Objective: The impact of social media on public health has been examined in various studies. However, none have explored user engagement based on the type of Facebook posts related to renal disease. Therefore, the present study sought to determine which type of nephrology-related posts have greater user engagement. Setting: Facebook pages.…

The website Reddit has received scant attention from educational researchers despite the presence of numerous teaching-related subreddits that host thousands of threaded conversations. The purpose of this study was to provide an initial comparison of discussions occurring in several different affinity spaces on Reddit. Because of the lack of…

Globalization has increased the demands placed on higher education and increased competition among universities. In response, institutions of higher education have started to consider their online presence as a potential competitive advantage. The aim of this article is to analyze and compare Facebook activity and content created by the world's…

Teachers and instructional designers frequently incorporate collaborative learning approaches into their e-learning environments. A key factor of collaborative learning that may affect learner outcomes is whether the collaborative groups are assigned project topics randomly or based on a shared interest in the topic. This is a particularly…

An asynchronous online discussion (AOD) is one format of instructional methods that facilitate student-centered learning. In the wealth of AOD research, this study evaluated how students' behavior on AOD influences their academic outcomes. This case study compared the differential analytic methods including web log mining, social network analysis…

Gamification offers potential for improving students' online discussion quantity and the depth of discussion content. However, very few studies have examined the social network patterns when students are posting and providing peer-feedback to each other in gamification-based environments. In response to those gaps, this study used a learning…

This article starts with an overview on China's MOOC phenomenon and social media, and then reports a comparative, multiple case study on three selected MOOC communities that have emerged on social media in China. These representative MOOC communities included: (a) MOOC Academy, the largest MOOC community in China, (b) Zhejiang University of…

In the hotel industry, social media marketing has become a new trend hoteliers are chasing and an increasing number of hotels are using social media to promote their business. However, the marketing effectiveness of social media is still a big challenge in both academic and business world. Since social media marketing is totally different from…

Given the presumed importance of social media to marketing, along with the apparent lack of research concerning social media curriculum development, the purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic analysis of social media curriculum through the evaluation of undergraduate course syllabi in the United States. This research is intended to…

Background: Financial incentives and peer networks could be delivered through eHealth technologies to encourage older adults to walk more. Methods: We conducted a 24-week randomized trial in which 92 older adults with a computer and Internet access received a pedometer, daily walking goals, and weekly feedback on goal achievement. Participants…

"Collaborative video annotation" (CVA) allows multiple users to annotate video and create a discussion asynchronously. This dissertation investigates 14 small-group CVA discussions held on YouTube in a pre-service teacher education course. Fourteen groups of 6-12 pre-service teachers (141 total) participated. Five of these groups (48…

With the rising number of major crises on college campuses today (Security on Campus Inc., 2009), institutions of higher education can benefit from understanding of how social networks may be used in times of emergency. What is currently known about the usage of social networks is not integral to the current practices of crisis management that are…

Online and blended learning, developed with advances in technology, have gained relative importance in modern communities. In recent years, the concept of creating learning communities has been coined to increase effectiveness of these learning environments. Based on this concept, Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) developed the Community of…

This study compared the effectiveness of different learning environments between interactive Facebook instructional method and non-Facebook instructional method for undergraduate students. Two outcome dimensions were measured: student grades and learning engagement. A pre-test-posttest control group experimental design was used. The experimental…

Microblogging is a relatively new phenomenon in online social networking that has become increasingly prevalent in the last few years. This study explores the use of Twitter in public and academic libraries to understand microblogging patterns. Analysis of the tweets was conducted in two phases: (1) statistical descriptive analysis and (2) content…