Social media and open online learning have been extolled and decried in the popular press. Yet, as researchers, we still need to understand the experiences and practices of students, educators, and researchers with emerging practices and social media. We also need to understand why learners, educators, and researchers use social media and engage in open online education in the ways that they do. danah boyd (2012, ¶48) argues that “we need people engaging critically with the dynamics that unfold as a result of a new structure of connecting people.”
My research agenda centers around these issues, and seeks to answer the following questions:
- What does learning “look like” in open online courses?
- How do learners use social media for learning?
- What are learners’ experiences with open online learning?
- What does the experience of effective social media use for learning consist of?
- What is the lived experience of researchers/educators using social media for scholarly activities?
- How do scholars perceive and construct their identity using social media/networks?
- How do users use social media/networks to cope with the expectations of their academic roles (e.g., being a doctoral student, being a newly-hired faculty member, etc)?
These questions form the core of my work. I am posting them here because I know that others are interested in finding answers to these questions as well. If you are like me, you enjoy collaborative work and qualitative research. If so, get in touch and let’s figure out how we can collaborate on (a) empirical work that answers the questions above, and (b) design and development work that integrates pedagogical knowledge and social technologies to create innovative learning environments.