Challenges in the South African education system arise from inter alia inadequate training, social and environmental problems, parental inefficiency, insufficient professionalism among teachers, as well as negative attitudes of learners. An urgent need exists to establish “a moral underground, an army of volunteers” (Jansen, 2012) who would be willing to provide another chance to “abandoned children” in poorer schools to develop their full potential for a brighter future. To assist learners to achieve a better future, this study focused on teacher-students and to enhance their learning experiences and consequently their teaching performance. By motivating the teacher-students to develop their potential in order to achieve better, they could, in turn, break the barriers of mediocrity in the learners they taught. The aim of this study was to uncover how a social network service (SNS) like Facebook could be used as an academic tool to support and enhance the affective learning experience of open distance teacher-students in the rural Eastern Cape. The main research question which guided this study was: How can the affective learning of open distance learning teacher-students in the rural Eastern Cape be supported through academic Facebook? The research intervention which elicited data, comprised coaching and scaffolding of the learning content relating to research methodology, as well as guiding the participants to engage with an SNS as a learning technology in an academic environment. The researcher created a support group on Facebook where participants could, at any time, interact with peers and the facilitator. Non-probability purposive sampling selected the participants according to the following criteria: isiXhosa home language speaking teacher-students from the rural areas around Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, enrolled with NWU for a BEd Honours degree, and who owned cellular phones which could connect to the Internet. While 74 teacher-students were invited to participate in the research, only 34 attended some of the coaching and scaffolding sessions, and 22 joined the FaceFunda group page. This qualitative bounded case study was conducted from a postmodern pragmatic view. Data were collected through individual interviews, a focus group interview, text from the FaceFunda group page and the researcher’s reflective diary. The data were analysed with Atlas. ti™. Three patterns emerged which described participants’ affective experiences: (i) emotions while learning with technology, (ii) experiences with technology, and (iii) need for support. In each case, the patterns related to emotions of competence (codes that captured positive and enabling experiences), and emotions of incompetence (codes that captured negative and incapacitating experiences). A secondary analysis of the findings uncovered the guidelines for the academic use of Facebook for rural distance teacher-students. Four themes emerged as guidelines: i) coaching and scaffolding support, (ii) technological support, (iii) peer support, and (iv) communication with the higher education institution. The guidelines highlighted that the affective learning of open distance learning of rural teacher-students in the Eastern Cape can be supported through the academic use of Facebook. ODL teacher-students require support coaching and scaffolding in order to adopt the use of SNSs for academic purposes. Adult learners should be supported to overcome technophobia to enable engagement with learning content. With adequate supportive measures, SNSs can contribute towards positive learning experiences of rural students. / MEd (Learner support), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Challenges in the South African education system arise from inter alia inadequate training, social and environmental problems, parental inefficiency, insufficient professionalism among teachers, as well as negative attitudes of learners. An urgent need exists to establish “a moral underground, an army of volunteers” (Jansen, 2012) who would be willing to provide another chance to “abandoned children” in poorer schools to develop their full potential for a brighter future. To assist learners to achieve a better future, this study focused on teacher-students and to enhance their learning experiences and consequently their teaching performance. By motivating the teacher-students to develop their potential in order to achieve better, they could, in turn, break the barriers of mediocrity in the learners they taught. The aim of this study was to uncover how a social network service (SNS) like Facebook could be used as an academic tool to support and enhance the affective learning experience of open distance teacher-students in the rural Eastern Cape. The main research question which guided this study was: How can the affective learning of open distance learning teacher-students in the rural Eastern Cape be supported through academic Facebook? The research intervention which elicited data, comprised coaching and scaffolding of the learning content relating to research methodology, as well as guiding the participants to engage with an SNS as a learning technology in an academic environment. The researcher created a support group on Facebook where participants could, at any time, interact with peers and the facilitator. Non-probability purposive sampling selected the participants according to the following criteria: isiXhosa home language speaking teacher-students from the rural areas around Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, enrolled with NWU for a BEd Honours degree, and who owned cellular phones which could connect to the Internet. While 74 teacher-students were invited to participate in the research, only 34 attended some of the coaching and scaffolding sessions, and 22 joined the FaceFunda group page. This qualitative bounded case study was conducted from a postmodern pragmatic view. Data were collected through individual interviews, a focus group interview, text from the FaceFunda group page and the researcher’s reflective diary. The data were analysed with Atlas. ti™. Three patterns emerged which described participants’ affective experiences: (i) emotions while learning with technology, (ii) experiences with technology, and (iii) need for support. In each case, the patterns related to emotions of competence (codes that captured positive and enabling experiences), and emotions of incompetence (codes that captured negative and incapacitating experiences). A secondary analysis of the findings uncovered the guidelines for the academic use of Facebook for rural distance teacher-students. Four themes emerged as guidelines: i) coaching and scaffolding support, (ii) technological support, (iii) peer support, and (iv) communication with the higher education institution. The guidelines highlighted that the affective learning of open distance learning of rural teacher-students in the Eastern Cape can be supported through the academic use of Facebook. ODL teacher-students require support coaching and scaffolding in order to adopt the use of SNSs for academic purposes. Adult learners should be supported to overcome technophobia to enable engagement with learning content. With adequate supportive measures, SNSs can contribute towards positive learning experiences of rural students. / MEd (Learner support), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Losing a close relative or friend is a traumatic event for anyone, especially for children and adolescents. This article investigates the motives and patterns of children’s and adolescents’ interpersonal online communication on bereavement platforms. A qualitative content analysis of two different youth bereavement platforms (n = 21 threads; 319 postings) illuminates how one common feature is the verbalization and illustration of missing support in the offline world. The substantial usage of social network platforms can be considered an extension of children’s and adolescents’ personal social environment. Furthermore, topics on bereavement platforms ultimately go beyond grief, as children and adolescents also include emotions such as hope, gratitude and cohesiveness. Communication within online bereavement communities thus enables a process known from offline communication as transformation from a lossoriented to restoration-oriented coping (Stroebe and Schut 2010, p. 277).

L'usage politique d'Internet et des réseaux socionumériques (RSN) ne cesse d'augmenter depuis plus d'une décennie. Le recours à des réseaux tels que Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Skype, Instagram etc., se manifeste comme un passage obligatoire, tant pour les acteurs politiques que pour les citoyens « ordinaires ». La présente recherche retrace l'usage politique et les logiques de mobilisation et de la production de parole politique sur les RSN dans le contexte de la crise syrienne en 2011. Elle questionne, à travers l'analyse de cas de la page The Syrian Revolution 2011, les possibilités que ces RSN offrent aux usagers dans l'instauration d'espaces de mobilisations et d'interactions collectives. Notre analyse s'est organisée pour couvrir deux périodes : la première s'étale de 18 janvier au 14 mars 2011, quant à la seconde, elle s'étend du 15 mars au 30 avril 2011. Ce découpage permet de comprendre le passage d'un mode opératoire à un autre en fonction du changement du contexte politique et de la dégradation de la situation dramatique en Syrie. Notre recherche question également la place de la discussion politique en ligne dans l'élaboration des cadres d'action collective. Elle montre que ces derniers sont, activés, adoptés et diffusés à travers des logiques propres aux pratiques sociotechniques offertes par les RSN. Ainsi, notre étude peut apporter une contribution, nous l'espérons, originale dans le champ de l'analyse des RSN. Elle montre comment ces derniers peuvent constituer un espace de mobilisation d'information à travers duquel les usagers peuvent développer différentes pratiques communicationnelles. / During the last decade, the political use of the Internet and Social Network Sites (SNS) has tremendously increased. Using networks such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Skype, Instagram, etc., has become a must for both political actors and ordinary citizens. Using as a framework the Syrian crisis in 2011, this research will follow the evolution of the political use of SNS in addition to the logics of mobilization and the production of the political speech in these networks. Through the analysis of the Facebook Page the Syrian Revolution 2011, it will question the possibilities that these SNS provide to the users to create mobilizations spaces and collective interaction. Our analysis covered two periods of time: the first one from January 18th to March 14th 2011, and the second from March 15th to April 30th 2011. This will help us better understand the change from one operational mode to another based on the change of the political context and on the degradation of the dramatic situation in Syria. Our research questions the place of the political discussion online and its parts on the creation of collective actions frames. It shows that these frames are activated, adopted and spread in ways that are specific to the social and technical practices provided by the SNS. From this perspective, we hope that our study can bring an original contribution in the analysis of the SNS field. It shows how these networks can be an area for mobilization of information that would help users develops various communication practices.