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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Online community'
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Zemlyakova, Yevgeniya (Yevgeniya Vladimirovna) 1976. "Online community : knowledge management." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8815.
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Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-86).
Introduction. Motivation: The Information Age has replaced the Industrial Age. Today, companies measure their wealth by a new type of asset -- knowledge. It is more valuable to have the best information and the best knowledge in the industry rather than physical or even natural resources. More and more companies use knowledge for strategic advantage. Therefore, knowledge assets must be nurtured, preserved and used to the largest extent possible by both individuals and organizations. Knowledge that is not accumulated, maintained and presented in a way that can be easily accessed and understood cannot be used effectively. When the challenge of efficiently managing knowledge is resolved, an organization will experience short term benefits in the form of increasing the quality of its products and services and long-term benefits acquiring the ability to use knowledge tools in forecasting, decision making and attracting more clients. The problem of Knowledge Management is an area of active ongoing research. Technologies that are used to address the problem include but are not limited to databases, data warehousing, data mining and intranets. This project focuses on using the available technologies to address the issue of effectively creating, managing, sharing and using the intellectual assets of organizations.
by Yevgeniya Zemlyakova.
M.Eng.
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Carlén, Urban. "A professional community goes online : a study of an online learning community in general medicine /." Göteborg : Department of Applied Information Technology, University of Gothenburg, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2077/22326.
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Hutchinson, Ronelle. "The symbolic construction of online community." Monash University, School of Political and Social Inquiry, 2002. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/9377.
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Ferreday, Debra. "Online belongings : fantasy, virtuality and community." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.410750.
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Silverman, Ben(Benjamin Luke Matanos). "Fursonas : furries, community, and identity online." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127662.
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Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, May, 2020Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 72-75).
The furry fandom is a loose-knit online subculture of fans devoted to anthropomorphic animal characters. Furries are not necessarily fans of specific media properties, but instead often create their own media, including the "fursona," an anthropomorphic animal character to represent oneself in the community. Conducting empirical research through interviews, participant observation, auto ethnography, and virtual ethnography, I have sought to understand this aspect of furry identity and sociality through a number of disciplinary lenses. In this thesis, I argue that furry queers fandom through several interrelated processes: severing fandom from textual objects; developing queer sex publics; paving new pathways to queer becoming; and displacing online identity through stylized, affective modes of embodiment. These fan practices, as articulated through the fursona, cohere into a queer worlding of virtual spaces.
by Ben Silverman.
S.M. in Comparative Media Studies
S.M.inComparativeMediaStudies Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing
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Herling, Jessica Lauren. "Online Community Response to YouTube Abuse." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/78126.
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This study draws on social problems literature about rhetoric in claims-making and social movement literature about credibility in framing to understand the construction of YouTube abuse and relationships between member role in the community and their frames/the reception of those frames. I also draw on feminist, non-feminist, and postfeminist literature to understand how YouTubers incorporate feminism into their claims about why YouTube abuse is wrong. Here feminism refers to understandings of sexual harassment as stemming from gender inequality, and non-feminist understandings of sexual harassment refer to individualized and degendered violations of rights and power imbalances. Postfeminist literature informs this study in understanding how a feminist issue has been disassociated with gender inequality and individualized. Drawing on this literature, I conducted a content analysis of YouTube videos and the comment sections on these YouTube video webpages to address how the community members responded to the sexual harassment problem. First, how do the YouTubers describe the problem? Second, what explanations for why the behavior is wrong, do the YouTubers use? Options include portraying the issue using a more feminist frame of "gender equality," a post-feminist frame of gender-neutral "consent," or a gender-neutral frame of "power imbalance." Lastly, are there relationships between the YouTubers' position in the community and/or gender, their responses, and positive and negative comments left on the videos? Analysis supports that YouTubers did not connect the issue to feminism and that YouTubers' positions in the community relate to how they politicized the abuse and how much commentator support they received.Master of Science
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Brook, Christopher. "Exploring community development in online settings." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2004. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/835.
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As educators and training providers embrace online technologies, some researchers posit that the development of a learning community is perhaps the most fundamental goal of online instructors (Hiltz, 1997). The process for developing and maintaining learning communities, however, remains unclear (Bonk & Wisher, 2000; PaJloff & Pratt, 1999). This study sought to provide insight into factors that influence community development through an exploration of the community experience in online settings. To do this, it was necessary to establish an understanding of the community construct through an extensive review of contemporary literature. A review of the online learning community literature was conducted to provide a broader perspective on the process for developing a learning community and to ensure that current knowledge informed the study. As a consequence of the expansive literature review a framework to guide the exploration of the community experience in online settings was designed. This framework identified pre-existing factors as well as instructor actions that influence community development in a chain if events that concludes with the community experience. The research took the form of a multi case study methodology based on the qualitative research paradigm conducted over a one:-semester period. Data gathering processes were based on Grounded Theory (Strauss, 1987) utilising course related discourse, instructor interviews, observations and the , Sense of Community Index (Chavis, Hogge, McMillan, & Wandersman, 1986). Data analysis utilised a constant comparative approach in the data coding and management processes. Data was categorised according to factors that demonstrate community development, the elements of SOC and emergent themes. Findings were presented as an aggregation of all courses to provide an expansive view of factors that influence community development. Findings suggest that the Model developed to guide the study provides a robust framework that is useful in investigating the sense of community experienced in online settings. Numerous pre-existing factors that limit community development were identified. However, instructor actions that promote community development, and in some instances overcome limitations presented by pre-existing factors, were also identified. The interrelationship between these factors was seen to influence in various ways the sense of community experienced by students in the each of the settings. The major implications of the study are that instructors will inevitably encounter pre-existing conditions that will limit community development. Given the context specific nature of the community experience it is difficult for researchers to provide a discrete set of design principles that will account for all considerations in the process of community development. It is the instructor who is in the position to ascertain the most effective strategies to overcome factors that limit community development. The Model developed in this study, provides a robust framework for identifying pre-existing factors that are likely to influence community development. The Model also provides a strong framework for guiding instructors in the selection of instructional strategies that promote community development. At the conclusion of the thesis factors that serve to limit the generalisability of findings are described and suggestions 'for future research are provided.
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Ruzicka, Matthew Robert. "Facilitating an online community among community college peer tutor trainees." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2005. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2895.
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The project presents a web-based component for a tutor training program at College of the Desert, Palm Desert, California. The application is designed to be responsive and adaptable to the tutor's needs. It also addresses the logistic and pedagogical problems that plague many community college tutor trainers and helps to mitigate this through an online instructional system that facilitates communication among the tutors so that learning can occur in a situated context.
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BAUDO, VALERIA. "Il monitoraggio di community online: il Community Performance Index (CPI)." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/95783.
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This work provides a useful tool for community managers in their day-to-day job. The proposed tool must be easy to use and helpful to monitor an online community. The proposed model is specifically devoted to community manager working in no profit sector, in small organizations, scalable and not related to a specific technology or to a specific social network site.
Following a literature review on the meaning of engagement in the social media environment, the work examines the opinion of eight Italian key informants in order to get new insights and ideas on the subject matter. They confirmed the existing literature and stressed in addition new perspectives on the role of lurkers in online communities: a reassessment of their role is undoubtedly necessary.
The Community Performance Index is a monitoring tool composed by three main axes.
The first one is called VPI (Vanity Performance Indicators) and is devoted to metrics (measurements) collection from social networks; the second one called KPI (Key Performance Indicators) is the performance measurement related to the purpose of the project; the last one called PMPI (Peripheral Members Performance Indicators) stresses the role of the lurkers in the community.
The overall vision of this three axes answers the question: how the community is performing?
The main novelty of the CPI is that it provides an overall community monitoring vision.
The model was tested on TwLetteratura, an Italian social reading community. We analized the tweets produced by the community in order to fulfill the VPI axis and administered an online survey to investigate the KPI and PMPI.
The results are presented here.
Further researches are needed in order to validate the proposed model.
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Drysdale, Jeffery S. "Online Facilitators and Sense of Community in K-12 Online Learning." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2013. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3838.
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Despite the continued growth of K-12 online learning, there remains a need for additional research addressing roles of online facilitators and how they can improve the sense of community at K-12 online schools. The first article of this dissertation presents a case study illustrating how online facilitators can provide the same level of support for their students that on-site facilitators provide students in blended environments. Data was gathered from teachers at Mountain Heights Academy (MHA), a fully online high school. MHA implemented a "Shepherding Program" to provide student with online facilitators. Each teacher, or shepherd, was responsible for 20 to 25 students. Teacher focus groups and one-on-one interviews were used to examine the perceived effects of a shepherding program on shepherd-student relationships. Additionally, the teacher roles in the shepherding program were compared to the roles of on-site facilitators. Teachers were largely satisfied with the perceived impact of the shepherding program on their relationships with their students. Findings also highlighted strong similarities between the support the shepherding program provided online students and the support on-site facilitators provide blended learning students. The second article was a continuation of the case study from the first article. A key addition to the case study for the second article was the inclusion of student interviews. This article examined how teachers and students perceived that the shepherding program influenced instructor-student relationships. The analysis exposing similarities and differences between teacher and student perspectives of the shepherding program was conducted based on the four dimensions of Rovai's online sense of community: spirit, trust, interaction, and learning. Findings illustrated shepherd-student relationships consisting of all four elements of community in some degree.
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Jones, Carmen Rose. "Examination of Online Community College Students| Community of Inquiry Theoretical Model." Thesis, McKendree University, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10279238.
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The purpose of this study was to examine online community college student completion and the effectiveness of student learning in online courses, which was measured through the anticipated final online course grade using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework. The researcher collected completion rate data for both online and face-to-face courses from the 10-day roster to the end of the semester. Surveys consisting of questions from the CoI survey, demographic questions, and the student’s anticipated final course grade were administered by the Illinois Easter Community College (IECC) district to online students near the end of spring semester. The first research question examined the difference in completion rates for online and face-to-face courses. There was a statistically significant difference with students less likely to complete an online course in comparison to a face-to-face course. Three research questions assessed the relationship between the three components of CoI and a student’s anticipated final course grade. There was no statistically significant correlation between social presence and the student’s anticipated final online course grade. Cognitive presence and teaching presence both had a positive statistically significant relationship with the student’s anticipated final course grade. The final three research questions that guided this study used multiple regression to examine a predictive relationship between the social, cognitive, and teaching presence and a student’s anticipated final course grade. Cognitive presence was the only component of the CoI model that had a statistically significant predictive value on the student’s final course grade. Based on the findings from this study, the IECC district and other community colleges should focus more attention on completion efforts on online courses compared to face-to-face courses and develop and teach online courses that enhance the cognitive presence and teaching presence in an online course.
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Kidney, Colleen Anne. "Involvement in the Online Autistic Community, Identity, Community, and Well-Being." PDXScholar, 2012. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/627.
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The values of the disability rights movement and community psychology promote research that focuses on improving the lives of individuals with disabilities (Dowrick & Keys, 2001). Using the Internet for social interactions has been shown to contribute to an individual's identity development, sense of community, and well-being (Obst, Zinkiewicz, & Smith, 2002a; Turkle, 1995). While challenges in typical social interactions have traditionally been considered a defining feature of autism spectrum disorder, autistic individuals have taken advantage of the Internet to develop social interactions (Blume, 1997a). The present study focused on the online Autistic community and how the importance and value of involvement in it is related to Autistic identity, sense of community, and psychological well-being. The Academic Autistic Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE) partnered with the Gernsbacher Lab to form the Gateway Project. Using the Gateway Project, AASPIRE conducted the Internet Use, Community, and Well-Being Study and collected data from 72 autistic adults online. It was hypothesized that the importance and value of involvement in the online Autistic community would be positively related to Autistic identity and sense of community, Autistic identity and sense of community would be positively related, and Autistic identity and sense of community would be positively related to psychological well-being. It was also hypothesized that the positive relationship between the importance and value of involvement in the online Autistic community and psychological well-being would be mediated by Autistic identity and sense of community. Correlations were examined among the hypothesized relationships, and a mediated regression model (Baron & Kenny, 1986) was used to explore the relationship between the importance and value of involvement in the online Autistic community and psychological well-being with Autistic identity and sense of community as mediators. Significant relationships were found between the importance and value of involvement in the online Autistic community and Autistic identity, between the importance and value of involvement in the online Autistic community and sense of community, and between autistic identity and sense of community. As a first step to test the mediated regression models, psychological well-being was regressed on the importance and value of involvement in the online Autistic community. The regression was not significant; therefore the hypothesized model was not significant. Despite non-significant mediated regression model results, significant relationships among the importance and value of involvement in the online Autistic community and Autistic identity and sense of community offer important results. These finding illuminate the potential positive impact of the importance and value of involvement in the online Autistic community, including evidence counter to the myth that autistic individuals lack skills necessary for social relationships. These findings support the positive utility of involvement in the online Autistic community for autistic adults. Further research with a larger sample size is recommended, due to low power coefficients in the analyses. Additional research may also further illuminate the findings of the current study. Possible topics may include sense of community and Autistic identity in individuals that do not use the Internet, differences in the way the Internet is used in autistic individuals, and different measures of involvement in the online Autistic community and well-being.
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Ruetsch, Diego. "Community Management Marketing in unabhängigen Online-Communities /." St. Gallen, 2007. http://www.biblio.unisg.ch/org/biblio/edoc.nsf/wwwDisplayIdentifier/01653518002/$FILE/01653518002.pdf.
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Liu, Di M. Eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Visualizing remixes in an online programming community." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85442.
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Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (page 106).
Scratch is a block-based programming language and associated online community that allows children and young adults to learn to build interactive games and animations - and share their creations with one another. Scratch's foremost goal is to inspire learning through exploration and creative thinking. A novel feature of its projects are their complete openness: a user can always open up another user's project to see all of its code and assets, and begin tinkering with them as if they were their own. This new revision branches from the original project, creating what we call a "remix" project. Recently, the authoring environment has been rebuilt as "Scratch 2.0", which brings what used to be a downloadable file completely online. The community website is now integral, and remixing is as easy as clicking a button. This thesis documents the rethinking and implementation of the remix tree, a visualization which allows users to explore the branching structure of changes by different users to a project over time. Additionally, we analyze changes in usage behavior and user feedback. The result is a much more usable and visually appealing tree which handles massive data sets fairly well, but continues to require iteration.
by Di Liu.
M. Eng.
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Araújo, Márcia Cristina Alves de. "Online community manager: in touch with people." Master's thesis, Universidade de Aveiro, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10773/8230.
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Mestrado em GestãoIn the last fifteen years, the growth of the global computer network known as the internet has facilitated the rapid emergence of online interactions of dispersed groups of people with shared interests. A new communication approach is required and in this context a new professional comes up: the Online Community Manager. The new mode of communication is not a fad, but it is a sign of a big change. For better understanding the role of the community manager this document aims to show how a community itself is build, what a community is and how can it be managed in virtual world. The scientific method applied to achieve the goal was Participant Observation in which the researcher carried on an internship into an online company for six months and worked as a Community Manager for Brazil and Portugal participating actively inside a real community during this time. A complete Observation was done once the researcher became a member of the group that has been studied. The literature review was based on the central concept of community in the broad sense. Later, it was an effort to understand how the concept is transported to the virtual world and how it fits into the new context. As a result some cases were presented showing how are the real problems faced by the community manager, how they can be solved, and finally some recommendations for a Community Managment policy.
A importante colaboração de diversas personalidades ligadas à área da História da Arquitectura, bem como o levantamento fotográfico realizado contribuem para o conhecimento e valorização de um saber tradicional. Nos últimos quinze anos, o crescimento da rede mundial de computadores conhecida como internet tem facilitado a rápida interação on-line de grupos de pessoas com interesses comuns em vários ambientes. Uma nova abordagem de comunicação é necessária e, neste contexto, um novo profissional surge: o Gestor de Comunidades on-line. O novo modo de comunicação não é um modismo, é sim um sinal de uma grande mudança. Para uma melhor compreensão do papel do Gestor de Comunidades On-line, este documento pretende mostrar como uma comunidade é construida, o que é uma comunidade e como ela pode ser gerenciada em um mundo virtual. O método científico aplicado para alcançar a meta foi a Observação Participante em onde o pesquisador realizou em um estágio em uma empresa on-line por seis meses e trabalhou como gestor da comunidade do Brasil e de Portugal participando ativamente dentro da comunidade real durante este tempo. Assim, a observação pode ser considerada como completa visto que o pesquisador tornou-se membro do grupo que foi estudado. A revisão da literatura foi baseada no conceito central de comunidade no sentido amplo. Posteriormente, foi um esforço para compreender como o conceito é transportado para o mundo virtual e como se encaixa no novo contexto. Como resultado, alguns casos foram apresentados mostrando como são os problemas reais enfrentados pelo Gestor de Comunidades On-line, como eles podem ser resolvidos e, finalmente, algumas recomendações para uma política de comunidades on-line.
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Obiegbu, Chinedu James. "Constructing loyalty in an online music community." Thesis, Durham University, 2018. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12630/.
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The sustained centrality of brand loyalty in marketing theory and practice, the growing relevance of community in brand and marketing discourse, and the necessity of knowledge that is valid at the level of the consumers’ lived experience have prompted the need for research that examines the relationship between loyalty and community especially as it relates to art and cultural brands broadly, and music in particular. This study set out to explore how loyalty is constructed and given meaning within the context of an online music community. In doing so the study engages with a range of literatures from marketing, sociology, fan studies and popular music studies. Drawing on the notion of fandom, an experiential view that highlights the symbolic and meaning-based aspects of brand loyalty is utilized along with the notion of the ‘circuit of culture’. An online community, dedicated to music b(r)and, U2, served as the research context. The study adopts a broadly ethnographic approach while also employing methods and techniques drawn from discourse analysis. This enabled the merging of the systematic observation of discourses within the selected fan community, with direct contact with its social actors. Data was collected using participant observation, observation ethnography and interviews with fans. Three analysis chapters, respectively, deal with the discursive resources utilized by music fans in constructing loyalty; the collective negotiation of different ways of being loyal and of expressing loyalty within the group; and the role of loyal fan engagement within the context of community in constructing the brand’s story. Taken together, the three analysis chapters present a picture of how music fans construct loyalty, and other associated meanings and tensions involved in the consumption of an artist brand. The implications of the findings for the theory of brand loyalty and music consumption are then drawn out. By situating the study of loyalty within the context of community, and taking a fine-grained discursive approach to loyalty, the study highlights the group construction of preferences, value systems and meanings that frame loyal behaviour. The meaning-based perspective taken also highlights the socio-cultural underpinnings of brand loyalty for music fans and consumers.
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Spiro, Emma S. "Searching for community online: how virtual spaces affect student notions of community." Pomona College, 2007. http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/u?/stc,15.
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Social networking sites and virtual spaces have flourished in the past few years. The author explores the impact of such social networking services on the local community at a small liberal arts college. The author investigates modern trends in community theory. Defining community has become more difficult in modern society, where community is no longer easily distinguished by geographical boundaries. From the background of modern community theory the author explores the designation of virtual spaces as “virtual communities.” Literature and research about virtual spaces indicates that they can provide many of the values thought be to inherent to community membership. The strong localized community on campus makes students hesitant in calling Facebook a “virtual community,” despite its strong integration with the face-to-face community itself. Facebook is seen as simply a tool. This thesis incorporates research on one specific case study: through mathematical and ethnographic research of Facebook.com, the author evaluates the opinions of students in considering virtual spaces as communities.
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Stone, Kathleen. "Exploring Online Community College Course Completion and a Sense of School Community." ScholarWorks, 2015. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/1288.
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Researchers have found low online course completion rates to be a complex problem in higher education. Meanwhile, theory on adult learners' online persistence highlights the importance of a sense of school community. At the small, rural focus community college (FCC) for this study, general education online course completion rates are lower than the national average. FCC has not addressed the low online course completion rates. Using Rovais' composite persistence model as the conceptual framework, this instrumental case study examined how students' experiences and perceptions of a sense of school community contribute to their ability to complete online general education courses. Semistructured interview data were gathered with a purposeful, criterion-based, sample of 9 adult online students taking online general education courses. The inductive data analysis utilized case and cross-case analysis, marking, cutting, and sorting of text until 4 themes emerged: interaction, sense of belonging, support, and educational values. The results led to a white paper recommending an orientation and community space, asynchronous video technology, and an online curriculum instructional designer. This study contributes to positive social change by providing FCC with program and policy change recommendations that support the colleges' goals of increasing access and success. Increased educational access and success for the local adult population creates informed citizens, contributes to economic growth, and provides a higher quality of life for the community.
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Oviatt, Darin Reed. "Online Students' Perceptions and Utilization of a Proximate Community of Engagement at an Online Independent Study Program." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2017. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6303.
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Distance learning has provided solutions for students for more than a century. Students access distance learning due to issues with access, credit recovery need, or need for flexibility in location, time, pace, or duration of instruction. Recent advances in technology and instructional designs allow more interactive and synchronous instruction. Researchers suggest that designs using collaborative-constructivist approaches result in deeper learning and increased student satisfaction. Such courses implement theories based on interactions, creation of communities, and learner-centered design. The increase in online curriculum offered and, in some cases, required for K-12 students indicates a need to consider learning characteristics of adolescent learners. Adolescent learners are not as self-regulated, metacognitive, and technologically capable as adult learners. Communities and interactions require the involvement of parents or other involved adults to encourage learner engagement. New theories are emerging concerning learning engagement by adolescents including the adolescent community of engagement (ACE) framework. This dissertation reports two studies of K-12 online students enrolled in independent study courses. The researcher applied the elements of the ACE framework as a lens to study independent study students' experiences with a local community of support. Could students benefit from the curation and support of a proximate community of engagement (PCE)? The first study found that students perceive that a PCE would be helpful to learning when they enroll. The second study found that students completing a course organically accessed a PCE during their course experience, even without coaching and curation activities. Credit recovery students were more likely to perceive value in a PCE but actually created and used such a community at the same level as other learners. Parents and teachers were most often identified as the local support students would, and did engage. Future research was suggested to identify ways to encourage PCE curation, the most effective and supportive PCE interactions, and best practices to train and support members of the PCE.
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Dillon, Kenneth Walter. "A study of the role of an online community in the community in the professional learning of teacher librarians." University of Southern Queensland, Faculty of Education, 2005. http://eprints.usq.edu.au/archive/00001422/.
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The thesis has its origins in a concern that teacher librarians in schools throughout Australia were disadvantaged in the development of their professional learning due to their professional and often geographical isolation in schools. A listserv (online discussion network) called OZTL_NET was developed to facilitate the enhancement of teacher professional learning for this group of teachers. OZTL_NET has been available to teacher librarians and others interested in teacher librarianship for over nine years. The study sought to determine whether usage of OZTL_NET was associated with the enhancement of teacher librarians’ professional learning. The study also explored the characteristics of teacher professional learning from the literature and sought to determine which characteristics of online communities may contribute to teacher professional learning. A case study design for the research was adopted using a mixed methods approach. The methods of data collection were a web survey and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed and a detailed description of the object of study, OZTL_NET, was provided. A major finding of this study was that usage of OZTL_NET was significantly related to the enhancement of teacher professional learning. It was concluded that online learning communities may provide appropriate contexts for teacher professional learning and that, in relation to the case of OZTL_NET, various aspects of the concept of online learning communities and, to a lesser extent, communities of practice, are portrayed in the listserv. The findings supported the assertion that online learning communities have the potential to enhance the professional learning of teachers and provide opportunities for teachers to learn online. The study also revealed that community building online is a complex and demanding activity. Usability and sociability factors must be carefully considered and developed over the lifetime of the community. This process should include input from the community, the leadership of which should be broad-based and inclusive. Two broad principles emerged from the research that provide guidance for the management of listservs for teacher professional learning online. First, the study revealed that involvement and collaboration were critical ingredients in teacher professional learning online. Involvement was portrayed not only in the learning that ensued from the interactivity that necessarily underpins the sharing of tacit knowledge through information exchange and professional discussion between and among subscribers online but also by individuals through less obvious means such as lurking, archive searches and off-list communications. In terms of collaboration, this study found that in addition to high levels of trust, subscribers experienced a strong sense of collegiality and support as members of OZTL_NET. Second, the major finding above confirms that involvement and collaboration are strongly related to individual and collective orientations of teacher professional learning. The broad concept of individual or collective orientation recognises that teacher professional learning occurs in both orientations online as it does offline. Teachers have long recognised their colleagues as their major source of professional information. The difficulty in the past has been in the identification of a means by which teachers can readily access a wider pool of colleagues with whom they can discuss important issues, seek advice and so on. This is particularly important for teachers who are professionally isolated as a consequence of their teaching speciality (such as teacher librarians) and those who are geographically isolated making real time meetings with colleagues expensive and/or impracticable. In this context listservs such as OZTL_NET can play a critical role in providing the infrastructure to support distributed models of teacher professional learning online.
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Mackin, Kevin, and Simon Skogman. "Online brand community : Värdeskapande genom interaktioner och aktiviteter." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-129901.
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Online brand communityn (OBC) innebar ett kraftfullt, och potentiellt värdeskapande, verktyg för företag. Det har dock visat sig att företag hade svårt att bemöta sina OBC:er. Det resulterade i att företag gick miste om de potentiella värden OBC:n hade. För att öka kunskapen kring värdeskapande och bemötande av OBC:er har Minecraft och Netflix respektive OBC:er undersökts med hjälp av netnografi. Studien undersökte hur interaktioner och aktiviteter bidrog till värdeskapande i form av ökat varumärkeskapital och ny innovation. Den belyste även hur OBC:er skiljde sig åt beroende på om OBC:erna var fokuserade på områden kring innovation kontra varumärkeskapital. Studien fann sju interaktionsmönster att analysera. Interaktionsmönstren visade på skillnader mellan OBC:erna utifrån deras fokus och förutsättningar. Studien kunde även beskriva hur sex av de sju interaktionerna var värdeskapande för företaget.Online brand community (OBC) is intended to be a powerful, and potentially valuable, tool for businesses. However, the outcome has shown that companies have had difficulties responding to their OBC:s. It has resulted in companies missing the potential values that OBC offered. In order to increase knowledge about value creation and reception of the OBC:s a netnography of Minecraft and Netflix, respectively OBC has been conducted. The study examined how interactions and activities contributed to the creation of value by an increased brand equity and new innovation. It also highlighted how the OBC:s differed depending on whether the OBC:s were focused on the topics of innovation versus brand equity. The study found seven interaction patterns to analyse. The interaction patterns showed differences between the OBC:s ,based on their focus and conditions. The study could also describe how six of the seven interactions created value for the company.
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Darling, Douglas Duane. "Administrative Evaluation of Online Faculty in Community Colleges." Diss., North Dakota State University, 2012. https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26633.
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Policy and procedure haven?t kept up with institutional practices at community colleges. With over 5.5 million college students taking online courses, 29% of college students are taking an online course. As student numbers taking online courses have increased, so have the number of faculty teaching online. The purpose of this study is to determine if and how community college, online, faculty are administratively evaluated. The Chief Academic Officer (CAO) of the members of the American Association of Community Colleges were surveyed to determine the factors considered relevant for online, asynchronous, administrative evaluation of faculty that are currently being used by community colleges and to determine the methods by which community college, online faculty are administratively evaluated.
The literature review did not identify any research directly related to the administrative evaluation of community college, online faculty. A very limited amount of research on administrative evaluation of faculty was identified, but nearly all were over a decade old. The survey results indicate that a majority of community colleges do not specifically address evaluation of online faculty in policy. The results identify the criteria and methods used to evaluate online faculty and their rated importance.
The most common criteria included in the evaluations were identified and their importance ranked by CAO?s. The data was analyzed by institutional size based on the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) categories and contrasted and compared with the other institutional size categories.
A proposed model/method for developing a comprehensive faculty evaluation system based the survey results and best practices from the literature review is presented along with recommendations for further research.
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Bea, Alexander. "TreeHugging users: Engagement in an online green community." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/32870.
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The study of blogs up to this point has primarily, though not exclusively, covered â A-listâ and political or campaign blogs. Large filter blogs have not yet been the focus of communication research and offer an exciting new area of scholarship in online communication. This study examined if and how the environmental blog, TreeHugger, works to engage and maintain the online environmental community by potentially acting an online environmental public sphere and interacting with users who make up the community.
Through a content analysis of two constructed weeks of blog posts (N=336) and their comments (N=1342) from the first half of 2008, this study examined the discussion of issues, use of interactive feature, and presence of the metacommunication frame in both groups. Results showed significant influence of topic and tone in the blog posts on the subsequent user comments. They also showed how commentersâ discussion can operate quite independently as well. In particular, comments were found to have a negative valence significantly more than the posts. Also, the focus of external metacommunication frames in each differed significantly, with posts referencing other mass media more often.
Overall, this thesis concludes that writers for blogs like TreeHugger have limited influence on the discussion in the comments. Greater understanding of that influence could help bloggers engage readers better and promote active dialogue.Master of Arts
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Powell, Aaron Wiatt. "Online Support for Intentional, Teacher Community of Practice." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/30253.
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The term Community of Practice (CoP) is often used rather loosely to describe many types of instructional settings that support more constructivist or social learning settings. This study differentiates CoP from other learning communities with greater discipline in defining CoP, as characterized by sustained self-organization for example. Such a CoP sits quite apart from the typical intent of instructional settings. The literature on intentional CoP suggests that the greatest challenges are a sense of interdependence among CoP members, the authenticity of the practice or purpose, and a trajectory for the CoPâ s future. The purpose of this case study was to attend to these issues with an online initiative to nurture CoP among practicing teachers in a reading-specialist, graduate program. For the course under study, learners engaged only in cooperative projects with the support of a community worksite (Sakai). Throughout the term, the worksite was promoted as a community place independent of the course and program, a place where they could continue to share indefinitely; and they were encouraged to think of what formal and informal activities the system could support, and how. The study explored how participants responded verbally and behaviorally to the community worksite and the other technologies employed to better support their group work and sharing of knowledge in general. The groupâ s technical skills, competing cultures and practices, and the level of authenticity were all significant challenges. The studyâ s findings challenge the application of this learning theory at the course level of academics, and they inform future design of online support for intentional CoP.Ph. D.
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Takeda, Hirotoshi. "Measuring member contribution impact in an online community." Thesis, Paris 9, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015PA090034/document.
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La communauté en ligne (CEL) est une forme très répandue de transfert de connaissances spécialisées, où des usagers géographiquement dispersés peuvent constituer une communauté en partageant des idées, envoyant et affichant des messages, débattant de sujets et nouant des amitiés en ligne. Un des problèmes avec ces CEL est leur durabilité, car leur apparition et leur croissance initiale sont suivies d’une phase de stagnation où les usagers cessent d’afficher des commentaires, ce qui mène la communauté à mourir par manque d’activité. Tenter de prolonger la phase dynamique de croissance d’une CEL est un sujet pertinent pour tout administrateur de CEL. Une façon de maintenir le dynamisme d’une CEL est d’encourager les contributions.Ce courant de recherche se penche sur la façon dont les CEL peuvent prolonger leur phase dynamique, en considérant différents aspects, en particulier les mesures des contributions des usagers et la manière dont les nouveaux usagers d’une CEL se comportent. Je propose d’utiliser différentes mesures pour évaluer les contributions des usagers. Une des mesures pour identifier les contributeurs très actifs est une mesure bibliométrique non-invasive basée sur l’indice de Hirsch. Un autre aspect de cette recherche concerne la façon dont les nouveaux usagers se comportent et comment cela peut être expliqué par l’attachement préférentiel.Ce courant de recherche se penche sur la façon dont les CEL peuvent prolonger leur phase dynamique, en considérant différents aspects, en particulier les mesures des contributions des usagers et la manière dont les nouveaux usagers d’une CEL se comportent. Je propose d’utiliser différentes mesures pour évaluer les contributions des usagers. Une des mesures pour identifier les contributeurs très actifs est une mesure bibliométrique non-invasive basée sur l’indice de Hirsch. Un autre aspect de cette recherche concerne la façon dont les nouveaux usagers se comportent et comment cela peut être expliqué par l’attachement préférentielThe online community (OC) is a popular form of specialized knowledge transfer, where geographically dispersed users can for a community by sharing ideas, send and post messages, debate topics, and forge online friendships. One of the problems with OC’s is that they tend to have a life cycle, where there is the birth and growth of the OC but then there is a stagnant stage where users stop posting to the OC and the community eventually dies due to inactivity. Trying to extend the vibrant growth stage of an OC is a relevant topic for any administrator of an OC. One way that an OC can stay vibrant is to encourage contributions.This research stream will look at how OC’s can keep their vibrancy for a longer period of time, by looking at various aspects of OC’s such as measures of user contribution and how new users in an OC behave. I propose to use different measures to evaluate users contributions to an OC. One of these measures is a non-invasive bibliometric measure using the Hirsch-index methodology as a way to identify high-level contributors. Another stream of this research will look at how new users behave and how this might be explained by preferential attachment
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Jeffery, Grant. "Supporting school career education with an online community." Thesis, Edinburgh Napier University, 2006. http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3671.
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This thesisi s an analysisi f a participatory action researchp roject, involving several interventions with school students in a series of iterative stages, exploring ways to take school student career education out of the confines of the schools themselvesa nd into the wider community; to introducep ersonc enterednesas s a core value in careere ducation;a nd to explore the effectivenesso f using online social and community networks to support career education generally. A software probe was developed consisting of a series of career education web pages linked to asynchronous online discussion. In the final data gathering trial, 40 people (including 30 school students from two Edinburgh schools and 10 adult `community' participants) contributed to a six week career education programme involving. cycles of face to face classroom work followed by pseudonymous, asynchronous, online discussion between the school students and the community participants. The data analysis shows that despite the open and relatively unconstrained format of the discussion, topics normally covered in mainstream career education classes were covered spontaneously by the participants. In addition, however, discussion ranged more widely, taking a more holistic perspective in some cases and following the personal interests and issues of concern of the participants (such as balancing occupational and family concerns). The participants went further, problematisingm any of the discourseso f conventionalc areere ducationa nd explicitly challenging received wisdom about the value of early occupational choice and the rational decision making process. The conventional career education curriculum was both extended and contested. There is analysis of the benefits of pseudonymity, the role of the adult contributors, the online forum, and the experience of the student participants. Ultimately the thesis raises questions about the humanist values underpinning careere ducation( such as person-centredneshs,o lism and emancipation)a rguing iv that Career Education and Guidance can be about value creation as much as transmission of dominant values.
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Kubíková, Alena. "Motivace uživatelů online uměleckých komunit." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2013. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-198244.
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The aim of this thesis is to explore the different types of user motivation to participate in online art communities and confront them with the possibilities these communities offer. The first chapter is devoted to the issue of motivation in terms of psychology, basic concepts and their relation to the researched topic. The second chapter focuses on the basic concepts of virtual communities. These topics serve as the theoretical basis for the third chapter that focuses on online art community itself: definition of this term, recognition of the basic types of these communities, types of users and their motivation to enter and participate. The chapter concludes with the following types of motivation being confronted with the possibilities online art communities offer to their users. The last chapter deals with empirical research aimed at finding dominant forms of motivation, comparing different types of users, exploring their relationship with other users as well as habits in sharing their own creations. Based on results the partial recommendations to the creators of the community websites on which these communities grow are formulated.
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Martinviita, A. (Annamari). "Online community as experience and discourse:a nexus analytic view into understandings of togetherness online." Doctoral thesis, Oulun yliopisto, 2017. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789526216430.
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Abstract This thesis studies online community as a discursive phenomenon and as an experience. The ethnographic approach employed in this study allows the open exploration of meanings and experiences associated with community by site members, designers and outside commentators in three online environments. Extensive participant observation is supplemented by interviews, surveys and analysis of the interaction surrounding the topic of community. Nexus analysis provides an understanding of social action as the intermingling of historical bodies, interaction orders and discourses embedded in the scene of action. The thesis argues that the concept of community functions as a boundary object, taking different meanings in each context it is employed in. Community can be used to describe strong community experiences or lighter varieties of togetherness online; it can be a pragmatic term simply referring to the user base of a site; or it can incorporate many understandings related to the shared identities and shared practices in the social scene being referred to. The work thus provides a theoretical contribution to ongoing academic discussions related to defining online community, as well as a great deal of empirical knowledge on how experiences of togetherness are created online. Such knowledge may be used to inform future technology development and administrative practices that are sensitive to the many elements affecting social interaction in online spacesTiivistelmä Tämä väitöskirja tarkastelee verkkoyhteisöllisyyttä diskursiivisena ilmiönä sekä kokemuksena. Väitöskirjassa tutkitaan, minkälaisia merkityksiä ja kokemuksia kolmen eri verkkoympäristön jäsenet, kehittäjät ja ulkopuoliset kommentoijat liittävät yhteisöllisyyteen. Tutkimuksen etnografinen lähestymistapa sekä neksusanalyyttinen ote mahdollistavat sen, että sosiaalista toimintaa voidaan analysoida tapahtumapaikkaan eli verkkoympäristöön ja -yhteisöön liittyvien historiataustojen, vuorovaikutusjärjestysten ja diskurssien sulautumana. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu pitkäkestoisesta osallistuvasta havainnoinnista, haastatteluista, kyselytutkimuksista sekä yhteisöllisyyttä käsittelevästä vuorovaikutuksesta tutkituissa verkkoympäristöissä. Väitöstutkimus esittää, että yhteisön käsite toimii rajaobjektina eli se saa eri merkityksiä kussakin kontekstissa, jossa se esiintyy. Ensinnäkin yhteisö-käsitteellä voidaan viitata vahvoihin yhteisöllisyyden kokemuksiin tai keveämpiin yhdessäolon muotoihin. Toiseksi yhteisö-käsite voi toimia käytännöllisenä synonyymina tietyn sivuston käyttäjäkunnalle. Kolmanneksi yhteisö-käsite voi sisältää yhtä aikaa monenlaisia merkityksiä, jotka liittyvät puheenaiheena olevan verkkoympäristön yhteisiin identiteetteihin ja käytänteisiin. Väitöstutkimus tuo uuden teoreettisen näkökulman yhteisö-käsitteen määritelmiä pohtiviin akateemisiin keskusteluihin sekä paljon empiiristä tietoa siitä, miten yhdessäolon kokemukset rakentuvat verkossa. Tätä tietoa erilaisista verkkovuorovaikutusta muokkaavista elementeistä voidaan hyödyntää muun muassa uusien teknologioiden ja ylläpitotoimintojen kehittämisessä
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Hallier, Willi Christine. "Corporate impression formation in online communities : determinants and consequences of online community corporate impressions." Thesis, Brunel University, 2013. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7729.
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The purpose of this study is to gain in-depth knowledge of how the members of online communities form impressions of organisations that use online communities in their communication activities. Online impression formation has its peculiarities and in order to succeed companies need to better understand this phenomenon. In order to appreciate and evaluate an interaction, those involved in it must know their own identity. Hence, individuals as well as companies engage in identity production by trying to project a favourable impression. The process of identity production can take place in both the offline and the online world. This study focuses on the online world, more specifically on online communities, by investigating how online community members form impressions of companies that produce their identities in online communities. Technology has changed customer behaviours dramatically. People have embraced the Internet to meet and interact with one another. This behaviour is in line with the postmodern assumption that there is a movement towards re-socialisation. Online communication platforms connect people globally and give them the possibility to interact and form online social networks. These platforms are interactive, and thus change the traditional way of communication. Companies therefore have to embrace those interactive ways of communication. In the online world consumers are quick to react to communication weaknesses. Inappropriate corporate communication activities can affect the image they have formed of the company in question.
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Soukup, Charles. "Communicative performance in a multi-media computer-mediated community." [Lincoln, Neb. : University of Nebraska-Lincoln], 2000. http://international.unl.edu/Private/2000/soukupdis.pdf.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska--Lincoln, 2000.PDF text: [4] leaves table of contents and acknowledgments, [3] leaves abstract, 244 leaves dissertation : col. ill. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-239 of dissertation).
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Bengtsson, Jonas, and Enesa Homovic. "Co-Creating value : Motivation till att delta i Co-Creation via ett innovation community." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för informationsteknologi, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-29799.
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På senare år har organisationer börjat samarbeta med konsumenter för att tillsammans ta fram idéer och skapa nya produkter. Organisationen samskapar då ett värde tillsammans med konsumenterna, även kallat Co-Creation. Detta tillvägagångsätt har blivit allt vanligare tack vare utvecklingen av webbteknologin. Organisationer kan nu skapa innovation tillsammans med konsumenter online genom bland annat innovation communities. Syftet med studien var att undersöka vad som motiverar användare i organisationsdrivna communities att delta i CoCreation. Detta för att ge en ökad insikt kring hur ett innovation community kan skapas för att motivera konsumenter att bidra till Co-Creation. För att svara på detta genomförde vi en netnografisk studie bestående av observationer och intervjuer. Studien visade att användare motiveras av både inre och yttre motivationsfaktorer och att dessa är samverkande. Som bekräftat av tidigare studier ser vi också vikten av interaktion från organisationen sida. I uppsatsen tas problem upp som kan påverka användares motivation till att bidra. Vi tar även upp vilken betydelse de yttre motivationsfaktorer har och hur dessa påverkar användarens inre motivation.In recent years, organizations have begun to work with consumers to jointly develop ideas and create new products. The organization co-create a value with consumers, also known as co-creation. This approach has become increasingly common, thanks to the development of Web technology. Organizations can now create innovation together with consumers online, for example through innovation communities. The aim of the study was to examine what motivates users in the organization driven online communities to participate in co-creation. This is to give greater insight into how an innovation community can be created to motivate consumers to contribute to co-creation. To answer this research question, we conducted a netnographic study consisting of observations and interviews. The study showed that users are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors and that they co-operate. As confirmed by previous studies we also see the importance of interaction from the organization. In this thesis we address issues that can affect users' motivation to contribute. We also discuss the importance of the extrinsic motivational factors and how they affect the users’ intrinsic motivation.
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Budiman, Adrian M. "Virtual Online Communities: A Study of Internet Based Community Interactions." Ohio : Ohio University, 2008. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ohiou1215559506.
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Rybas, Sergey. "Community Revisited: Invoking the Subjectivity of the Online Learner." Bowling Green, Ohio : Bowling Green State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=bgsu1213152492.
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Gorenstein-Massa, Felipe. "Insurgency on the Internet: Organizing the Anonymous Online Community." Thesis, Boston College, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104073.
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Thesis advisor: Candace JonesOnline communities support collective action without many of the constraints that have belied collective actors and formal organizations in the past. They have become increasingly pervasive platforms for activism as well as potential catalysts for novelty in organizing practices. Scholars have shown that by leveraging affordances of the Internet, these communities have displaced or become complements to face-to-face organizations such as churches, community centers, labor unions and political groups that have traditionally structured civic engagement. Few empirical studies, however, systematically address how processes ranging from mobilization to the coordination of complex, large-scale collective action and practices that enable and support these processes are different in online environments. In this dissertation, I provide conceptual background that supports the study of online communities as dynamic and diverse modes of civic engagement. I reveal how locations, boundaries, interactions and identities are instantiated differently in online communities, influencing processes and practices that are crucial to social change. Using Internet-based ethnographic methods, I examine: (1) how an online community called `Anonymous' experiences shifts in purpose as it transitions from being focused on recreation to becoming both an incubator and support system for several social change projects and (2) how the community adopts a repertoire of coordinating practices that allows it to organize complex projects
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013
Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management
Discipline: Management and Organization
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DiTirro, Nicholas A. "Integrating Online Social Environments Into Community College Student Organizations." NSUWorks, 2005. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/488.
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Community college students participate less in campus organizations than do students at four-year colleges, while academic and social integration have consistently been factors that promote academic success, persistence and goal attainment. Community college researchers have failed to adequately identify academic and social integration as important factors in student retention and have often produced contradictory findings.
There remains a dearth in the literature concerning the distinctive social relations of community college students, and studies on the first two years of college are often based upon first year students at four-year colleges. Regardless of limited research and contradictory findings, social relations should be fostered on community college campuses.
The goal of the dissertation was to develop and implement an online social environment for the Alpha Psi Rho chapter of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society at Lakeland Community College, in Kirtland, Ohio. The online social environment that was created was titled APR-CoP.org. APR-CoP.org added new dimensions and methods of integration for Alpha Psi Rho, where students collaborated together and benefited from integrating academically and socially by sharing ideas and resources. The online social environment was not a replacement of the on-campus or in community functions of Alpha Psi Rho, but was an enlacement.
It was determined that student based online social environments need to supply positive reinforcement concerning the organization, its members, its advisors and the entire campus community, and should be places to disseminate information and reach out to all their members. Success of a student based online social environment has to be determined by the level of commitment by its participants. Regardless of usability and sociability needs, methods of integration, collaboration, academic impact and goals achievement, student based online social environments cannot be successful without the commitment of their members.
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Richter, K., and H. Kirchner. "Verhaltensdarstellung technischer Systeme in einer VRML-basierten Online Community." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2016. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-208709.
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Zusammenfassung
Mit Online Communityplattfomien im Internet auf Basis von dreidimensionalen Chat-Räumen werden virtuellen Nutzergemeinschaften Kemfunktionalitäten zur Verfügung gestellt, die für eine Online-Diskussion an funktionsfähigen 3D-Objekten notwendig sind. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag werden Grundlagen und Realisierungsmöglichkeiten der Gestaltung von intemetbasierten VR-Szenarien für den Aufbau, die Dokumentation und den Funktionsnachweis von Materialflußanlagen in der Angebotsbearbeitung diskutiert. Dabei wird auf eine Integration dynamischer 3D-Modelle in die Online Community Plattform fokussiert. Der einheitliche Kommunikationsrahmen einer Engineering Online Community wird helfen, im Internet das gemeinsame Problemlosen zwischen Konstrukteuren, Automatisierungstechnikem, Simulations- und anderen Spezialisten voranzutreiben.
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Johnson, Roy. "Community college first-year business student online course motivation." Diss., Kansas State University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/13740.
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Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Curriculum and Instruction
Rosemary Talab
The purpose of this case study was to explore the online learning environment through the experiences of the individual learner and to gain more insight into the elements of Business online courses, as framed by the Keller ARCS Model of Motivation. This study explored the following three Research Questions: 1. How do undergraduate first-year Business students perceive online course elements as being motivational? 2. How do the online courses that Business students perceive as being motivational use the Keller ARCS Motivational Model? 3 How do exemplary online Business faculty use the Keller ARCS Motivational Model in online instruction? The population was students enrolled in first-year for-credit online classes taken during the Fall 2010 semester in a Midwestern community college. A sample of required Business online sections was purposively selected in order to investigate Business student motivation. The participants in this study were 18 first-year Business students enrolled in Business courses. Based on student interviews, the instructors of the three courses that were most often nominated by students as being most motivational were interviewed. Interviews of students and instructors were conducted at the end of the Fall 2010 semester. Seven themes were identified for Research Question 1: 116 units for theme “Course Communication,” 83 units for theme “Course Requirements,” 71 units for theme “Grades,” 60 units for theme “Course Organization,” 50 units for the theme “Learning Online,” 48 units or the theme “Course Element Availability,” and 46 units for the theme “Track Course Progress.” For Research Question 2, the ARCS model categories were used as a framework for understanding and interpreting student motivation: “Attention,” “Relevance,” “Confidence,” and “Satisfaction.” The components of the Keller ARCS themes were then analyzed according to the components that students perceived as being most motivational. The ARCS Themes found were: 31 units for theme “Satisfaction,” 25 units for theme “Relevance,” 24 units were found for theme “Confidence,” and 20 units were found for theme “Attention.” The significant theme findings were: The Satisfaction theme was found to include practice prior to graded activities. The Relevance theme was found to include the use of “choices” as a key motivational component to what was perceived as being relevant. The Confidence theme was found to include a progression in difficulty of activities and access to review and practice new material. The Attention theme was found to include variability of instruction and course elements. To answer Research Question 3, faculty interviews focused specifically on the Keller ARCS Motivational Model and components. The ARCS themes found were: 36 units for theme “Confidence,” 25 units for theme “Relevance,” 24 units for theme “Satisfaction,” and 22 units for theme “Attention.” The significant findings from the themes were: The Confidence theme was found to include providing key information upfront to students. The design of the course must allow for student success and become progressively more difficult for students. Also, the time and effort required to complete activities should be provided to students. The Relevance theme was found to include the use of “choices” and to relate the course to the student’s situation as key motivational components. The Satisfaction theme was found to include negative consequences that are handled within the course, and practice that offers immediate feedback. The Attention theme was found to include students asking students questions within the course. Recommendations for further studies included a qualitative study to uncover how online Business students are motivated in their second and later years and a study to understand student motivation through various settings and technologies used in learning management system course elements.
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Abdalla, Lena(Lena A. ). "Classification of computer programs in the Scratch online community." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129862.
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Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, February, 2020Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 133-136).
Scratch is a graphical programming platform that empowers children to create computer programs and realize their ideas. Although the Scratch online community is filled with a variety of diverse projects, many of these projects also share similarities. For example, they tend to fall into certain categories, including games, animations, stories, and more. Throughout this thesis, I describe the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to vectorize and classify Scratch projects by type. This effort included constructing a labeled dataset of 873 Scratch projects and their corresponding types, to be used for training a supervised classifier model. This dataset was constructed through a collective process of consensus-based annotation by experts. To realize the goal of classifying Scratch projects by type, I first train an unsupervised model of meaningful vector representations for Scratch blocks based on the composition of 500,000 projects. Using the unsupervised model as a basis for representing Scratch blocks, I then train a supervised classifier model that categorizes Scratch projects by type into one of: "animation", "game", and "other". After an extensive hyperparameter tuning process, I am able to train a classifier model with an F1 Score of 0.737. I include in this paper an in-depth analysis of the unsupervised and supervised models, and explore the different elements that were learned during training. Overall, I demonstrate that NLP techniques can be used in the classification of computer programs to a reasonable level of accuracy.
by Lena Abdalla.
M. Eng.
M.Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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Miller, Erica Ellsworth. "Creating Community for Parents: Faith, Trauma, and Online Talk." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2021. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/8972.
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Childhood trauma and stress can lead to widespread changes in brain function that can lead to lifelong learning and living difficulties and disability that impact parental stress levels. Increasingly, parents are turning to social media to find systems of support. This Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis explores the online talk of 17 participants to better understand how they make meaning out of their participation in an online, faith-based parenting community designed for parents raising children with complex trauma exposure. Findings based on the data analysis included five overarching main themes: a) A community of experts; b) The community dethrones the experts; c) The community empowers women to navigate status from victim to warrior; d) The community provides support for members to grieve what seems "irreparably broken;" and e) Participants express faith that God will "mend what is broken." The findings were overlayed on Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory (Bronfenbrenner & Evans, 2000) to provide a construct for the professionals interacting with parents of children with trauma. Professionals, therapists and religious leaders interacting with parents of children with trauma may want to incorporate a pluralistic, multileveled perspective, recognizing parents' interpersonal conflicts or personal experiences exist in a broader more nuanced system, thus fostering a nuanced and individualized approach to providing support for parents of children with trauma.
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Cameron, Nancy G. "Best Practices for Online Teaching: Building a Learning Community." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/7043.
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Coria, Erica. "Information sharing in an online community of urban gardeners." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-22458.
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This research investigates how a communication system could support urban gardeners intheir activities. By looking at agriculture not as a mere activity for food production but as arich social practice, this research addresses gardeners dual need of acquiring knowledge and develop social relationship.Findings from an ethnographic research of two local agriculture communities are described.Participatory design has been used to identify design opportunities and co-create conceptideas. Prototypes have been used to evaluate key aspects and refine the final concept. Byinviting intended users to take an active role during the entire design process, the result of this research is grounded not only in the theory but also on people's aspirations and realexperience.
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Beerline, Nora. "Academic Motivation in Online and Traditional Community College Students." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1582026665119838.
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Carter, John D. N. "GOING GAGA: POP FANDOM AS ONLINE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE." UKnowledge, 2018. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ltt_etds/27.
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Among various fan sites dedicated to pop stars, GagaDaily is one prominent online collective that centers around Lady Gaga. This study is a piece of ethnographic research focused on two claims – GagaDaily constitutes a Community of Practice (Eckert, 2006) in an online setting, and the regular use of humor by users fulfills social and pragmatic roles in the discourse. Communicative phenomena (both textual and graphic) that characterize the linguistic repertoire of GagaDaily members were catalogued from the first 100 pages of one thread within the forums. These data were grouped into categories corresponding to different dimensions of language use as well as media/literary devices. Alongside a quantitative analysis of various tokens and types of data, a qualitative examination of selected excerpts from the sample confirm the veracity of the two main claims. When analyzed with regard to Wenger’s definition of a Community of Practice (Wenger, 2009), GagaDaily meets all three of his requirements. Likewise, the analysis of humor reveal that GagaDaily users regularly engage in the first dichotomy of the tactics of intersubjectivity, adequation and distinction (Bucholtz & Hall, 2004) and incorporate GIF images in their humor to express their alignment with stance objects (DuBois, 2007) and other members.
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Caswell, Thomas Hubbard. "Designing an online support community for novice computer users." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2004. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2504.
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This project seeks to identify characteristics of successful online communities and apply them to designing and prototyping an online discussion forum where novice computer users can share computer questions and answers. Usability and sociability are identified as essential goals in the development of online communities. Appropriate and effective Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) software is evaluated and selected to run the discussion forum.
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Borzewski, Lisa Marie. "Factors for Success in Community College Online Gateway Math." ScholarWorks, 2016. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2955.
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Researchers have found that student success rates in online classes are lower than in comparable face-to-face courses. Yet, the research is unclear as to whether student demographic and academic history variables are related to the lower success rates. At a large community college in Florida, low success rates for students in the online Intermediate Algebra course led to delays in the continuation of required coursework and graduation for many students and the factors associated with low success rates were largely unknown. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the associations between several student variables and student success in online Intermediate Algebra at the research site. Guided by Tinto's interactionalist theory, key student demographic variables (age, gender, ethnicity, and veteran status) as well as an academic history of completing developmental math coursework were identified for investigation in this study. Archival data from all 731 online Intermediate Algebra students from Fall 2014 were included in the tests of associations among the variables. A random sample of 50 student transcripts was reviewed to test the association between developmental coursework and student success in the algebra course. Chi-square analyses showed that age and ethnicity were associated with online Intermediate Algebra student success; younger students and those of Asian and White ethnicity were more likely to be successful. Academic history, gender, and veteran status were not significant. In response to the findings, a professional development project was created to lead to social change by educating higher education professionals on the potential impact of student related variables when working with online students.
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Hansson, Torsten. "Collaborative Community Engagement: Developing a framework towards community engagement through an online collaborative drawing platform." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för teknik och samhälle (TS), 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-23798.
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The thesis focuses on understanding the relationship between remotely collaborative team members and the community userbase. This is done through a series of experiments where both workshops and interviews led to the development of a framework. The methodology developed melded workshops and interviews together with evaluation and iteration periods in what is called ‘workshop rounds’. Prototypes transitioned into ‘living prototypes’ as they involved an actual set of live users which furthermore required high-fidelity implementation. The framework created established team-to-team communication with considerations for eventual users in an open dialog. Suggestions in different directions towards collaborative contributions completed the efforts of a scaffolding approach. The project is relevant to collaborative media methodology where the case studies constructed understandings in design research on the topic of remote collaboration in community engagement and development.
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Woodworth, Ashley C. "Community and Identity in Contemporary Physical and Virtual Spaces: Toward an Integration." Scholarly Repository, 2011. http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/oa_theses/258.
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The notions of community and identity are discussed and the various elements of each concept are analyzed in terms of their manifestation in physical and virtual spaces. A comparison of community and identity in physical and virtual spaces highlights the interdependent nature of these experiences in the intersection of these two spaces. Modern society functions through the use of technology that is ever increasing in speed and efficiency. We rely more and more on virtual technology as a tool to maintain relationships, perform various tasks, communicate and interact with others, and to manage our self-presentations. Thus, the fundamental experiences of community and identity must be studied in both online and offline contexts in order to determine how we can manipulate our use of technology for positive outcomes.
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Doyon, Malin, and Sofia Borg. "Engagerad ”online” – konsument ”offline”? : En explorativ studie om konsumtion och kundengagemang i Livrustkammarens online brand community." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-35571.
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Studien undersöker olika dimensioner av det omdiskuterade begreppet kundengagemang i ett online brand community på Facebook, i förhållande till tidigare konsumtion och köpintention “offline”. Webbaserade enkäter användes som metod för att undersöka vilka dimensioner av kundengagemang som förekommer i det studerade online brand communityt på Livrustkammarens Facebooksida. Vidare användes en korrelationsanalys för att se om det fanns ett samband mellan de olika dimensionerna av kundengagemang i förhållande till tidigare konsumtion samt köpintention. Slutligen användes logistisk regressionsanalys för att se om någon av engagemangsdimensionerna kunde vara en predikator för tidigare konsumtion respektive köpintention. Resultatet av korrelationsanalysen visade på ett positivt, statistiskt signifikant samband mellan kognitivt engagemang gentemot varumärket i förhållande till tidigare konsumtion. Ett positivt och statistiskt signifikant samband förelåg också mellan alla engagemangsdimensioner i förhållande till köpintention. Regressionsanalyserna visade på endast ett statistiskt signifikant resultat, där kognitivt engagemang gentemot varumärket var en predikator för tidigare konsumtion. Troligtvis berodde avsaknaden av statistiskt signifikanta resultat i regressionsanalyserna på multikollinearitet (korrelation) mellan de oberoende variablerna. Denna korrelation gör det också svårt att undersöka alla tre dimensionerna av engagemang samtidigt i en kvantitativ studie. Framtida forskning kan därför använda sig av en kvalitativ metod, exempelvis netnografi, för att studera de antecedents som lämnats utanför studiens ramar. Resultatet visar också på vikten av att praktiker värdesätter det kognitiva engagemanget gentemot varumärket istället för endast det beteendemässiga, då detta var den enda predikatorn som framkom i förhållande till tidigare konsumtion. Resultatet tyder också på att engagemang i sociala medier har en betydelse för köpintention, då ett samband återfanns mellan alla former av engagemang i communityt ”online” och en intention att besöka museet ”offline”.
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Worley, Cynthia Dawn. "Student Perceptions of Connectedness in Online Courses." ScholarWorks, 2015. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/1429.
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Students who obtain college degrees have a higher earning potential and greater likelihood of employment. Although researchers have found that student enrollment and performance in online college courses has increased, attrition has also risen at a higher rate than in face-to-face courses. The problem of declining persistence in online courses at a rural community college in the Southeastern United States was addressed in this study. The community of inquiry framework was used in this qualitative case study to explore perceptions of 10 experienced online learners. The research questions were focused on students' perceptions of the roles of connectedness and student engagement as well as the techniques and strategies used to maintain connectedness. Data were collected through semistructured online audio interviews that were recorded, transcribed, open coded, and analyzed thematically. Findings indicated that students perceived the presence of engaging materials, elevated instructor presence, established social presence, and confirmed learning as promoters of cognitive presence and students' online course persistence. The resulting project consisted of a hybrid workshop series designed to enhance instructors' pedagogical practices to promote engagement and persistence in online courses. The workshop evaluation provided both formative and summative feedback from the workshop participants. The project contributes to social change through the ability of educators and program developers of online courses to garner new knowledge, as well as contributions to the continued viability of the focus institution and long-term economic stability for students.
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MOSCHIN, MASSIMILIANO. "Online brand communities: studio della comunità Fantic Motor." Doctoral thesis, Urbino, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11576/2665329.
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