Contact: Andy Pulman

Theme: Uncovering Student Use of ICTs

Methods/Approach: Finding out how students are using ICTs to engage in new kinds of learning opportunities
Context: HEI with an emphasis on teaching

Theme: Technology, Authenticity, and the Natural World

Methods/Approach: How does technology allow people to engage with the natural environment, and how does it allow them to “construct” (or reconstruct) aspects of the natural environment online? The project will use screen captures, accompanied by explanatory commentary from participants
Context: UK research university in the Midlands

Theme: Avatars: Mask or Mirror?

Methods/Approach: Investigating the use of avatars in relation to construction of online identities. The project will focus on the extent to which creation of an “authentic” avatar, i.e. an avatar that is clearly linked to an individual’s “offline” (or “Real Life”/RL) persona, may be linked to confidence/experience levels in use of
ICTs. The project will address questions of individual motivation, and will investigate the social construction of conceptions such as “natural”/”artificial”
Context: HEI where online and blended approaches are an integral part of pedagogy

Theme: Cross-Cultural Social Networking

Methods/Approach: Comparing use of Facebook in the UK with use of Xiaonei, China’s premier social networking site. Employing a mix of online “observation” of user behaviour, interviews with site users, and screen capture and user commentary (using Camtasia)
Context: Cross-cultural studies of technology, communication, and identity

Theme: Students’ Information-Sharing Practices

Methods/Approach: Researching students’ information-sharing behaviours and socially-shared conceptions of identity, privacy, and data protection. The project will look at what students share, how they share it, and their perceptions / constructions of “risk” in relation to information-sharing and privacy online.
Context: New entrants to HE in the Netherlands