How to unite the power of the masses? Exploring collective stickiness intention in social network sites from the perspective of knowledge sharing

This study aims to investigate users’ knowledge-sharing intention and collective stickiness intention towards social network sites (SNS). SNS offer an opportunity for users to interact and form relationships, while knowledge is accrued by integrating users’ information, experience, and practice. However, there have been few systematic studies that question why people use SNS to share knowledge. We adopt social capital theory, social identity theory, as well as use and gratification theory, to explore the determinants of members’ knowledge-sharing intention in using SNS. The survey was conducted on two education virtual communities (VCs) on Facebook, of which most members were teachers and educators. Data analysis was executed to validate our research model, and SmartPLS was used to analyse users’ collective stickiness intention. The results show that social capital and social identity have an impact on teachers’ knowledge-sharing intention, which, in turn, influences collective stickiness intention towards SNS. Our findings can not only help researchers interpret why members share their knowledge in VCs, but can assist practitioners in developing better SNS strategies as well.     

Online help-seeking in communities of practice: Modeling the acceptance of conceptual artifacts

Interactive online help systems are considered to be a fruitful supplement to traditional IT helpdesks, which are often overloaded. They often comprise user-generated FAQ collections playing the role of technology-based conceptual artifacts. Two main questions arise: how the conceptual artifacts should be used, and which factors influence their acceptance in a community of practice (CoP). Firstly, this paper offers a theoretical frame and a usage scenario for technology-based conceptual artifacts against the theoretical background of the academic help-seeking and CoP approach. Each of the two approaches is extensively covered by psychological and educational research literature, however their combination is not yet sufficiently investigated. Secondly, the paper proposes a research model explaining the acceptance of conceptual artifacts. The model includes users' expectations toward the artifact, perceived social influence and users' roles in the CoP as predictors of artifact use intention and actual usage. A correlational study conducted in an academic software users' CoP and involving structural equations modeling validates the model, suggesting thus a research line that is worth further pursuing. For educational practice, the study suggests three ways of supporting knowledge sharing in CoPs, i.e. use of technology-based conceptual artifacts, roles and division of labor, and purposeful communication in CoPs.     

Consuming and creating: Early-adopting science teachers' perceptions and use of a wiki to support professional development

Many teachers have little opportunity to share and discuss their practice in the course of a normal school day beyond chance meetings in the staff room. Such a lack of opportunity can leave many teachers feeling isolated. However, online resources are continuously providing teachers with greater opportunities to engage with other teachers. This research studied early-adopting New Zealand science teachers' perceptions and integration of one such online resource, a wiki, for professional development. The wiki was developed to support teacher portfolios consisting of mediums called Content Representations (CoRes) and Pedagogical and Professional-experience Repertoires (PaP-eRs). Initial interviews were conducted with six teachers and were followed by case studies of three of these teachers. Data included pre/post interviews, field notes from feedback on observations, and teachers' use of the wiki. Findings discuss important factors organised around three themes in relation to teacher perceptions and engagement in knowledge sharing on a wiki: technology competence, technology utility, and technology resourcing.     

The co-learning process in healthcare professionals: Assessing user satisfaction in virtual communities of practice

Communities of practice are nowadays an important concept in the healthcare sector. Particularly, the intensive use of ICT has allowed their creation into a virtual environment – Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs) developing optimal conditions to make possible the collaborative learning process. The VCoPs antecedents can be situated on social network phenomenon, where individuals with different traits but a common interest/objective are linked, use ICT potency (especially social media) to interchange information, experiences and contents among them. And as a result, people create and share knowledge, and learn collaboratively. VCoP users have a higher satisfaction level in the collaborative learning process when they can: (1) Achieve benefits related to patient diagnosis and treatment (cost reductions, faster management, quality and accuracy of diagnosis, etc.); (2) Increase the share capital of participants and creating networks of trusted individuals. Given the interest in this topic, the objective of this work is to identify the factors that determine user satisfaction in relation to Community Practice (CoP) and the process of building shared knowledge. For this, a sample of 130 Spanish health professionals participating in an online community, and developed in a virtual community of practice, is discussed. The results obtained from an analysis of logistic regression show evidence of the perception of efficiency and effectiveness in collaboration with the members of the VCoP as positively influencing the perceived satisfaction with the CoP. Also, the degree of individual participation in the community affects the degree of perceived satisfaction. The conclusions provide interesting strategic recommendations in the management process of the CoP.     

The way we share and learn: An exploratory study of the self-regulatory mechanisms in the professional online learning community

Self-regulation involves a triadic interplay among personal beliefs, individual behavior, and environment that both proactively and reactively influences one’s adjustment of efforts, courses of action, and attainment of goals to reach the anticipated outcomes. In this study, we propose and validate a self-regulation model that explores the effects of social capital and social cognitive factors on knowledge-sharing behavior. The results demonstrate that members of an online knowledge communities regulate his or her internal motivation, external demands, interpersonal relationships, help-seeking strategies, as well as confidence of capability in utilizing social resources and performing knowledge sharing task. Through a stronger sense of community, emotional attachment and empathic concern about others’ needs, members develop a high level of professional competence to collaborate with others and adequate efficacious beliefs to emotionally and instrumentally help others. The implications to both research and practice are discussed to enhance the understanding and effectiveness of self-regulation in the realm of knowledge management.     

The effect of SDLR and self‐efficacy in preschool teachers by using WS learning

This study examined whether self‐directed learning readiness (SDLR) moderates the association between Internet self‐efficacy and approaches to learning by web searching (ALWS). A total of 329 valid questionnaires were used for the correlation and path analysis. The results revealed that preschool teachers' SDLR significantly moderated the influence of Internet self‐efficacy and ALWS. Thus, this result suggests that spending more time on SDLR may increase preschool teachers' ALWS, which may enhance their teaching practice via web‐based professional development. Findings from this study may have implications for preschool teachers who aim to improve their teaching practice by targeting web‐searching environment and approaches to learning. The findings suggest that the positive mediation role of SDLR between Internet self‐efficacy and ALWS, especially effective learning, active learning and independent learning of SDLR. Because SDLR has the great influence on the online learning domain, preparing teacher's self‐directed learning ability is important for educational authorities to facilitate teachers' better performance when learning online.     

The associations between young adults’ face-to-face prosocial behaviors and their online prosocial behaviors

Drawing on the co-construction theory (Subrahmanyam, Smahel, & Greenfield, 2006), this study investigated the relationship between online and face-to-face prosocial behaviors among 493 (345 women) young adults (ages 18-25 years). Findings indicated that face-to-face prosocial behaviors were positively associated with the engagement in online prosocial behaviors through social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Myspace, Twitter), chat programs (e.g., Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger), email, and text messages, after controlling for gender and time spent using each type of technology. These findings extend the application of the co-construction theory to online prosocial behaviors. Furthermore, these findings suggest that the internet is also a place for positive interactions and call for more research investigating online prosocial behaviors.     

Higher education scholars' participation and practices on Twitter

Scholars participate in online social networks for professional purposes. In such networks, learning takes the form of participation and identity formation through engagement in and contribution to networked practices. While current literature describes the possible benefits of online participation, empirical research on scholars' use of online social networks in the educational technology literature is negligible. The purpose of this paper is to understand scholars' naturalistic practices in social networks in general, and on Twitter in particular. Tweets from 45 scholars were analysed qualitatively to arrive at dominant themes describing online social network practice. Findings indicate that scholars participating on Twitter (1) shared information, resources, and media relating to their professional practice; (2) shared information about their classroom and their students; (3) requested assistance from and offered suggestions to others; (4) engaged in social commentary; (5) engaged in digital identity and impression management; (6) sought to network and make connections with others; and (7) highlighted their participation in online networks other than Twitter. These findings assist the field in understanding the emerging practice of scholarly participation in online networks.     

Students' online interactive patterns in augmented reality-based inquiry activities

Inquiry learning has been developing for years and many countries have incorporated inquiry learning into the scope of K-12 education. Educators have indicated the importance of engaging students in knowledge-sharing activities during the inquiry learning process. In this study, a location-based augmented reality (AR) environment with a five-step guiding mechanism is developed to guide students to share knowledge in inquiry learning activities. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in terms of promoting the knowledge sharing behaviors of students, an experiment has been conducted in an elementary school natural science course. The participants were 57 fourth-grade students from an elementary school in Northern Taiwan, divided into an experimental group of 28 students who learned with the AR-based approach and a control group of 29 students who learned with the conventional in-class mobile learning approach. The students' learning behaviors, including their movements in the real-world environment and interactions with peers, were recorded. Accordingly, the learning patterns and interactions of the two groups were analyzed via lag-sequential analysis and quantitative content analysis. It was found that, in comparison with the conventional inquiry-based mobile learning activity, the AR-based inquiry learning activity is able to engage the students in more interactions for knowledge construction. The findings of this study provide guidance for helping teachers develop effective strategies and learning designs for conducting inquiry-based learning activities.     

个性化学习路径推荐综述

近年来，伴随着现代信息技术的迅猛发展，以人工智能为代表的新兴技术在教育领域得到了广泛应用，引发了学习理念和方式的深刻变革.在这种大背景下，在线学习超越了时空的限制，为学习者“随时随地”学习提供了更多的可能性，从而得到了蓬勃发展.然而，在线学习中师生时间、空间分离的特征，导致教师无法及时掌握学生的学习状态，一定程度上制约了在线学习中教学质量的提升.面对多元化的学习需求及海量学习资源，如何迅速完成学习目标、降低学习成本、合理分配学习资源等问题成为限制个人和时代发展的重大问题.然而，传统的“一刀切”的教育模式已经不能满足人们获取知识的需求了，需要一个更高效、更科学的个性化教育模式，以帮助学习者以最小的学习成本最大限度地完成学习目标.基于以上背景，如何自动高效识别学习者特征，高效地组织和分配学习资源，为每一位学习者规划个性化路径，成为面向个体的精准化教育资源匹配机制研究中亟待解决的问题.系统地综述并分析了当前个性化学习路径推荐的研究现状，并从多学科领域的角度分析了对于同一问题的不同研究思路，同时也归纳总结了当前研究中最为主流的核心推荐算法.最后，强调当前研究存在的主要不足之处.     

Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Communities: A Study of Citizenship Behavior and Its Social-Relational Antecedents

A virtual community is a type of online structure that enables Internet users to communicate and collaborate. Users' knowledge contributions are critical to the viability and sustainability of virtual communities. This article studies virtual community members' knowledge sharing from the perspective of citizenship behavior defined as members' spontaneous contribution to the community without expectation of return or reciprocation. The social-relational antecedents of citizenship behavior are explored through an examination of how members' general attitude and desire for relationship building and maintaining, including attachment motivation, social support orientation, and disposition to trust influence their trusting beliefs and citizenship knowledge-sharing behavior. Hypotheses are developed and tested with survey data from Chinese and American users of virtual communities. In general, the results of data analyses support our research model. This article contributes empirically to virtual community research and has practical implications for virtual community development.     

Collaborative recommendation of e‐learning resources: an experimental investigation

Repositories with educational resources can support the formation of online learning communities by providing a platform for collaboration. Users (e.g. teachers, tutors and learners) access repositories, search for interesting resources to access and use, and in many cases, also exchange experiences and opinions. A particular class of online services that take advantage of the collected knowledge and experience of users are collaborative filtering ones. The successful operation of such services in the context of real‐life applications requires careful testing and parameterization before their actual deployment. In this paper, the case of developing a learning resources' collaborative filtering service for an online community of teachers in Europe was examined. More specifically, a data set of evaluations of learning resources was collected from the teachers that use the European Schoolnet's learning resource portal. These evaluations were then used to support the experimental investigation of design choices for an online collaborative filtering service for the portal's learning resources. A candidate multi‐attribute utility collaborative filtering algorithm was appropriately parameterized and tested for this purpose. Results indicated that the development of such systems should be taking place considering the particularities of the actual communities that are to be served.     

The provision of online public goods: Examining social structure in an electronic network of practice

Electronic networks of practice are computer-mediated social spaces where individuals working on similar problems self-organize to help each other and share knowledge, advice, and perspectives about their occupational practice or common interests. These interactions occur through message postings to produce an on-line public good of knowledge, where all participants in the network can then access this knowledge, regardless of their active participation in the network. Using theories and concepts of collective action and public goods, five hypotheses are developed regarding the structural and social characteristics that support the online provision and maintenance of knowledge in an electronic network of practice. Using social network analysis, we examine the structure of message contributions that produce and sustain the public good. We then combine the results from network analysis with survey results to examine the underlying pattern of exchange, the role of the critical mass, the quality of the ties sustaining participation, the heterogeneity of resources and interests of participants, and changes in membership that impact the structural characteristics of the network. Our results suggest that the electronic network of practice chosen for this study is sustained through generalized exchange, is supported by a critical mass of active members, and that members develop strong ties with the community as a whole rather than develop interpersonal relationships. Knowledge contribution is significantly related to an individual's tenure in the occupation, expertise, availability of local resources and a desire to enhance one's reputation, and those in the critical mass are primarily responsible for creating and sustaining the public good of knowledge. Finally, we find that this structure of generalized exchange is stable over time although there is a high proportion of member churn in the network.     

Discussing teaching videocases online: Perspectives of preservice and inservice EFL teachers in Taiwan

This study investigated the application of an online videocase discussion community into fostering preservice and inservice EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ professional development in Taiwan. This investigation further revealed the nature and development of discussion discourse and the participating teachers’ perceptions of this online learning experience. Also included were potential concerns or difficulties encountered by these community members. There were 21 preservice teachers, 7 secondary school teachers, and 4 university teachers involved in this study. Multiple data collection methods included teaching videos, online discussion messages, interviews, reflection journals, and an open-ended questionnaire. The findings showed that the preservice and inservice teachers appeared to respectively play different roles in discussing teaching videocases online. Yet, what they noticed in the teaching events shifted from diverse to similar focuses after engaging in online videocase discussion for almost one year. These teachers further perceived professional learning opportunities in this community, albeit several issues might hinder some of them from joining the discussion frequently. Pedagogical implications and research suggestions are offered for teacher educators and researchers to further codify and document teacher professional development in various online videocase discussion contexts.     

Individual characteristics influencing the sharing of knowledge on social networking services: online identity,self-efficacy,and knowledge sharing intentions

ABSTRACT

Social media have become an important place for individuals with similar interests to exchange opinions and share resources. Ubiquitous collaborative learning environments in SNS have great educational and organisational potential and offer a platform for sharing knowledge. Rising interest in personal factors in knowledge management research calls for a better understanding of how knowledge is shared in SNS-based collaborative learning. Grounded on the theories of planned behaviour and social identity, this study investigates individual characteristics that affect the sharing of knowledge in SNS learning communities. The study also examines whether intent to share knowledge mediates those personal characteristics and sharing of knowledge. Eighty individuals from five active Facebook groups participated in this study. The findings indicate that individual characteristics, such as online personal identity, web-specific self-efficacy, and knowledge-creation self-efficacy significantly predict sharing of knowledge. In addition, intent to share knowledge mediates between the sharing of knowledge and online identity, web-specific self-efficacy, or knowledge-creation self-efficacy. The results reveal a need for customised support and environmental design focusing on online personal identity, web-specific self-efficacy, knowledge-creation self-efficacy, and intent to share knowledge in a knowledge-sharing community on SNS. Implications for the SNS communities and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Understanding knowledge sharing between IT professionals – an integration of social cognitive and social exchange theory

The research includes various constructs based on social exchange theory and social cognitive theory. This study mainly explored the relationships among organisational justice, trust, commitment and knowledge-sharing cognition and verified their mediating effects through two variables of trust and commitment. A survey utilising a questionnaire was used with 252 IT professionals from IT companies and departments in Taiwan. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data and to evaluate the research model. The results showed that the research model fitted the data well, and the main determinant of knowledge-sharing intention was the building of organisational justice between knowledge intensive workers, confirming our hypotheses that trust and commitment foster organisational commitment. In turn, organisational commitment will help to build individual knowledge-sharing self-efficacy and both directly and indirectly affect intentions to share knowledge.     

Peer modeling and innovation adoption among teachers in online professional development

This paper draws on three years of data from an online course on educational technology for practicing teachers, in which a goal was for teachers to develop a web-based application they could use in their own teaching. Based on analyses of discussion forums and teachers' course projects, we found that iterations of the course evolved over the years from being a loose association of peers involved in vastly different development projects with different tools, to a community of designers involved in a common endeavor, as more and more students chose the same open-source learning management system for their course projects. We tracked what factors seemed to affect how many and which teachers chose which development technologies, and how the process of making these choices evolved with the increased role of designed and emergent forms of peer modeling. We situate these findings in the literature on teacher professional development and technology use, arguing that existing conversations need to attend to the important role that peers play in teachers' learning and innovation adoption, particularly in online learning environments.     

Satisfaction or gratitude? Exploring the disparate effects of physicians' knowledge sharing on patients' service evaluation in online medical consultations

The influence of physicians' knowledge sharing on patient satisfaction in online medical consultations (OMCs) has received extensive attention in recent years. However, patient gratitude in OMCs, another crucial outcome for physicians' knowledge sharing, has largely been overlooked. To address this gap, this study attempts to distinguish patient satisfaction from gratitude in OMCs and elucidate the relationship between the sharing process and outcomes. Drawing on the affect theory of social exchange, this study proposes a model that investigates the relative effects of physicians' informational and emotional support during the knowledge-sharing process on patient satisfaction and gratitude, as well as the contingent roles of physicians' professional seniority and patients' disease severity. The research model is tested by using data from a well-known online health platform in China. The results indicate that patient gratitude is associated with a more favourable service evaluation than satisfaction in OMCs. Physicians' informational support has a greater effect on patient satisfaction than emotional support, while emotional support has a greater effect on patient gratitude than informational support. Moreover, professional seniority and disease severity positively and negatively moderate the relationship between emotional support and patient gratitude, respectively. A survey-based experiment is also adopted to validate the research model with self-reported perceptual measures. This study contributes to the literature on patient gratitude, online healthcare service evaluation, knowledge sharing, and the affect theory of social exchange.