, known as alongtrack and crosstrack velocities respectively, across a large series of flybys, allowing for a statistical approach. For both crosstrack and alongtrack directions, the positive and negative ions velocities were found to be proportional to each other, agreeing with the expectation from ion-neutral collisional coupling. Alongtrack velocities were further investigated through a comparison to the expected superrotation in Titan's ionosphere. Some measurements did not agree with expectations from neutral wind measurements and provide evidence for complex ion wind structures within Titan's ionosphere

Crisis, farming and community

In 2001, the UK was hit by Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) precipitating one of the biggest crises ever to affect the UK farming system. The crisis unfolded as a series of information and communication problems, from government to farmers and from farmers to farmers, with consequences for action in a time of crisis, social support, and the maintenance of community. What happens to a farming community during such a crisis? When the countryside shuts down, and no one can enter or leave the farm, how can information be disseminated? As methods of dealing with the disease change rapidly, as happened in this crisis, how can information be delivered in a timely and coordinated manner? To explore these questions, data have been gathered from reports and writing about the crisis, and from interviews with Cumbrian farmers. Although we will address throughout the discussion the multiple information channels used by farmers, this paper focuses on the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) during the crisis, notably a community networking initiative known as Pentalk. We conclude with a look at the current role of Pentalk in the farming community, and with discussion of how networks such as these can help during crises in which there are significant needs for information and communication management

Learning with comments: An analysis of comments and community on Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow (SO) has become a primary source for learning how to code, with community features supporting asking and answering questions, upvoting to signify approval of content, and comments to extend questions and answers. While past research has considered the value of posts, often based on upvoting, little has examined the role of comments. Beyond value in explaining code, comments may offer new ways of looking at problems, clarifications of questions or answers, and socially supportive community interactions. To understand the role of comments, a content analysis was conducted to evaluate the key purposes of comments. A coding schema of nine comment categories was developed from open coding on a set of 40 posts and used to classify comments in a larger dataset of 2323 comments from 50 threads over a 6-month period. Results provide insight into the way the comments support learning, knowledge development, and the SO community, and the use and usefulness of the comment feature

Introduction to Social Networking and Communities Minitrack

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Crisis, Farming & Community

In 2001, the UK was hit by Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) precipitating one of the biggest crises ever to affect the UK farming system. The crisis unfolded as a series of information and communication problems, from government to farmers and from farmers to farmers, with consequences for action in a time of crisis, social support, and the maintenance of community. What happens to a farming community during such a crisis? When the countryside shuts down, and no one can enter or leave the farm, how can information be disseminated? As methods of dealing with the disease change rapidly, as happened in this crisis, how can information be delivered in a timely and coordinated manner? To explore these questions, data have been gathered from reports and writing about the crisis, and from interviews with Cumbrian farmers. Although we will address throughout the multiple information channels used by farmers, this paper focuses on the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) during the crisis, notably a community networking initiative known as Pentalk. We conclude with a look at the current role of Pentalk in the farming community, and with discussion of how networks such as these can help during crises involving major information and communication management

Crowdsourcing the Curriculum: Redefining E-Learning Practices Through Peer-Generated Approaches

Inclusion of open resources that employ a peer-generated approach is changing who learns what, from whom, and via what means. With these changes, there is a shift in responsibilities from the course designer to motivated and self-directed learner-participants. While much research on e-learning has addressed challenges of creating and sustaining participatory environments, the development of massive open online courses calls for new approaches that go beyond the existing research on participatory environments in institutionally defined classes. We decenter institutionally defined classes and broaden the discussion to the literature on the creation of open virtual communities and the operation of open online crowds. We draw on literatures on online organizing, learning science, and emerging educational practice to discuss how collaboration and peer production shape learning and enable “crowdsourcing the curriculum.

Learning in Social Networks: Rationale and Ideas for Its Implementation in Higher Education

The internet has fast become a prevalent medium for collaboration between people and social networks, in particular, have gained vast popularity and relevance over the past few years. Within this framework, our paper will analyse the role played by social networks in current teaching practices. Specifically, we focus on the principles guiding the design of study activities which use social networks and we relate concrete experiences that show how they contribute to improving teaching and learning within a university environment