This study explores how visual narratives stemming from the experience of healthy embodiment in social virtual worlds, especially for individuals living with chronic disease or disability, both fosters relationships and more broadly impacts physical and emotional life experience and overall quality of life. It does so through the lens of social…

Distributed Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are based on the premise that online learning occurs through a network of interconnected learners. The teachers' role in distributed courses extends to forming such a network by facilitating communication that connects learners and their separate personal learning environments scattered around the…

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) review of the impact of digital technology on learning, "The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning: A Summary for the Education Endowment Foundation. Full Report" (Higgins et al., 2012) (ED612174), found positive benefits but noted that how technology is used (the pedagogy) is key and that…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show, in a practical manner, that discursive procedures (mediated by online platforms or publication systems) enhance cultural understanding of distinct social entities such as Europe and Russia. Design/Methodology/approach: Joint special issues convening authors from east and west in an equilibrated manner…

Technologies have acquired strategic importance and have been defined as unprecedented educational tools. In this study, we analysed the use that 1,488 Spanish adolescents made of five tools (i.e. search engines, wikis, blogs, podcasts and instant messaging), and the impact that use of these tools had on their academic performance in science,…

This study aimed to explore the relationship between knowledge sharing intentions and the perceptions of individual technology users who are members of virtual communities. We characterized learners' perceptions of new technological products or services by including both an individual's psychological state of readiness to accept technology and…

An increasing number of educational researchers have begun to study informal learning networks that have been enabled by online social network sites and tools, including Facebook and Twitter. Part of the impetus driving this interest is to better understand the nature of the self-directed learning behaviors and knowledge-building dynamics that…

In the digital age, technology is playing an important role in changing the nature of professionalism. Newer forms of "professional learning" stand in contrast to more traditional forms of "professional development." The shifting paradigm has implications for school leaders in all contexts. This study sought to qualitatively…

This study investigates the interactional work involved in ratifying mutual participation in online, multiparty, voice-based chat rooms. The purpose of this article is to provide a preliminary sketch of how talk and participation is managed in a spoken communication environment that comprises interactants who are not physically copresent but are…

Debates continue about the access young children have to technological devices, given the increasingly accessible and available technology in most developed countries. Concerns have been expressed by parents/caregivers and researchers, and questions have been raised about possible risks and benefits of these devices on young children who, in some…

The pressures of the information and digital culture exhibit innovation, but also a hegemonic power, and act in reciprocity with the global economy. Theoretical concepts and practical actions need to be revisited, to build equity in virtual communication. A sociological-cultural focus of communication mediated by technology, cannot occur without…

Technological innovations in digital communication technologies offer possibilities for new forms of participation and storytelling in theatre. WildWorks Theatre Company creates work that is discovered and devised with partners, artists and community participants in response to specific cultural and geographical locations. The work includes people…

Patterns of technology ownership and usage, as well as skills with and preferences for various technologies, affect the college experience (Educause 2012). Students at a commuter campus of a large Midwestern public university were surveyed about technology and the learning process: 94% of the respondents believed that technology had the potential…

Online student response systems (OSRSs) are fast replacing classroom response systems (CRSs), also known as personal or audience response systems or "clickers". OSRSs can more easily be implemented in the classroom because they are web-based and allow students to use any browser and device to do the "clicking" required to…

This research examined how various members of a social network interact with the Facebook (FB) profile page of a friend who has died. From 43 in-depth qualitative interviews, FB friends of deceased FB users maintained their FB connection with the deceased. Most participants who visited the profile found it helpful to look at pictures; a few wrote…