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Title:
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SOCIAL PRESENCE AND CONTEXT AWARENESS IN A SOCIAL MEDIA LEARNING ENVIRONMENT |
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Author(s):
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Mashitishi Benson Phurutsi, Dumisani Nkosinathi Tsela, Raymond Mompoloki Kekwaletswe |
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ISBN:
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978-972-8939-83-0 |
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Editors:
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Miguel Baptista Nunes, Pedro Isaías and Philip Powell |
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Year:
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2013 |
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Edition:
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Single |
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Keywords:
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Social Networking Sites, More Knowledgeable Other, Social Presence, Context Awareness, Learning Environment. |
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Type:
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Full Paper |
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First Page:
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231 |
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Last Page:
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238 |
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Language:
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English |
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Cover:
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Full Contents:
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click to dowload 
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Paper Abstract:
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Underprepared learners and over-populated classrooms characterize most of higher learning institutions in South Africa. Leaners in these institutions have varied cultural, educational and social backgrounds, although English is the only medium of instruction. Environment as such leads into a privation of access to learning content and social resources due to fewer opportunities of 1-on-1 interactions with instructors. When learners move away from the classroom learning settings, their on-demand learning challenges cannot be met, especially as they move away from the university premises. On the other hand, the country is seeing more and more learners entering higher learning institutions with a fair familiarity with social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many more. For this reason, this paper seeks to conceptualize a framework for using social media as a learning environment by analyzing social presence and context awareness in textual interactions amongst learners and knowledgeable peers. The empirical evidence informing the framework was collected in a case study, using learners enrolled in a typical South African university of technology. The study found that indeed a social media environment could be used to leverage the existing challenges manifesting in SA higher education, since learners are already conversant with the said media. |
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