Social networking: A matter of character?

Over the last couple of years, online social networks such as Facebook have tremendously grown in popularity, especially among students. The technological advancements proceed faster than the understanding of the psychological factors behind this development. While motivations and gratifications related to Facebook usage have been investigated thoroughly, this study additionally focuses on the influence of underlying personality factors. However, instead of the commonly used Big Five, the characteristics narcissism, shyness and loneliness are investigated among undergraduate and graduate students. The results indicate that a high score on narcissism causes a higher Facebook usage and that the sub construct uniqueness/entitlement is the most important. The results also indicate a negative influence of loneliness on Facebook usage, while shyness seems irrelevant

The key is not to forget to be awesome: Identifying narratives in an online community

As online communities emerge in different settings all over the web, they continue to develop different ways to communicate online and to encourage participation in their activities. Scholars have proposed that one of the ways in which these communities do so is through the use of narratives. A case study was done on an open online community to establish if online communities develop narratives, what kind of narratives, and if these influence participation. This paper contains the analysis of the identifiable narratives that are useful to promote culture and participation and proposes three types of narratives that are more effective to do so. Implications of such findings and proposed future research are discussed

Mixing Problem Based Learning And Conventional Teaching Methods In An Analog Electronics Course

This study, undertaken at the Walter Sisulu University of Technology (WSU) in South Africa, describes how problem-based learning (PBL) affects the first year ‘analog electronics course’, when PBL and the lecturing mode is compared. Problems were designed to match real-life situations. Data between the experimental group and the control group that related to attitudinal effect; the amount of reflection and learning outcome effects, were compared. A strong correlation was found between the students’ attitudes and project marks for those who used the problem-based learning method. It was found that students who followed the PBL method learned to do research, learned better how to work in groups and developed greater confidence. Also what they learned was more of a practical value and they had more positive attitudes and reflected more, but there were no significant improvements in their learning. This research is in response to the real need to address gaps between employer expectations and higher education outcomes in South Africa.

Competence Development of Synchronously Coached Trainee Teachers in Collaborative Learning.

The need to make trainee teachers more prepared to coach collaborative learning effectively is increasing, as collaborative learning is becoming more important. One complication in this training process is that it is hard for the teacher trainer to hear and understand the students’ utterances and those of the coaching trainee teacher. Besides, it is essential that the teacher trainer does not intervene with the students directly. This constraint is a strong plea for facilitating the direct whispered suggestions by an earpiece to the trainee teacher. In this study, first of all an instrument for measuring the quality of the teacher behaviour during collaborative learning was developed. Subsequently, it was concluded that the quality of the pedagogical action and the reaction time of the trainee teacher in the synchronous condition (direct interventions via an earpiece) progressed better than in the traditional asynchronous variant (coaching form with a discussion at the end of the lesson). The final request for validation is: to what extent reflects the video recognition task reflects the teacher performance in a full real life setting

Competence Development of Synchronously Coached Trainee Teachers in Collaborative Learning.

The need to make trainee teachers more prepared to coach collaborative learning effectively is increasing, as collaborative learning is becoming more important. One complication in this training process is that it is hard for the teacher trainer to hear and understand the students’ utterances and those of the coaching trainee teacher. Besides, it is essential that the teacher trainer does not intervene with the students directly. This constraint is a strong plea for facilitating the direct whispered suggestions by an earpiece to the trainee teacher. In this study, first of all an instrument for measuring the quality of the teacher behaviour during collaborative learning was developed. Subsequently, it was concluded that the quality of the pedagogical action and the reaction time of the trainee teacher in the synchronous condition (direct interventions via an earpiece) progressed better than in the traditional asynchronous variant (coaching form with a discussion at the end of the lesson). The final request for validation is: to what extent reflects the video recognition task reflects the teacher performance in a full real life setting

Bedrijfssystemen van de toekomst: van straks naar nu

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