This qualitative case study used the Technology Acceptance Model as a framework to guide this study of the social media practices of thirteen Community Colleges within the Central Region of California. The problem addressed by this study was that the California Community Colleges are not meeting the goals of Chancellor's Vision for Success to be…

The control of information is embedded in the cultural politics and institutions that regulate access to information. In its most basic form, communication is a practice of enabling the exchange of information. Websites have become one of the primary ways that people access information; however, most of the access is mediated through search…

The purpose of this research is to quantify differences in key performance indicators between paid and organic (not paid) website traffic over a one year period of time at a regional comprehensive university in Kentucky, which is located in the southeastern United States. Two distinct sources of website traffic can be measured: paid traffic and…

This study explored the effects that social networking sites use has on the academic performance of middle school-aged students in a small district in California. It identified risks and benefits associated with social networking site use and how those affect student achievement. The study examined parental usage guidance and scrutinized…

Social media with diverse functionalities enables people to communicate, make connections, exchange information, and transfer knowledge without time and location restrictions. The number of informal learning communities based on social media is growing, but the knowledge about how these communities work is still limited. Three main issues for…

Higher Education Career Services Offices are often called upon to serve more students than they are able to provide with meaningful, individualized job search support. Engaging alumni mentors to provide job search support to students is one way that career services offices have sought to increase the amount and quality of assistance students…

This project was the creation of a student support site to address student knowledge and skills needs at CC. The purpose of the project was to create on-demand training and frequently-asked-question pages. The site can be updated and expanded as needed. Lack of knowledge is a prevalent issue impacting student success in college. Current literature…

Student organizations are known to foster community and are an engaging aspect of college student life. Specifically, for Asian and Latine college students who face exclusion and marginalization at predominantly white institutions (PWIs), panethnic student organizations bring together students from different national origins into one grouping and…

Artificial intelligence (AI) that is based upon semantic search has become one of the dominant means for accessing information in recent years. This is particularly the case in mobile contexts, as search-based AI are embedded in each of the major mobile operating systems. The implications are such that information is becoming less a matter of…

Through colonialism, external forces can alter and shift social structures and practices. It causes trans-generational, often normalized, invisible, and profound marginalization of the collective identities of local and indigenous populations. Decolonization is the resisting and undoing of colonial impacts. It's the process of reforming a…

This quantitative study examined parents' perceptions regarding the use of multiple methods of communication from the school administrator's office. The study took place in one school district in the Midwest with approximately 1900 students. The study used ex post facto data from a district's online parent survey. Responses were analyzed to…

With the rise of modern technology, sites of knowledge have shifted from page to screen, offering hybrid spaces for 21st century learning across borders, modalities, semiotic resources, time and space (Jewitt, 2006; Kress, 2000) However, few empirical studies have been conducted from a critical lens to investigate how digitally mediated social…

The present study investigated The Mixxer language exchange site (https://www.language-exchanges.org/) as a typical informal online community of self-directed language learners with a focus on how learners interact with each other. Learners' perception was also studied regarding how their language learning was impacted by their participation in…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to look at how teachers use micro-blogging, in this case Twitter (www.twitter.com), for their own personalized professional learning and how effective Twitter is as a professional development (PD) tool. In order to measure the effectiveness of the tool, the researcher first gleaned nine essential…

This dissertation examines conversations and attitudes about mental health in Twitter discourse. The research uses big data collection, machine learning classification, and social network analysis to answer the following questions (1) what mental health topics do people discuss on Twitter? (2) Have patterns of conversation changed over time? Have…