Kamakshi Rajagopal

Social network analysis for technology-enhanced learning: review and future directions

By nature, learning is social. The interactions by which we learn from others inherently form a network of relationships among people, but also between people and resources. This paper gives an overview of the potential social network analysis (SNA) may have for social learning. It starts with an overview of the history of social learning and how SNA may be of value. The core of the paper outlines the state-of-art of SNA for technology-enhanced learning (TEL), by means of four possible types of SNA applications: visualisation, analysis, simulation, and interventions. In an outlook, future directions of SNA research for TEL are provided.

Designing a Collaborative Learning Hub for Virtual Mobility Skills - Insights from the European Project Open Virtual Mobility

Higher education faces high requirements and challenges in today’s global world, including internationalisation as a response to globalisation. Virtual Mobility (VM) has a great potential to contribute to the internationalisation, innovation and inclusion in higher education. While it is feasible to encourage outward and inward student and faculty mobility, the main limitations include high costs of travelling and living in a foreign country, diverse socio-economic, health-related and even political issues. These barriers can be reduced by adding virtual components to mobility programs and actions (e.g. virtual seminars, virtual labs, virtual internships). This paper presents an approach for designing a collaborative learning hub for promoting VM Skills of educators and students in the European Higher Education Area. The VM Learning Hub assists to enhance the Virtual Mobility readiness of higher education institutions, educators and students through achievement, assessment and recognition of VM skills. This paper introduces the concept and the architecture of VM Learning Hub – a Collaborative and Personal Learning Environment with embedded technologies for innovative forms of skill attainment (open education, gamification), skill assessment (test-based and evidence-based e-assessment), skill recognition (open credentials, linked data) and collaboration (based on algorithm-based matching of learning groups).

Using personal professional networks for learning in social work: need for insight into the real-world context

Professionals in social work practice depend on a high level of skills, intellectual ability and a wide knowledge base to find innovative solutions for the complex problems they encounter. They learn by experience and through social interaction using dialogue and discussion with relevant others to create new knowledge. To support their learning, they search for the most suitable and most relevant dialogue partner available in their extensive personal professional network. This is a difficult, high-skilled task, for which little technological support is available. This paper presents a literature review on the learning needs of these professionals and considers the use of technology as a means of supporting this type of learning. It argues for the need for more insight into the strategies used by professionals in building, maintaining and activating connections in their personal professional network for learning purposes.