Social media has been recognized as a promising online communication environment that supports self-directed informal learning activities outside educational institutions. Development of metacognition is necessary for self-directed learning. Nevertheless, most studies have focused on the use of social media for formal learning. To fill this gap,…

Online informal language learning has surged due to the growing interaction on social networking sites, such as TikTok and YouTube. One vital interaction method is through comments, revealing insights into learner behaviors and thoughts. Concurrently, the "Korean Wave" has made Korean a sought-after language. This study examined comments…

The theoretical framework of communities of practice (CoP) is often used for framing research into online communities. However, there is an absence of measures and empirical work that evaluates knowledge-sharing within such communities. This represents a substantial gap in our understanding of informal learning for diverse people and in the case…

This dissertation aimed to expand the current literature's understanding of Indigenous epistemology within contemporary social media environments. The qualitative study used social descriptive analysis from forty TikTok videos and comment threads. The descriptive analysis captured major cultural themes, common informal learning behaviors, and…

This is the story of a series of writing workshops with four undergraduate final year students, in a non-formal, non-graded, non-curriculum space. Students were introduced to 'writing for wellbeing' (WfW), using expressive writing strategies adapted from poetry/bibliotherapy practice. Initially intended as a research method for their dissertation…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore beginning teachers' diverse challenges and how these are related to self-directed professional learning through social media. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a content analysis of 2,445 "New Teacher" tagged posts shared in the r/Teachers subreddit. With 1,246 posts…

While extensive studies on informal online learning have been well documented to afford teachers' collaborative learning and knowledge sharing, little is still known about their motivational factors regarding the continuance intention of informal online learning. To this end, an extended expectation confirmation model (ECM) was proposed including…

This paper studies the circulation of learner emotions during a tertiary chitchatting e-tandem called "Bab(b)elade." In this online collaborative language learning project, students of French and Dutch develop each other's foreign language competence in an informal setting, away from 'classic' academic requirements. Using questionnaire…

In today's digital society, the quest for sustainable development requires a paradigm shift in policy making, education, and individual lifestyle choices. This study explores the impact of informal education through communication technologies, with a specific focus on the social media network Instagram, to promote education for sustainable…

Many professionals consider computational thinking an essential skill in the twenty-first century. Furthermore, some studies demonstrate that computer-based networking skills and digital environments can improve computational thinking. A challenging question to be addressed is whether informal learning in a digital context is related to…

Scholars have often highlighted the intrinsic features of technology to support the generation and sharing of ideas (Craft 2011). By studying user interactions within informal online communities, researcher can elucidate the ways technology impacts creativity and learning within these groups. This qualitative content analysis (Hsieh and Shannon…

Online academic communities are valuable spaces where participants can share information, find and provide support, and even be entertained. Online academic communities refer to hashtag-specific chats or other forms of affinity groups. Although these communities have been researched in the literature, more studies are needed to understand the…

Purpose: The purpose of this conceptual paper is to describe how the affinity space concept has been used to frame learning via social media, and call for and discuss a refresh of the affinity space concept to accommodate changes in social media platforms and algorithms. Design/methodology/approach: Guided by a sociocultural perspective, this…

Purpose: Social networks (SNs) play a significant role as environments supporting teacher professional development. The purpose of this to analyze the motivation and participation roles that Spanish teachers have when participating in SNs for their professional development in three professional stages: preservice teachers, beginning teachers and…

Engagement with online media among learners is closely linked to language proficiency and cultural comprehension, offering a platform for enhancing English language skills. This has given rise to the field of online informal learning of English (OILE), with numerous studies exploring learners' habits in this domain and indicating positive impacts…