Social Learning Space Research Articles

Exploring Twitter as a social learning space for education scholars: An analysis of value‐added contributions to the #TPACK network

AbstractSocial media has been shown to be an efficient way to engage in networked participatory scholarship (NPS), which is defined as the use of online social networks to share and further develop scholarship. As leaders in the field, educational technology scholars should be at the forefront of this practice. We used social network analysis (SNA) to examine the structure and characteristics of the #TPACK Twitter network and to determine whether and how the users were engaging in value‐added NPS. Our findings revealed that the #TPACK Twitter network was loosely organized, and users were not very well connected outside of their clusters. Our findings also revealed that #TPACK tweets largely did not represent value‐added NPS. The majority of posts lacked useful context, were limited to merely sharing links to resources and did not establish meaningful interactions among users. The implications of this study provide a new direction for educational technology researchers and PK‐12 practitioners to approach social media from a value‐added standpoint and to apply value‐added NPS to improve their use of social media to advance research, enhance professional learning and forge closer ties between researchers and practitioners. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Publication in high‐impact academic journals and measuring research impact through citations and journal indexing is still the dominant practice in research dissemination; however, there is growth in the use of alternative methods and the use of altmetrics to measure the impact of these methods. Scholars struggle with using social media in ways that align with networked participatory scholarship (NPS). Social network analysis (SNA) is the study of the structure and characteristics of the relationships that form in social networks, and can be used to fanalyze an online social network. What this paper adds Value‐added social learning theory and NPS can be used in SNA to both evaluate and inform scholars' social media practices. Educational technology scholars and practitioners struggle with using social media for value‐added NPS. Lost opportunities for value‐added NPS that were documented in this study include lack of engagement with the wider network, not sharing the role of spreading ideas and not making value‐added contributions. Implications for practice and policy Education scholars should use SNA as a tool to evaluate the level of value‐added NPS in the social media networks around areas of study they care about so that they can develop both personal and systemic plans for implementing value‐added NPS to create more dynamic learning spaces on these platforms. Institutions should investigate ways they can remove barriers and incentivize value‐added NPS. Innovations in the dissemination of scholarship should involve helping scholars to develop the skills needed for successful value‐added NPS.

It Takes Two: Online and In-person Discussions Offer Complementary Learning Opportunities for Students.

Discussions play a significant role in facilitating student learning through engagement with course material and promotion of critical thinking. Discussions provide space for social learning where ideas are deliberated, internalized, and knowledge is cocreated through socioemotional interactions. With the increase of internet-based and hybrid courses, there is a need to evaluate the degree to which online discussion modalities facilitate quality discussions and enhance student achievement. We assessed the effectiveness of asynchronous online discussion boards and traditional face-to-face discussions via qualitative (thematic coding and discussion network analysis) and quantitative (Bloom's taxonomy) techniques and evaluated student perceptions via precourse and postcourse surveys. We found differential strengths of the two formats. Online discussions increased response complexity, while in-person discussions fostered improved connections with course material. Themes related to sharing of personal identity, humanity and verbal immediacy were more frequent throughout in-person discussions. Survey responses suggested that a sense of community was an external motivator for preference of in-person discussions, while anxiety was a factor influencing online discussion preference. Our findings suggest that online and in-person discussions are complementary, and work in tandem to facilitate complex student thinking through online environments and social learning within the classroom.

Autistic re-creation: Live action role-play as a safe and brave space for social learning

Live action role-play (larp) is an improvised and embodied form of storytelling that develops through co-creation. While autistic individuals generally dislike unpredictable situations and social interaction in larger groups, anecdotal reports suggest that they often are found in the larping community. Through interviews with 10 autistic, experienced adult larpers, this study investigates larp as a scene for social learning. The examination focuses on the attraction of larps; what the participants learn about social interaction through larping; and how such insights transfer to everyday life. From a cognitive point of view, larping comes through as an optimal autistic space where players feel safe enough to dare push their social boundaries, which conceivably contributes to the formation of more precise social predictions since experimentation and mistakes facilitate embodied learning. From the participants’ point of view, larping improved their understanding of social nuances, which in turn increased social confidence and well-being in everyday life.

Using Social Learning Spaces to Think Beyond and Innovate Conventional Conferencing Formats

Across the academic landscape, scientific organizations host conferences that enable researchers to come together to foster learning, stimulate innovation, and promote change. Within the diverse field of kinesiology, conferences can help develop and disseminate knowledge on a range of issues such as athlete development and coach education. The purpose of the present article is to discuss the possibilities of thinking beyond conventional conferencing formats by creating dynamic social learning spaces that promote networking, critical thinking, and reflexivity. The theory underpinning social learning spaces is explained, followed by a narrative chronology of the three phases of evolution of the blue room group, an interdisciplinary collaboration of youth sport scholars who aim to foster innovation across subdisciplines of kinesiology. An interpretative summary of the blue room group as a social learning space is presented, in accordance with the principles of caring to make a difference, engaging uncertainty, and paying attention. The perceived benefits of kinesiology, as well as the challenges and limitations of the blue room, are discussed based on the authors’ experiences operating within a continuously evolving and shifting social learning space.

Young Children’s Play and the Role of Grandparents as Play Partners during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Play involves diverse meaning-making for young children and grandparents. This paper derives from a larger intergenerational family practices project conducted in Australia during 2021–2022 against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research team undertook intergenerational group interviews and filmed family play activities in addition to collecting videoclips and photos of young children’s play from six families. In this paper, vignettes from two families are described and given meaning. Rogoff’s social learning three planes theory involving the intertwined and interdependent—‘personal’, ‘interpersonal’, and ‘community’—planes is used to analyse the data. Our findings show the important role that grandparents play in facilitating children’s learning including through the creation of linguistic and cultural heritage play spaces. We argue that intergenerational play practices can offer a means to integrate linguistic and cultural experiences in young children’s lives by providing a space and time for social interaction and learning.

A gymnastics coaches’ professional development program: exploring a needs-focused social learning space

ABSTRACT Background: Learning is a social, situational process. Effective coaches consistently apply situationally appropriate coaching knowledge to improve athletes’ developmental outcomes. Learning experiences should be cognizant of coaches’ learning needs and capacity to apply knowledge to facilitate athletes’ holistic development. This involves meaningful learning experiences tailored to coaches’ contextual learning needs. The use of social learning theory in supporting coach learning and development has been recommended in providing meaningful learning environments closer to coaches’ realities. Purpose: This study explored the impact of a professional development program designed to create a social learning space (SLS) for competitive youth artistic gymnastics coaches and evaluate the value created therein. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which coaches generated a SLS and the value the coaches created through their participation in the program. Methods: Six coaches joined a weekly gathering over five weeks. Data comprised transcribed video records of the gatherings, a focus group with the coaches, a semi-structured interview with the facilitator of the gatherings, and the researcher’s notes. Thematic analysis was employed to inductively analyze the creation of the SLS and deductively analyze the value created using the value creation framework (the VCF). Findings: The findings revealed that facilitating a learning opportunity based on SLS elements can result in coaches creating a SLS. Through building productive relationships to learn to make a difference in their practices, the coaches created value. Specifically, the coaches broadened their perspectives on athlete development, deepened their understanding of gymnasts’ developmental needs, and began to transform some of their current coaching practices. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the promotion of a professional development program focusing on coaches’ learning needs using the elements of SLS and the tenets of the constructivist view of learning. The SLS structure of this study has implications for the development and implementation of professional development programs for coaches. Future studies on designing professional development opportunities for coaches should expand on the different uses of the SLS approach as a more pervasive structure of social learning, drawing on complementary principles with theories and adopting a longitudinal perspective.

Learning in the palm of your hand: an exploration of the value of online education-related X/Twitter chats for professional learning

ABSTRACT Since Twitter’s 2006 inception, educators have used the platform, more recently rebranded as X, for multiple purposes related to teaching and learning. Social media such as X have proven to be flexible sources of just-in-time learning for many educators across sectors. Education-related X hashtags and the synchronous and asynchronous chats associated with many of them have played host to various kinds of interactions amongst participants. Educators access ideas, share resources and connect with colleagues. Chats related to hashtags can function as Social Learning Spaces, where members drive the learning agenda and learning is rooted in mutual engagement. However, little is formally known about the value participants gain from being involved in these chats and how they contribute to their professional learning. They remain a relatively unrecognised form of professional learning. This qualitative study sought to explore participants’ experiences and determine what learning they gained from their chat involvement. A thematic analysis revealed participants were in two main categories: those who used X chats to gain ideas for teaching, and more experienced teachers who valued chats for their broad discussion of theory, issues, and challenges around their practice. These findings provide insight into how such forms of professional learning should be recognised and validated in educational contexts.

Value Creation in a Coach Developer Social Learning Space: Stories of Openness and Making a Difference

Previous studies concerning coach developer learning have demonstrated notable deficiencies in the provision offered to practitioners, commonly reporting what they experienced was prescriptive instruction on how to deliver coach education courses—a practice starkly in contrast to the espoused theoretical underpinnings of the courses themselves. This Participatory and Appreciative Action and Reflection investigation aimed to better understand the value created for, and through, 10 participants recruited to a 9-month coach developer professional development program that was designed not to prescribe, but to guide, their learning. Data were collected through individual and group interviews, field notes, and professional discussions. Additionally, this study aimed to investigate the extent to which the identification of short and long value flows could provide insight into coach developer learning. Two main themes were constructed, namely (a) openness to finding new ways of developing others and (b) making a difference. Embracing the concepts of value creation, as well as short and long value flows, illuminated the importance of consideringcoach developers’ predispositions, nonprescribed guidance by program facilitators, and the power of value creation stories. These findings illustrate how value creation concepts can potentially help to understand coach developer learning.

Women farmers leading and co-learning in an agroecology movement at the intersections of gender and climate

abstract This study, carried out in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, was particularly interested in women farmers’ access to social learning spaces for expanding their knowledge about farming in the context of climate change. Small-scale women and peasant farmers face historical intersectional inequalities as a result of the colonial and apartheid past which has continued to disadvantage women in the present through exclusion, limited or no access to finance, insecure or no land tenure, little bargaining power and unequal access to water. The gender prejudices and unequal access to resources experienced by women is brought into sharp relief by climate change. The article provides a case study of an agroecology movement led by women farmers that promotes climate-appropriate, low-cost farming practices using community and home gardens. The practices are tried out and further developed by women farmers themselves, relying on agroecology-informed extension services, open dialogue and the support of communities of practice. Unlike traditional top-down approaches to farmer learning common in public extension services, extension officers in the movement participate in creating conditions for co-learning and co-construction of new knowledge − that is, social learning − thus responding directly to their needs as farmers. The lead researcher joined in and observed farming and learning activities following an ethnographic approach. Farmers and other movement members were engaged in semi-structured interviews which explored the value derived from social learning (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner 2020). The article concludes that the movement is responding to many of the intersectional challenges that women farmers in the Eastern Cape face. Further, its social learning approach holds potential for expanding women farmers’ ability to provide for themselves and their communities and inform their climate change adaptation.

Teaching Research Methods Courses in Education: Towards a Research-Based Culture

This paper aims to identify and discuss what constitutes a research-based pedagogical culture in teaching research methods courses in master’s and doctoral programs in education. The discussion draws on empirical results of a set of five focus group interviews with teachers responsible for teaching research methods courses in educational programs in higher education institutions in Portugal. Data are analyzed and interpreted within a situated learning framework that acknowledges the relevance of creating social learning spaces which accommodate the variety of students. The article closes with a characterization of what could be a research-based pedagogical culture in teaching research methods in advanced studies in education in the near future.

Doing leadership development through mentoring in a social learning space: the case of the inaugural Leadership Learning Lab

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe and contextualize the processes of leadership development through mentoring in a Leadership Learning Lab (“the Lab”) and to explore the implications and applications of the Lab's approach as a social learning space.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a constructivist grounded theoretical approach and conducted semi-structured interviews with participants in the Lab, which operated out of a leadership center in a mid-sized Canadian business school.FindingsThe findings show that participants used their individual life experiences to practice leadership development through mentoring in a social learning space of prescribed uncertainty. The participants identified with becoming flexible, self-actualized leaders by learning to view their own experiences and those of their Lab partners through a leadership lens.Originality/valueThis study contributes to an understanding of the “doing” of leadership development in a social learning space and highlights three relational processes through which leadership development emerged through mentoring: rapport-building, democratization and reflection.

Challenges in creating value in the pre-service teachers’ journey from learning to implementing student-centred approaches: an ethnographic study along a two-year PETE

ABSTRACT The present study's purpose was to comprehend the internal dynamics of the social learning interactions inside a Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programme where pre-service teachers (PST) were learning and implementing student-centered approaches (SCA). Specifically, this article draws on the Value creation cycles framework to unveil the education development challenges faced by PSTs inside of their PETE Social Learning Space. The context was a two-year PETE programme in Portugal. In year one, the participants were three university teacher educators (TE) and 25 PSTs. In year two, the participants were 3 PSTs (from the original year one class) in their school placement, one university supervisor (US), and one cooperating teacher (CT). This study was an ethnography with a two-year longitudinal design. Data were collected through the ethnographer's participant-observations, meetings of the PSTs with the mentoring team (TEs, US, CT), and the ethnographer's field diary, reflexive log, and audio recordings. Data analysis involved the constant-comparative grounded theory method. The analysis resulted in understanding the challenges faced by PSTs while working in contexts of possible development of social learning spaces. Accordingly, findings explore the development of PSTs throughout the two years of the programme by analysing their involvement in each cycle of value creation: the PSTs’ work group social dynamic; their experiences of peer-teaching SCAs before school placement; PSTs’ intentions about implementing SCAs; the individualisation of PSTs learning process; relationship dynamics with stakeholders (TEs, CTs, and US); and, the lack of practical examples of SCAs implementation in the host school. The analysis of the value creation cycles encourage PETE programmes to invest in understanding the development of social learning spaces, before introducing them in programme policy, by acknowledging the importance of developing a mechanism of analysis and follow-up of its development.

Learning to make a difference for chILD: Value creation through network collaboration and team science.

Addressing the recognized challenges and inequalities in providing high quality healthcare for rare diseases such as children's interstitial lung disease (chILD) requires collaboration across institutional, geographical, discipline, and system boundaries. The Children's Interstitial Lung Disease Respiratory Network of Australia and New Zealand (chILDRANZ) is an example of a clinical network that brings together multidisciplinary health professionals for collaboration, peer learning, and advocacy with the goal of improving the diagnosis and management of this group of rare and ultra-rare conditions. This narrative review explores the multifaceted benefits arising from social learning spaces within rare disease clinical networks by applying the value creation framework. The operation of the chILDRANZ network is used as an example across the framework to highlight how value is generated, realized, and transferred within such collaborative clinical and research networks. The community of practice formed in the chILDRANZ multidisciplinary meetings provides a strong example of social learning that engages with the uncertainty inherent in rare disease diagnosis and management and pays attention to generate new knowledge and best practice to make a difference for children and families living with chILD. This review underscores international calls for further investment in, and support of, collaborative clinical networks and virtual centers of excellence for rare disease.

Designing and deploying a virtual social sandbox for autistic children

Purpose This exploratory study was intended to investigate the design and feasibility of using a web virtual reality based social learning space for autistic children at home. Materials and methods The researchers of the current study developed and implemented an open-source, web virtual reality based learning program for children with autism. Endorsing mixed-method convergent parallel design, we collected both qualitative and quantitative data from four autistic children, including repeated measures of social skills performance, self- and parent-reported social and communication competence, observation notes, and individual interviews. Results The study found preliminary evidence for a positive impact of deploying a virtual reality-based social sandbox on the practice and development of complex social skills for autistic children. All participants showed significant reduced social communication impairments from the pre- to the post-intervention phases. Nevertheless, participants’ social skills performance in the virtual world was mediated by two social task design features—external goal structure and individualization. Conclusions Play- and design-oriented social tasks in the three-dimensional virtual world framed meaningful social experiences or the naturalistic intervention for social skills development.

Effective Management of the Rapid Spread of the COVID-19 Virus in South Korea: Social and Institutional Learning from MERS

COVID-19 case management by South Korea shows that citizenship and evolutionary mechanisms of social and institutional learning have helped curb the spread of COVID-19. The painful experience of the MERS virus in 2015 pushed Korean society to improve the capacity of both health and quarantine systems. Korea's initial response to COVID-19 stems from learning in both the civil society and government sectors. The experience of MERS created a social learning space for Korean society at large and an opportunity for institutional learning for the government. Social learning encourages good citizenship, the development of social capital, and community innovation, all of which help people respond nimbly to a viral epidemic. Institutional learning entails government reform and feedback, active administration, effective distribution of tests, effective tracing, and effective treatments.

Landscape of practice: a participatory approach to creating a trauma- and violence-informed physical activity social learning space

ABSTRACT Social learning spaces, such as communities of practice or landscapes of practice, are purported to promote ongoing education and meaningful engagement which can lead to innovations. This research explores the potential of a social learning space focused on expanding the use of trauma- and violence-informed physical activity (TVIPA) approaches to improve access to physical activity resources for individuals who (have) experience(d) trauma. As part of a larger feminist participatory action mixed-methods study, the purpose of this qualitative research is twofold: 1) to determine if the development of a social learning space, such as a community of practice or a landscape of practice was warranted by TVIPA experts and community leads; and 2) to understand the characteristics of a successful social learning space. Semi-structured interviews (n = 10) were conducted with key informants from the fields of TVIPA and social learning. Through inductive reflexive thematic analysis, two themes were identified: 1) a successful community of practice require funding, exchange, collaboration, and reflective practice; and 2) a community of practice must be aligned with the goals of the community, hold true to the tenets of TVI programming, and be multidisciplinary/levelled. Our findings support the development of a TVIPA landscape of practice that involves all stakeholders, particularly community members and program participants, with the aim of supporting individuals who have experienced trauma to be physically active.

360VR PBL: A New Format of Digital Cases in Clinical Medicine

In this paper, we present and discuss an explorative study on the use of a social 360° virtual reality (360VR) for supporting case-based Problem Based Learning (case-PBL) in clinical medical education. In the context of case-PBL, we argue that our social 360VR learning space extends the design and application of cases in medical education by including elements from project-PBL. Three groups tested the learning design as a part of the clinical exercises in their 5. Semester bachelor course. After the social 360VR activity, the students performed a physical examination of the collateral and cruciate ligaments of the knee like the one in the training material. Our preliminary findings indicate that the students immersed in social 360VR collaboratively establish a mutual understanding of how to perform the examination through identifying problems related to the examination and by taking responsibility for their own and the other group members learning.

Learning multiple foreign languages in a community of practice: innovation, interconnection, and dedication

ABSTRACT This study reports on the linguistic and sociocultural affordances available to multilinguals through their engagement in a social learning space at a Community of Practices (CoPs). Despite the existence of studies on CoP in language learning contexts, however, little work has been conducted on the affordances of a multilingual learning community, especially foreign languages. To fill this empirical gap, we investigated the affordances which give rise to multiple language learning opportunities in a multilingual practice community (MPC) in Indonesia. To this end, we carried out ethnographic research guided by Wenger’s (1998) CoP theory, from which data were collected through observations and interviews. In doing observation, the first author's role was as a participant-observer. Applying a semi-structured interview, participants involved were MPC members as well as a member of a board in this community. Interview data are analysed through a thematic analysis, which is informed by CoPs perspectives. Eight themes emerged in the findings: empowering social media, innovative language engagement activities, learning support, personal freedom of learning, intercultural sharing, sharing online learning platforms, language learning for free, and social networking. The implications suggest that language enthusiasts can adapt to the way multilinguals learn foreign languages from this community.

Making Space for Social and Emotional Learning in a Crowded Curriculum

After researching how elementary teachers address social and emotional learning in their classrooms, a teacher educator and a preservice teacher demonstrate one method for integrating social and emotional learning into a fourth-grade mathematics lesson.

Action research in the plural crisis of the living: understanding, envisioning, practicing, organising eco-social transformation

ABSTRACT Finding ourselves in the midst of a plural eco-social crisis, this paper addresses roles and guiding questions for action research understanding, envisioning, practicing, and organising eco-social action, with the aim of renewing our human entanglements with the living ecologies, in which we are embedded. Driven by the aim of democratising eco-social transformations, climate- and biodiversity disasters are approached as symptoms of a plural eco-social crisis. From an eco-feminist position, this crisis concerns notions of mastery and extractivism eroding human and societal capabilities to sustain the inherent regenerative capacities of the living. Grounded in critical utopian action research, the paper addresses four different dimensions in action research for eco-social transformation: i) enabling social learning spaces to make visible the ways we are socially and ecologically related; ii) re-imagining how we want to live and relate in wider ecologies; iii) seeking alternatives to mastery through tangible practices; and iv) enabling new organisational forms for societal reorganisation. Building on concrete cases from urban planning to rural and regenerative practice, this paper describes how these different perspectives can mutually strengthen action research for eco-social transformation.