Case Studies on the Use of Online Social Networking in Formal Education

As the use of online social networking (OSN) sites by young people continues to grow in popularity, researches have been focussing mainly on the benefits and dangers of such sites on the young generation. However, due to privacy and safety concerns, online social networking sites are normally blocked in schools in Mauritius. This article presents two experiments carried out on the use of a social networking site in education.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Virtual Presenters

Inspired by Steven Covey's famous book, these specific skills are developed by Darius Lahoutifard for those wanting to be better at presenting in 3D Virtual Conferences.

HEBBIAN LEARNING

How Far Can You Go with Hebbian Learning, and When Does it Lead you Astray? James L. McClelland This paper considers the use of Hebbian learning rules to model aspects of development and learning, including the emergence of structure in the visual system in early life. There is considerable physiological evidence that a Hebb-like learning rule applies to the strengthening of synaptic efficacy seen in neurophysiological investigations of synaptic plasticity, and similar learning rules are often used to show how various properties of visual neurons and their organization into ocular dominance stripes and orientation columns could arise without being otherwise pre-programmed.

Ethnography of Online Role-Playing Games

Ethnography of Online Role-Playing Games: The Role of Virtual and Real Contest in the Construction of the Field, Simona Isabella Abstract: This paper invites the reader into the world of MUDs (Multi User Domains). Its underlying goal is to analyse certain social challenges associated with computer mediated communication (CMC), specifically with respect to the concept of the game; the process involved in the construction of the online Self or personality, potentially perceived as the final culmination of the frequent "comings and goings" between the game and reality; the concept of community that develops between two different frames—the virtual world and the real one; and, finally, the concept of both online and offline "experience".

Autoethnography: An Overview

Autoethnography, by Carolyn Ellis, Tony E. Adams & Arthur P. Bochner, is an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze personal experience in order to understand cultural experience. This approach challenges canonical ways of doing research and representing others and treats research as a political, socially-just and socially-conscious act.

Avatar Watching

Avatar Watching: participant observation in graphical online environments, Matthew Williams, 2007, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University.~~~ This study addresses the impact of graphical pseudo-presence, avatar representation, physical online boundaries and multiple online sites upon the practice of participant observation are examined.

Demographics of Virtual Worlds

By Jeremiah Spence, Department of Radio, TV & Film, University of Texas at Austin. Virtual worlds, as both a concept and an industry, has changed radically over the past 10 years, from a toy for the technological elite, to an over-hyped marketing phenomenon, to a needed reexamination of the uses and utility of virtual world technologies and experiences, as provided in this paper.

Horizon Report > 2012 Higher Education Edition

The internationally recognized NMC Horizon Report series and regional NMC Technology Outlooks are part of the NMC Horizon Project, a comprehensive research venture established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact over the coming five years in education around the globe.

A Museum of Virtual Media

By Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailenson

Natural History Magazine presents a synopsis of the book "Infinite Reality: Avatars, Eternal Life, New Worlds, and the Dawn of the Virtual Revolution" © 2011 Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailenson. ( video )

Training Evaluation in Virtual Worlds:Development of a Model

In the abstract, many organizations have adopted virtual worlds (VWs) as a setting for training programs; however, research on appropriate evaluation of training in this new setting is incomplete. In this article, they address this gap by first exploring the unique issues relevant to evaluation faced by training designers working in VWs. At the macro-organizational level, the primary issue faced is an organizational culture unreceptive to or otherwise skeptical of VWs. At the micro-organizational level, two major issues are identified: individual trainees unreceptive to VWs and general lack of experience navigating VWs. All three of these challenges and their interrelationships may lead to poor reactions, read more...