Innovación educativa en las redes sociales online: un estudio en la educación superior

Las redes sociales son tan antiguas como las relaciones entre los humanos, ya que las labores de cooperación siempre fueron imprescindibles en los procesos de asociación, tanto los formados por simples células hasta los constituidos por seres vivos. La sociedad está formada por una gran cantidad de situaciones que fomentan dicha colaboración. Desde la creación del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior se ha promovido la utilización de entornos virtuales de aprendizaje que favorezcan una evaluación más transparente y objetiva. Las redes sociales online son las interfaces digitales más utilizadas por los estudiantes universitarios, por lo que son muchos los expertos que recomiendan analizar la utilidad educativa de este tipo de aplicaciones. Siguiendo estas recomendaciones se implementó una red social online, llamada Formatio, que se utilizó para apoyar el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje en la educación superior. El objetivo general de esta tesis doctoral fue valorar el nivel de aceptación de este entorno virtual de aprendizaje para los estudiantes universitarios que participaron en este estudio. Para evaluar el uso de la plataforma se analizaron las actividades generadas por los 172 estudiantes, seleccionados aleatoriamente, matriculados en la asignatura de Estadística y TIC en el curso 2010/2011, del Grado en Ciencias de la Actividad Física y el Deporte. Con el objetivo de estimar la utilidad educativa de las redes sociales online se diseñó y validó el instrumento de Valoración de Recursos Educativos Online (VREO), que fue aplicado a otra muestra aleatoria de 452 estudiantes de la misma facultad durante el curso 2011/2012. Los resultados confirman el éxito de este tipo de espacios virtuales gracias a la alta frecuencia de uso conseguida y a las buenas puntuaciones obtenidas por los alumnos, quienes tienen una buena opinión sobre las ventajas de usar las redes sociales online en la educación superior. De todos los recursos analizados la red social online Formatio ha sido la opción mejor valorada, seguida de Moodle y Facebook en segundo y tercer lugar, y de Twitter y YouTube, en cuarta y en quinta posición. Este estudio establece un punto de partida para futuras investigaciones encaminadas a obtener ciertos indicadores cualitativos y cuantitativos que faciliten una evaluación más justa de los actores integrantes de los sistemas educativos, que ayude a abrir las puertas de nuestra sociedad a la responsabilidad, la eficiencia, la transparencia y la objetividad. ABSTRACT Social networks are as old as human relations, since cooperative work has always been indispensable in all processes of association, from those composed of simple cells to those formed by living beings. Society is shaped by a large amount of situations that stimulate this cooperation. Since the creation of the European Higher Education Area, the use of virtual learning environments that favor more transparent and objective evaluation has been promoted. On-line social networks are the digital interfaces most widely used by university students, which is the reason why many experts recommend an analysis of the educational utility of this type of applications. Following these recommendations, an on-line social network called Formatio was created, which was used in order to support the teaching and learning process in higher education. The general objective of this doctoral dissertation was to evaluate the level of acceptance of this virtual learning environment by the university students who participated in this study. In order to evaluate the use of the platform, the activity created by 172 students chosen at random was analyzed; they were registered in the course on Statistics and Information and Communication Technology of the degree program in Sciences of Physical Activity and Sport during the academic year 2010/2011. With the goal of appraising the educational utility of on-line social networks, a tool for Evaluation of On-line Educational Resources (EOER) was designed, validated, and applied to another random sample of 452 students from the same department during the academic year 2011/2012. The results confirm the success of this type of virtual spaces, thanks to the high frequency of use achieved and the good grades obtained by the students who had a favorable opinion of the advantages of using on-line social networks in higher education. Out of all the resources analyzed, the Formatio on-line social network was the option that received the best evaluation, followed by Moodle and Facebook, which were second and third, and Twitter and YouTube, in fourth and fifth place respectively. This study establishes a starting point for future research that aims to obtain certain qualitative and quantitative indicators that will make it easier to engage in a fairer evaluation of the parties involved in education systems, which will help open the doors of our society to responsibility, efficiency, transparency, and objectivity.

OnToology: An online tool for ontology documentation and evaluation

In this thesis, we designed and implemented an online tool (named "OnToology") to automatically generate documentation and perform evaluation for ontologies. It is also integrated with GitHub version control system to support collaborative environments.

Development of The Readiness To Teach Online Scale

Despite the growing importance of online education, faculty acceptance has remained unchanged. Training programs developed for faculty to teach online have often focused on assessing their cognitive rather than affective and behavioral outcomes. The Readiness To Teach Online scale was developed as part of a multiphase mixed method research project to measure faculty perceptions and motivations toward teaching online. Items in the subcategory Teaching and Learning measured perceptions of technology and online teaching, and motivations regarding resources and other external factors. Items in the subcategories Social and Student Engagement, Faculty and Technology Support, Course Development and Instructional Design, and Evaluation and Assessment collected baseline data for current practices. The pilot study of this scale demonstrated strong internal consistency reliability estimates and support for validity, showing moderately to highly correlated significant relationships between faculty perceptions and motivation to teach online; both perception and motivation constructs were moderately to highly correlated with Social and Student Engagement.

Project SCORE! Coaches’ Perceptions of an Online Tool to Promote Positive Youth Development in Sport

Research points to the potential of youth sport as an avenue to support the growth of particular assets and outcomes. A recurring theme in this line of research is the need to train coaches to deliberately deliver themes relating to positive youth development (PYD) consistently in youth sport programs. The purpose of the study was to design and deliver a technology-based PYD program. Project SCORE! (www.projectscore.ca) is a series of 10 lessons to help coaches integrate PYD into sport. Four youth sport coaches completed the program in this first phase of this research and were interviewed. The goal of this study was to gain some insights from coaches as they completed the program. Positive comments about the program (i.e. ease of use, success of particular lessons, coach’s personal growth) and challenges regarding teaching positive skills to youth are discussed. These results helped to shape the program and make necessary changes so that it may be used for a larger research study. Other implications and future research directions are discussed.

Please Stop Rubbing Your Relationship In My Face(book): An Investigation of Online Romantic Social Comparison

It is well-documented that social networking sites such as Facebook set the stage for social comparison. Such comparison has been linked to a number of negative outcomes including envy, negative moods, and lower self-esteem. The present research aims to extend current understanding of online social comparison by investigating how it pertains to romantic relationships. I hypothesized that for individuals high in attachment anxiety (compared to those low in this construct), online romantic social comparison might be related to negative consequences—which, in the current project, was operationalized as lower mood/affect and state self-esteem. Further, I hypothesized that there would be an interaction between attachment anxiety and relationship insecurities on these negative outcomes, such that the expected difference of attachment anxiety would be more pronounced under conditions priming relationship insecurities, relative to a control condition. Two experiments were conducted, one of which focused on single individuals, and the second focusing on individuals who were themselves in dating relationships. The paradigms of each entailed experimental manipulation of a key relationship-related variable (for single individuals, pessimism for future relationships; for dating individuals, the presence or absence of rejection threat), subsequent exposure to romantic content from Facebook, and finally, measures of affect and state self-esteem. I discovered partial support for the hypothesis that some single individuals—particularly those with higher, rather than lower, attachment anxiety—do indeed report feeling more negative moods and lower state self-esteem following exposure to romantic online content, in contrast to single individuals who had instead viewed neutral online content. The association between attachment anxiety and negative outcome was especially pertinent if individuals had been primed to believe that their own future romantic prospects were grim, or if attention had been drawn to their singleness. Among dating individuals, less support for hypotheses was found; however, exploratory post-hoc analyses revealed a promising (albeit weak) trend indicating that reinvestigation of the current hypotheses would be prudent.

Australian occupational therapists' use of an online evidence-based practice database (OTseeker)

Introduction: Online databases can support the implementation of evidence-based practice by providing easy access to research. OTseeker (www.otseeker.com), an electronic evidence database, was introduced in 2003 to assist occupational therapists to locate and interpret research. Objectives: This study explored Australian occupational therapists' use and perceptions of OTseeker and its impact on their knowledge and practice. Methods: A postal survey questionnaire was distributed to two samples: (i) a proportionate random sample of 400 occupational therapists from all states and territories of Australia, and (ii) a random sample of occupational therapists working in 95 facilities in two Australian states (Queensland and New South Wales). Results: The questionnaire was completed by 213 participants. While most participants (85.9%) had heard of OTseeker, only 103 (56.6%) had accessed it, with lack of time being the main reason for non-use. Of the 103 participants who had accessed OTseeker, 68.9% had done so infrequently, 63.1% agreed that it had increased their knowledge and 13.6% had changed their practice after accessing information on OTseeker. Conclusion: Despite OTseeker being developed to provide occupational therapists with easy access to research, lack of time was the main reason why over half of the participants in this study had not accessed it. This exploratory research suggests, however, that there is potential for the database to influence occupational therapists' knowledge and practice about treatment efficacy through access to the research literature.

PESQUISA FAPESP ONLINE:A tecnologia incorporada à Divulgação Científica

Apesar de o Brasil não apresentar um cenário propício para uma Divulgação Científica eficiente à formação cidadã, nota-se um considerável crescimento no apoio às pesquisas nos últimos anos, principalmente subsidiado pelo fomento de fundações governamentais de diferentes estados. Encontramos, na atualidade, um novo método de expansão informativa, caracterizada pela migração dos meios de comunicação convencionais à internet. Frente a esse desenvolvimento, diversos veículos divulgadores de ciência, com destaque a Pesquisa FAPESP, passaram a empregar esse novo canal no complemento de suas mensagens. Nota-se, porém, uma adoção ainda fragilizada, deixando de lado alguns dos princípios básicos do ciberespaço, tais como a hipertextualidade, por exemplo. A intenção deste trabalho é analisar as ferramentas utilizadas pela Pesquisa FAPESP Online, assim como apontar diversas outras técnicas que poderiam ser inseridas no contexto da Divulgação Científica virtual. Para isso, foi realizada uma entrevista com os editores da revista, bem como uma leitura do portal, com subsídios teóricos da Análise do discurso. Conclui-se que as técnicas praticadas pelo site, embora ainda escassas se comparadas aos demais segmentos do universo digital, são bem utilizadas pelo veículo, preenchendo a lacuna existente na DC e facilitando o acesso da população sobre pesquisas nacionais.(AU)

Chronic illness in non-heterosexual contexts: an online survey of experiences

In this article we contribute to the expansion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) health psychology beyond the confines of sexual health by examining the experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual people living with non-HIV related chronic illness. Using a (predominantly) qualitative online survey, the perspectives of 190 LGB people with 52 different chronic illnesses from eight countries were collected. The five most commonly reported physical conditions were arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, asthma and chronic fatigue syndrome. Our analysis focuses on four themes within participants’ written comments: (1) ableism within LGBT communities; (2) isolation from LGBT communities and other LGB people living with chronic illness; (3)heteronormativity within sources of information and support and; (4) homophobia from healthcare professionals. We conclude by suggesting that LGBTQ psychology could usefully draw on critical health psychology principles and frameworks to explore non-heterosexual’s lived experiences of chronic illness, and also that there remains a need for specifically targeted support groups and services for LGB people with chronic illnesses.

Utilising online shopping environment attributes holistically to create competitive advantage

As more consumers shop online, it becomes crucial for marketers to know how online shopping environments (OSEs) can be used to gain competitive advantage. This dissertation aims to explain theoretically how OSE attributes work together holistically to produce desirable consumer responses, applying and extending a theory from the environmental psychology literature to the online context. Firstly, the study conceptualises OSEs as virtual environments which may be perceived and experienced both cognitively and affectively through a technology-mediated interaction with a computer screen. A multi-disciplinary approach identifies key characteristics of OSEs: they involve consumers; they are more complex than their offline counterparts; they are likely first apprehended holistically; and they can elicit high levels of emotions and cognition. Secondly, the research uses a gestalt approach and extends Kaplan and Kalan’s (1982) Preference Framework, taking account of the specific characteristics of OSEs, which one visits specifically to obtain product information. The results support the proposition that OSEs are perceived in terms of their Sense-making and Exploratory attributes. Thirdly, the research explains how OSE attributes work together to produce desirable consumer responses. As hypothesised, Exploratory potential produces both Hedonic and Utilitarian value, and both kinds of value contribute to Site commitment. An unexpected result is that Sense-making potential does not produce Utilitarian value directly, but only through the mediation of Exploratory potential. The research contributes to marketing theory by: (1) identifying ways the internet has changed the nature of the shopping experience; (2) extending Kaplan and Kaplan’s Preference Framework to explain how consumers perceive OSEs holistically; (3) identifying the distinction between page-level and site-level perceptions, and (4) distinguishing between different sources of information (marketer vs. non-marketer). Managerially, the research provides a model for marketers to conceive and design retail websites whose attributes work together to create competitive advantage.

Automatic identification of best answers in online enquiry communities

Online communities are prime sources of information. The Web is rich with forums and Question Answering (Q&A) communities where people go to seek answers to all kinds of questions. Most systems employ manual answer-rating procedures to encourage people to provide quality answers and to help users locate the best answers in a given thread. However, in the datasets we collected from three online communities, we found that half their threads lacked best answer markings. This stresses the need for methods to assess the quality of available answers to: 1) provide automated ratings to fill in for, or support, manually assigned ones, and; 2) to assist users when browsing such answers by filtering in potential best answers. In this paper, we collected data from three online communities and converted it to RDF based on the SIOC ontology. We then explored an approach for predicting best answers using a combination of content, user, and thread features. We show how the influence of such features on predicting best answers differs across communities. Further we demonstrate how certain features unique to some of our community systems can boost predictability of best answers.

The importance of power dynamics in the development of asynchronous online learning communities

This research explored how a more student-directed learning design can support the creation of togetherness and belonging in a community of distance learners in formal higher education. Postgraduate students in a New Zealand School of Education experienced two different learning tasks as part of their online distance learning studies. The tasks centered around two online asynchronous discussions each for the same period of time and with the same group of students, but following two different learning design principles. All messages were analyzed using a twostep analysis process, content analysis and social network analysis. Although the findings showed a balance of power between the tutor and the students in the first high e-moderated activity, a better pattern of group interaction and community feeling was found in the low e-moderated activity. The paper will discuss the findings in terms of the implications for learning design and the role of the tutor.

Online-questionaire design guidelines

As a new medium for questionnaire delivery, the internet has the potential to revolutionize the survey process. Online (web-based) questionnaires provide several advantages over traditional survey methods in terms of cost, speed, appearance, flexibility, functionality, and usability. Designers of online-questionnaires are faced with a plethora of design tools to assist in the development of their electronic questionnaires. Little, if any, support is incorporated, however, within these tools to guide online-questionnaire designers according to best practice. In essence, an online-questionnaire combines questionnaire-based survey functionality with that of a webpage/site. As such, the design of an online-questionnaire should incorporate principles from both contributing fields. Drawing on existing guidelines for paper-based questionnaire design, website design (paying particular attention to issues of accessibility and usability), and existing but scarce guidelines for electronic surveys, we have derived a comprehensive set of guidelines for the design of online-questionnaires. This article introduces this comprehensive set of guidelines – as a practical reference guide – for the design of online-questionnaires.

Online-questionnaire design:establishing guidelines and evaluating existing eupport

As a new medium for questionnaire delivery, the internet has the potential to revolutionise the survey process. Online (web-based) questionnaires provide several advantages over traditional survey methods in terms of cost, speed, appearance, flexibility, functionality, and usability [1, 2]. For instance, delivery is faster, responses are received more quickly, and data collection can be automated or accelerated [1- 3]. Online-questionnaires can also provide many capabilities not found in traditional paper-based questionnaires: they can include pop-up instructions and error messages; they can incorporate links; and it is possible to encode difficult skip patterns making such patterns virtually invisible to respondents. Like many new technologies, however, online-questionnaires face criticism despite their advantages. Typically, such criticisms focus on the vulnerability of online-questionnaires to the four standard survey error types: namely, coverage, non-response, sampling, and measurement errors. Although, like all survey errors, coverage error (“the result of not allowing all members of the survey population to have an equal or nonzero chance of being sampled for participation in a survey” [2, pg. 9]) also affects traditional survey methods, it is currently exacerbated in online-questionnaires as a result of the digital divide. That said, many developed countries have reported substantial increases in computer and internet access and/or are targeting this as part of their immediate infrastructural development [4, 5]. Indicating that familiarity with information technologies is increasing, these trends suggest that coverage error will rapidly diminish to an acceptable level (for the developed world at least) in the near future, and in so doing, positively reinforce the advantages of online-questionnaire delivery. The second error type – the non-response error – occurs when individuals fail to respond to the invitation to participate in a survey or abandon a questionnaire before it is completed. Given today’s societal trend towards self-administration [2] the former is inevitable, irrespective of delivery mechanism. Conversely, non-response as a consequence of questionnaire abandonment can be relatively easily addressed. Unlike traditional questionnaires, the delivery mechanism for online-questionnaires makes estimation of questionnaire length and time required for completion difficult1, thus increasing the likelihood of abandonment. By incorporating a range of features into the design of an online questionnaire, it is possible to facilitate such estimation – and indeed, to provide respondents with context sensitive assistance during the response process – and thereby reduce abandonment while eliciting feelings of accomplishment [6]. For online-questionnaires, sampling error (“the result of attempting to survey only some, and not all, of the units in the survey population” [2, pg. 9]) can arise when all but a small portion of the anticipated respondent set is alienated (and so fails to respond) as a result of, for example, disregard for varying connection speeds, bandwidth limitations, browser configurations, monitors, hardware, and user requirements during the questionnaire design process. Similarly, measurement errors (“the result of poor question wording or questions being presented in such a way that inaccurate or uninterpretable answers are obtained” [2, pg. 11]) will lead to respondents becoming confused and frustrated. Sampling, measurement, and non-response errors are likely to occur when an online-questionnaire is poorly designed. Individuals will answer questions incorrectly, abandon questionnaires, and may ultimately refuse to participate in future surveys; thus, the benefit of online questionnaire delivery will not be fully realized. To prevent errors of this kind2, and their consequences, it is extremely important that practical, comprehensive guidelines exist for the design of online questionnaires. Many design guidelines exist for paper-based questionnaire design (e.g. [7-14]); the same is not true for the design of online questionnaires [2, 15, 16]. The research presented in this paper is a first attempt to address this discrepancy. Section 2 describes the derivation of a comprehensive set of guidelines for the design of online-questionnaires and briefly (given space restrictions) outlines the essence of the guidelines themselves. Although online-questionnaires reduce traditional delivery costs (e.g. paper, mail out, and data entry), set up costs can be high given the need to either adopt and acquire training in questionnaire development software or secure the services of a web developer. Neither approach, however, guarantees a good questionnaire (often because the person designing the questionnaire lacks relevant knowledge in questionnaire design). Drawing on existing software evaluation techniques [17, 18], we assessed the extent to which current questionnaire development applications support our guidelines; Section 3 describes the framework used for the evaluation, and Section 4 discusses our findings. Finally, Section 5 concludes with a discussion of further work.

What difference doguidelines make? An observational study of online-questionnaire design guidelines put to practical use

As a new medium for questionnaire delivery, the Internet has the potential to revolutionize the survey process. Online-questionnaires can provide many capabilities not found in traditional paper-based questionnaires. Despite this, and the introduction of a plethora of tools to support online-questionnaire creation, current electronic survey design typically replicates the look-and-feel of paper-based questionnaires, thus failing to harness the full power of the electronic delivery medium. A recent environmental scan of online-questionnaire design tools found that little, if any, support is incorporated within these tools to guide questionnaire designers according to best-practice [Lumsden & Morgan 2005]. This paper briefly introduces a comprehensive set of guidelines for the design of online-questionnaires. Drawn from relevant disparate sources, all the guidelines incorporated within the set are proven in their own right; as an initial assessment of the value of the set of guidelines as a practical reference guide, we undertook an informal study to observe the effect of introducing the guidelines into the design process for a complex online-questionnaire. The paper discusses the qualitative findings — which are encouraging for the role of the guidelines in the ‘bigger picture’ of online survey delivery across many domains such as e-government, e-business, and e-health — of this case study.