A quantitative analysis of the role of social networks in educational contexts

Recent advances in Information Technology (IT) and the advent of Web 2.0 created the path for education to ascertain its potential from this phenomenon. The role of e-learning has transformed completely as Web 2.0 technologies enabled the creation of learning content that is no longer based on textbooks and learning guides, but on manageable, modular learning components. The emergence of Education 2.0 enabled technology enhanced teaching and learning necessitating new pedagogical approaches while e-learning has evolved into an instrumental pedagogy of collaboration and sharing of resources through affordances of social media. Educational social networks were created as supportive mechanisms for special interest groups. Traditional teaching methods have been replaced with technology-enhanced media that enable ubiquitous learning. Social networks as educational tools have enabled individual and group learning through social engagement and social distribution of knowledge. Studies have demonstrated the role of social media as a complementary educational tool. Many studies have reported that a larger proportion of students spend more time engaging in social online activities than in classroom. However, there is a lack of quantitative study on how social networks such as Facebook can be influential on students’ progress and achievement. This paper investigates how a quantitative overview of Facebook’s influence on students’ progress can be incorporated in a proposed e-moderation model of teaching and learning through Facebook. The proposed e-moderation model (Salmon, 2003) provides an emphasis on the theoretical perspectives that support socially situated learning environment of social networks such as Facebook

An evaluation of social learning networks: a qualitative perspective

Affordances offered through ubiquitous nature of Web 2.0 technologies and social media have progressively become universal constituents of our lives. Presently our students have seen the escalation in use of multimedia in their studies. With technological advances in telecommunication technologies, students have become accustomed to instant, global communications modes. Educational institutions have progressively adapted more innovative pedagogical approaches in their provision. Web 2.0 has fundamentally altered communication methods between people around the world. Access to information, dissemination, sharing and creation of new digitised content are powerful tools that ease social media adaptation in everyone’s life. Over the last decade multimedia authoring tools have become more useful for content generation. The price and expertise to use these authoring tools has decreased, therefore offering opportunity for educators to broaden their experimental horizons with these technologies. With the advent of Web 2.0, access to information, dissemination, sharing and creation of new digitised content are powerful tools that ease social media adaptation in student’s life. Universities have reported reforms in the use of Education 2.0, while Web 2.0 is finding its momentums in further education and schools. Since the advent of Web 2.0 many educational institutions have reported remarkable positive influences in students learning behaviours. Research studies have illustrated association between students improved communication and collaboration linked to improved motivation hence more on going academic performance. Social learning networks represent a more diverse mechanism than a content delivery platform. The potential to release both students and instructors creative talents, ease of content creation and collaboratively sharing teaching and learning resources has enabled educational institutions to explore the strategic benefits of social learning networks. Recent studies indicate that these digital elements when aligned with the best practices of multimedia design become powerful learning agents. This study is aimed at highlighting the importance of social learning networks in education from a qualitative perspective. A series of recent studies at higher and further education has provided guidelines for the improved use of social media in e-learning. This paper’s findings will introduce qualitative verdicts for a framework adaptation of social learning networks in e-learning

Investigating the educational value of social learning networks: a quantitative analysis

The emergence of Education 2.0 enabled technology-enhanced learning, necessitating new pedagogical approaches, while e-learning has evolved into an instrumental pedagogy of collaboration through affordances of social media. Social learning networks and ubiquitous learning enabled individual and group learning through social engagement and social distribution of knowledge. Nevertheless, these developments have not been supported with extensive studies focusing on quantifying the impact of technology-enhanced learning on students’ progress and achievement. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a quantitative overview of Facebook’s influence on students’ progress can be incorporated in a proposed e-moderation model of teaching and learning. Design/methodology/approach The approach is based on extending Salmon’s (2003) e-moderation model, which provides an emphasis on the theoretical perspectives that support socially situated learning environments of social networks such as Facebook. The findings revealed that students’ grades were positively influenced by the complementary use of Facebook on their courses of study. Findings The use of a social learning network also triggered a significant increase in student participation in learning activities delivered over Facebook. Research limitations/implications The main research limitations were due to the fact that a single social network was chosen for conducting the experiments. Furthermore, the investigation was narrowed down to a selected range of sessions offered to college and university students as part of their course. Originality/value The paper’s contribution is twofold, as it offers an original set of guidelines for conducting social learning network experiments and provides valuable quantifiable findings on the educational value of such networks

Follicular dynamics in neonate vitrified ovarian grafts after host treatment with melatonin

This study evaluates the effect of melatonin on follicular dynamics in neonate vitrified ovarian grafts. Vitrified ovaries from neonate F1 hybrid mice, candidates for transplantation to treated or non-treated groups, were thawed under standard conditions with or without the addition of 100 μM melatonin, respectively. Following transplantation, melatonin (20 mg/kg/day) or saline solution was injected i.p. into the treated and the non-treated groups, respectively. Vaginal cytology to monitor estrogenic activity together with follicle survival and development in the ovary grafts was examined. The results showed that the sites of transplantation became obvious within the oestrous phase. Histological analysis showed that there was a dynamic of the ovogenesis process in the vitrified ovary grafts. However, in the ovary graft the empty cavity together with jumbled oocyte-granulosa complex in the non-treated group was higher than in the melatonin treated group. Overall, the number of primary follicles in the ovary grafts of both groups remained constant throughout the oestrous period. However, the treated ovary grafts contained more secondary follicles throughout the oestrous period in comparison to non-treated ovary grafts. The antral follicle rates were more marked in the melatonin treated group than in the non-treated group during the oestrous period, whereas at other days of the cycle no significant difference was observed. The fresh corpora lutea rates were significantly higher in the treatment group than in the non-treatment group. The study showed that there is a positive effect with melatonin resulting in more grafts restoring puberty. Furthermore, the associated increase in healthy follicles suggests that melatonin has a preventative ischaemia/antioxidant action and may be useful to follicles. (Folia Morphol 2011; 70, 1: 18-23

Privacy-Preserving Distance Computation and Proximity Testing on Earth, Done Right

In recent years, the availability of GPS-enabled smartphones have made location-based services extremely popular. A multitude of applications rely on location information to provide a wide range of services. Location information is, however, extremely sensitive and can be easily abused. In this paper, we introduce the first protocols for secure computation of distance and for proximity testing over a sphere. Our secure distance protocols allow two parties, Alice and Bob, to determine their mutual distance without disclosing any additional information about their location. Through our secure proximity testing protocols, Alice only learns if Bob is in close proximity, i.e., within some arbitrary distance. Our techniques rely on three different representations of Earth, which provide different trade-os between accuracy and performance. We show, via experiments on a prototype implementation, that our protocols are practical on resource- constrained smartphone devices. Our distance computation protocols runs, in fact, in 54 to 78 ms on a commodity Android smartphone. Similarly, our proximity tests require between 1.2 s and 2.8 s on the same platform. The imprecision introduced by our protocols is very small, i.e., between 0.1% and 3% on average, depending on the distance

Nyquist method for Wigner-Poisson quantum plasmas

By means of the Nyquist method, we investigate the linear stability of electrostatic waves in homogeneous equilibria of quantum plasmas described by the Wigner-Poisson system. We show that, unlike the classical Vlasov-Poisson system, the Wigner-Poisson case does not necessarily possess a Penrose functional determining its linear stability properties. The Nyquist method is then applied to a two-stream distribution, for which we obtain an exact, necessary and sufficient condition for linear stability, as well as to a bump-in-tail equilibrium.Comment: 6 figure

The effects of a magnetic barrier and a nonmagnetic spacer in tunnel structures

The spin-polarized transport is investigated in a new type of magnetic tunnel junction which consists of two ferromagnetic electrodes separated by a magnetic barrier and a nonmagnetic metallic spacer. Based on the transfer matrix method and the nearly-free-electron-approximation the dependence of the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) and electron-spin polarization on the nonmagnetic layer thickness and the applied bias voltage are studied theoretically. The TMR and spin polarization show an oscillatory behavior as a function of the spacer thickness and the bias voltage. The oscillations originate from the quantum well states in the spacer, while the existence of the magnetic barrier gives rise to a strong spin polarization and high values of the TMR. Our results may be useful for the development of spin electronic devices based on coherent transport.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure