As a type of virtual learning community, multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) are not only sources of entertainment but are also places where learning opportunities and community development can be created and fostered. Some multi-user virtual environments that have emerged have been designed to serve students and teachers in the K-12 sector. Although learning is a goal in these contexts, this study focused on some of the community building and social networking components. The purpose of this study was to examine whether, to what degree and how nine elementary aged students projected themselves socially through this medium. The results could provide insight into the integration of such environments into K-12 educational contexts and could serve as a launching point for further research into the learning and community aspects of MUVEs. A case study approach was used in this research study. The researcher chose a class of nine students who were enrolled in an educational MUVE as part of their regular studies. Although these students completed assignments in the MUVE, only their social interactions were analyzed. The data was collected from student communication logs in the educational MUVE Quest Atlantis and from interviews with participants. Document analysis was used to analyze transcripts of student communications in Quest Atlantis as well as transcripts from text-based interviews. The results obtained demonstrate the types of communication and tool selection patterns of elementary aged students when using text to communicate in a MUVE and provide insight that can be used by teachers to inform the integration of MUVEs in their unique learning contexts. Findings indicated that frequency of communication varied substantially between participants but message content was similar and content volume varied depending on the communication tool. Gender differences were pronounced. Results also revealed that all participants were comfortable and enjoyed their involvement in the MUVE.

As a type of virtual learning community, multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) are not only sources of entertainment but are also places where learning opportunities and community development can be created and fostered. Some multi-user virtual environments that have emerged have been designed to serve students and teachers in the K-12 sector. Although learning is a goal in these contexts, this study focused on some of the community building and social networking components. The purpose of this study was to examine whether, to what degree and how nine elementary aged students projected themselves socially through this medium. The results could provide insight into the integration of such environments into K-12 educational contexts and could serve as a launching point for further research into the learning and community aspects of MUVEs. A case study approach was used in this research study. The researcher chose a class of nine students who were enrolled in an educational MUVE as part of their regular studies. Although these students completed assignments in the MUVE, only their social interactions were analyzed. The data was collected from student communication logs in the educational MUVE Quest Atlantis and from interviews with participants. Document analysis was used to analyze transcripts of student communications in Quest Atlantis as well as transcripts from text-based interviews. The results obtained demonstrate the types of communication and tool selection patterns of elementary aged students when using text to communicate in a MUVE and provide insight that can be used by teachers to inform the integration of MUVEs in their unique learning contexts. Findings indicated that frequency of communication varied substantially between participants but message content was similar and content volume varied depending on the communication tool. Gender differences were pronounced. Results also revealed that all participants were comfortable and enjoyed their involvement in the MUVE.

abstract: Online learning communities have changed the way users learn due to the technological affordances web 2.0 has offered. This shift has produced different kinds of learning communities like massive open online courses (MOOCs), learning management systems (LMS) and question and answer based learning communities. Question and answer based communities are an important part of social information seeking. Thousands of users participate in question and answer based communities on the web like Stack Overflow, Yahoo Answers and Wiki Answers. Research in user participation in different online communities identifies a universal phenomenon that a few users are responsible for answering a high percentage of questions and thus promoting the sustenance of a learning community. This principle implies two major categories of user participation, people who ask questions and those who answer questions. In this research, I try to look beyond this traditional view, identify multiple subtler user participation categories. Identification of multiple categories of users helps to provide specific support by treating each of these groups of users separately, in order to maintain the sustenance of the community. In this thesis, participation behavior of users in an open and learning based question and answer community called OpenStudy has been analyzed. Initially, users were grouped into different categories based on the number of questions they have answered like non participators, sample participators, low, medium and high participators. In further steps, users were compared across several features which reflect temporal, content and question/thread specific dimensions of user participation including those suggestive of learning in OpenStudy. The goal of this thesis is to analyze user participation in three steps: a. Inter group participation analysis: compare pre assumed user groups across the participation features extracted from OpenStudy data. b. Intra group participation analysis: Identify sub groups in each category and examine how participation differs within each group with help of unsupervised learning techniques. c. With these grouping insights, suggest what interventions might support the categories of users for the benefit of users and community. This thesis presents new insights into participation because of the broad range of features extracted and their significance in understanding the behavior of users in this learning community. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2015

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In recent years there has been growing enthusiasm among researchers for the promotion of online learning communities designed to support professional learning in preservice teacher education. The primary purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the role of such an online community in supporting student teacher learning during the school placement in a Chinese Normal University, and hence to enrich the understanding of student teachers’ learning experiences in an online ecology. The study’s subjects included a cohort of 42 student teachers enrolled on a four-year preservice teacher education programme, along with two university supervisors at one of China’s teacher-training universities. Primary data were collected from six weeks of online threaded discussions and from semi-structured group interviews. Supplementary data were taken from an end-of-school-placement evaluation and web-tracking logs. Data analysis has been informed and illuminated by the theoretical proposition of communities of practice. The findings of the study indicate that the online learning community is a valuable resource for supporting student teachers both personally and professionally. Findings suggest that online communication not only helps student teachers tackle immediate teaching concerns and technical problems, but, more importantly, provides them with opportunities to reflect collectively, to co-construct new teaching ideas, and to gain professional discourse competence through articulating and negotiating their evolving thoughts on teaching as a profession. In this regard, student teachers are found to be more comfortable with online self-disclosure of their personal and professional encounters and critiquing each other than they are with face-to-face communication. The research also shows that university supervisors experience mixed feelings about the fact that student teachers are more able to take ownership of their learning and therefore become less dependent on supervisor guidance as time wears on. Furthermore, these findings provide evidence suggestive of a possibly reciprocal relationship between Chinese view of learning and the building of online learning communities. Based on the results of the study, I provide recommendations as to how the significance of the school placement can be reinforced in fostering distributed student teachers’ professional growth. The results also contribute to a better understanding of the key factors in the design and implementation of effective online learning communities within preservice teacher education in China. Finally, the analytical approach used in this study provides fresh methodological insight into an alternative means of analysing online postings. It thus contributes both to the theorisation of learning communities in the context of computer-mediated communication, and to the further development of concepts drawn from the communities of practice literature.

Syfte - Syftet med studien är att bidra med förståelse av hur användare av aktivitetsarmbandoch tillhörande nätforum tillsammans konstruerar en lärmiljö och i så fall på vilka sätt dettakan erfaras hälsofrämjande.Teoretisk referensram - Den teoretiska referensramen tar upp de pedagogiska perspektivsom framträdde ur det empiriska materialet. Studien behandlar följande perspektiv: detsociokulturella perspektivet, Zone of proximal development, health literacy, Communities ofpractice och healthism.Metod - Studien har en livsvärldsfenomenologisk metodansats där datainsamlingengenomfördes genom två tillvägagångssätt. Författarna agerade studiesubjekt genom attanvända aktivitetsarmband och forum för att få tillgång till deltagarnas regionala livsvärld. Envirtuell grupp skapades på nätforumet Garmin connect där diskussioner fördes mellandeltagare och författare. Urvalet bestod av 8 personer från Sverige, Storbritannien, Brasilienoch USA.Resultat - Health literacy visade sig vara av vikt för att på ett optimalt sätt tillgodogöra sigaktivitetsarmbandets data. Lärandeprocesser skedde genom samspel och interaktion inätforumet. Hälsofrämjande effekter med armband och forum kunde urskiljas i form av högrefysisk aktivitetsnivå, motivation, inspiration och glädje. Potentiellt hälsoskadliga effekteridentifierades i överaktivitet och övertro på armbandet.Slutsats - Dagens selftracking-verktyg är ofta tekniskt avancerade men pedagogiskt mindregenomtänkta. Broar bör byggas mellan selftracking-verktygen och de pedagogiska processersom sker i användarna som brukar dem. / Aim - The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding in which users of activitytrackers and the connected netforum together construate a learning environment and if and inwhat ways this can be perceived as health promoting.Theoretical framework - The theoretical framework presents the pedagogical perspectiveswhich appeared in the empiric material. The study adresses the following theories andperspectives: the sociocutural perspective, Zone of proximal development, health literacy,Communitites of practice and healthism.Method - The study has a lifeworld phenomenological method. The data collection wascompleted in two different methods. The writers used the activity tracker and net forum togain access to the users life world. A virtual discussion group was created where particapantsand the writers discussed the activity tracker and net forum. Selection: 8 participants fromSweden, Great Britain, Brazil and USA.Result - Health literacy proved to be significant when interpreting the data from the activitytracker. Learning processes occured in the net forum through interaction. Health promotingfactors like increased physical activity level, motivation, inspiration and joy were found bothregarding activity tracker and netforum. Potentially harmful effects on health were found,hyperactivity and an over-reliance to the actvity tracker.Conclusion - Todays selftracking tools are often technically advanced but pedagogicallyinsufficient. Bridges should be built between selftracking tools and the pedagogical processeswhich occur within the individuals using these tools.

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