RITPU • IJTHE

Social media in highe

A study of grade six student images, concerns, questions and knowledge about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

This research examines rural, pre-adolescent student images, concerns, questions and knowledge about the disease Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). A secondary objective is to determine if responses are influenced by gender. A qualitative survey was administered to six classes of Grade 6 students (n = 131), within two public education districts in the province of British Columbia. Student participants had no previous formal AIDS education instruction. Pupil images, concerns, questions and knowledge concerning AIDS are investigated by means of open-ended, survey questions requiring both pictorial and written responses. The study is designed, conducted and analyzed from a generative learning theory perspective. By ascertaining specific student concerns surrounding AIDS it is hoped that educators will be able to design AIDS curriculum that is both developmentally appropriate for and conceptually befitting to early adolescent needs.Education, Faculty ofCurriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department ofGraduat

"Sociologics" as an analytical framework to examine students’ discourse on socioscientific issues

This study develops and tests the strengths and weaknesses of an analytical framework entitled sociologies to examine students' responses to socioscientific issues. Sociologies (Latour, 1987) is defined as the unpredictable and heterogeneous networks of links and associations that constitute the construction, accumulation, and mobilization of knowledge in the face of controversy. Recognizing the asymmetry of knowledge production, sociologies looks at how some knowledge is rendered more credible, and more powerful, than others. The framework consists of five questions: a) how causes and effects are attributed; b) what points (ideas) are linked to which other; c) what size and strength these links have; d) who the most legitimate spokespersons are; and e) and how all these elements are modified during the controversy. Latour calls the answer to these five questions "sociologies". Under this rubric, the production of knowledge is contentious because knowledge is socially constructed in a world where discourse and politics and knowledge and power are inextricably related. I argue that the framework of sociologies is an improvement upon commonly used analytical frameworks in socioscientific research in education as, unlike previous forms of analysis, it foregrounds the social construction of knowledge (as evidenced in discourse) and highlights the contentious, complex, unpredictable, and dynamic nature of knowledge production prevalent in these issues.Education, Faculty ofCurriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department ofGraduat

Social media in higher education: A look at participatory culture in graduate coursework

Society has become fascinated with web- based social media. Recently, aspects of social media environments such as participatory culture, new media digital literacies, and connectivism have been increasingly investigated. However, current university policies often restrict, if not forbid, the use of social networking sites in class. For professors seeking to introduce social media into their teaching practice, these restrictive policies can make it difficult to teach with and about social computing and computer-supported collaborative work. This descriptive paper presents the experiences of two professors who integrated Web 2.0 practices into their respective graduate-level education courses titled Social Computing and Computer-Supported Collaborative Work and Web 2.0 = Pedagogy 2.0? and describes their underlying theories and concepts. Subsequently, the courses’ rationales theoretical underpinnings, and teaching approaches are delineated, and implementation strategies are suggested

Social media in higher education: A look at participatory culture in graduate coursework

Society has become fascinated with web-based social media. Recently, aspects of social media environments such as participatory culture, new media digital literacies, and connectivism have been increasingly investigated. However, current university policies often restrict, if not forbid, the use of social networking sites in class. For professors seeking to introduce social media into their teaching practice, these restrictive policies can make it difficult to teach with and about social computing and computer-supported collaborative work. This descriptive paper presents the experiences of two professors who integrated Web 2.0 practices into their respective graduate-level education courses titled Social Computing and Computer-Supported Collaborative Work and Web 2.0 = Pedagogy 2.0? and describes their underlying theories and concepts. Subsequently, the courses’ rationales theoretical underpinnings, and teaching approaches are delineated, and implementation strategies are suggested.Il ne fait aucun doute que les médias sociaux soulèvent beaucoup d’intérêt au sein de notre société. Dans la dernière décennie, plusieurs chercheurs se sont penchés sur de nombreux aspects relatifs aux médias sociaux, tels que la culture participative, les littératies numériques et le connectivisme. Malgré cet engouement pour les médias sociaux et leur potentiel, les présentes politiques universitaires sont souvent restrictives à l’égard de l’usage des technologies de réseautage social dans la salle de classe. Pour les professeurs qui souhaitent intégrer les problématiques des médias sociaux dans leur pédagogie, les politiques restrictives tendent à contraindre les types d’enseignements qui peuvent être faits avec les médias sociaux comme le travail collaboratif en ligne. Dans cette foulée, cet article décrit les expériences de deux professeures qui ont intégré des pratiques pédagogiques qualifiées de « pédagogie Web 2.0 » dans deux cours au cycle supérieur, soit SocialComputingandComputerSupportedCollaborative Work, et Web 2.0=Pedagogy2.0? Les fondements théoriques et pratiques des cours sont d’abord présentés et sont suivis des méthodes utilisées pour assurer une relation enseignement-apprentissage avec les étudiants. L’article conclut avec des suggestions pour utiliser les médias sociaux dans des cours universitaires