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Title:
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TOWARDS AN INFORMAL ONLINE LEARNING COMMUNITY FOR STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH AT UNIVERSITY. |
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Author(s):
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Derek Richards , Brendan Tangney |
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ISBN:
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972-8924-16-X |
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Editors:
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Pedro Isaías, Maggie McPherson and Frank Bannister |
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Year:
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2006 |
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Edition:
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2 |
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Keywords:
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E-mental health, e-counselling, e-peer support, e-learning |
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Type:
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Short Paper |
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First Page:
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197 |
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Last Page:
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201 |
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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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As a potential solution to increasing demands on mental health services at Universities this project sought to develop an
informal online learning community for mental health support and education. Students use of the Internet and ICT,
especially to access health information, provides a supporting rationale. The design is grounded in informal pedagogical
principles and online community building practices. The student online mental health community has been in use at the
authors university for one academic term and the initial analysis of its usage is very positive. Features that are being
positively evaluated are the role of the lurker in such a community, the characteristic of disinhibition being supported by
anonymity, online provision acting as a gateway to further support and online provision reaching an audience who
ordinarily dont use face-to-face services. At the same time difficulties particular to this type of community have
surfaced including technical issues, implications of anonymity and user safety. |
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