Presentation held at EDMEDIA 2014 (Tampere, 23-26 June 2014) within the Symposium "Teachers’ Role in the SNS-Era: Different points of view from a global perspective"

1. Teachers’ professional
development in online social
networking sites
Stefania Manca
ITD-CNR, Italy
stefania.manca@itd.cnr.it
Co-author: Maria Ranieri, University of Florence, Italy, maria.ranieri@unifi.it
Symposium “Teachers’ Role in the SNS-Era: Different points of view from a global perspective”
EDMEDIA 2014, Tampere 24th June

2. Social networking sites and
professional development
Social media and social networking sites are progressively
gaining attention also in relation to professional development
and life-long learning for school and academic teachers and
staff.
Social networking is indeed a fundamental aspect in develop-
ing a strong professional identity and furthering professional
development.
These sites are emerging as places in which to cultivate
different forms of social capital, bridging and bonding, that
facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit, as
well as exchange of resources, personal and professional
relationships and implications for psychological well-being.

3. Some theoretical concepts
Social capital and SNS
Networks of practices and SNS

4. Social Capital and SNS
 Bridging social capital = loose connections between individuals based
on the exchange of useful information or new idea but no or weak
emotional support
 Bonding social capital = benefits that individuals may derive from
emotionally close relationships, such as family and close friends,
which might include emotional support or other type of assistance
Although research suggests that the practice of using Facebook, for
istance, to maintain existing social relationships is more common than
that of using it to create new connections with strangers, there is also
some evidence that ‘users may use the site to convert latent into weak
ties’ (Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2011).

5. Networks of practices and SNS
 They implies a set of individuals who are connected through social
relationships, whether they be strong or weak
 What distinguishes a network of practice from other networks:
individuals interact through information exchange in order to
perform their work, asking for and sharing knowledge with each
other.
 In electronic networks of practice, individuals may never get to
know one another or meet face-to-face, and they generally
coordinate through means such as blogs, electronic mailing lists, or
social media sites.

6. Case 1:
Facebook groups for
teachers

7. Case 1: Preliminary remarks
It seems that something like a transition from a pure form
of recreational Facebooking to a new form of professional
Facebooking is taking shape on the web, demanding a
renewed attention to the social processes occurring in
these places.
To date little empirical research on the professional use of
Social Network Sites (SNS) has been conducted,
particularly with reference to groups of teachers on
Facebook.

8. Case 1: The study
 In 2011-2012 an extensive survey on teachers’ groups in Facebook was
conducted to investigate professional uses of informal social networks.
 A questionnaire was addressed to the members of five Facebook
groups (n=1107) with the aim of verifying a series of research
hypotheses focused on the relationship between types groups and
social exchanges, on the one hand, and types, groups and professional
implications, on the other.
 The study identified two typologies of groups, generic or thematic.
The main goal of the generic group was the sharing of experiences
related to schools in general, while the main purpose of the thematic
group was focusing on a very distinctive discussion theme (e.g.
dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities).

9. Results
• Data seem to suggest that a difference exists between the two groups in
terms of types of shared social capital. Generic groups seem to be mainly
characterized by bridging social capital, whereas thematic groups by
bonding social capital
• In generic groups SNS seems to play the role of an infrastructure enabling
the activation of ‘latent ties’. In thematic groups SNS plays the role of
supporting the maintenance of social capital and of existing ties
• In thematic groups the direction of the movement between online/offline
activities would be from offline to online, whereas in generic groups the
direction is reversed, from online to offline
• Groups in social networks may be meant as sub-networks delimited by
virtual boundaries

10. Case 2:
Personal and professional use of
social networking sites in the
Italian academic context

11. Case 2: Preliminary remarks
 In the higher education and academic contexts, social networking is
strictly associated with the broad theme of digital scholarship (Weller,
2011) and, in some respect, with the Open Science movement
(Veletsianos & Kimmons, 2012).
 Though still few, studies on scholars’ use of social media suggest that
scholars are using these services in their professional lives for
communication with peers and others outside academia, with the aim
of strengthening relationships, finding collaborators, keeping up with
research trends, publishing and reflecting on ideas, disseminating
information, and discussing issues in an open and public format (e.g.,
LinkedIn, Academia.edu, ResearchGate, but also Facebook).

12. Case 1: The study
 During the October–December 2013 period a survey about the
use of social media was addressed to the entire Italian university
scholar population.
 The survey, which was adapted and translated from a
questionnaire administered by Pearson and the Babson Survey
Research Group in the USA (Moran, Seaman, & Tinti-Kane, 2012),
aimed at providing a framework of the various uses related to
the personal, teaching and professional areas of interest.
 Out of 58175 subjects involved, the rate of response was 10.5%,
corresponding to 6139.

13. Main results
Personal use Professional use
Never Rarely - At
least once
a day
Never Rarely - At
least once
a day
Facebook 48.8% 51.2% 77.3% 22.7%
Google Plus 50.4% 49.6% 63.6% 36.4%
Twitter 77.8% 22.2% 90.1% 9.9%
LinkedIn 60.6% 39.4% 62.1% 37.9%
ResearchGate/Aca
demia.edu
53.8% 46.2% 49.6% 50.4%

14. Critical issues
 Results globally achieved show a general low level of adoption by
this kind of population that seems to confirm resistance
emphasized also by previous studies in relation to teaching
practices or by previous administrations of the survey in the US
context (Moran, Seaman, & Tinti-Kane, 2012).
 There exists a great diversity of values ​​and visions that
distinguishes the university from the “social” space of networks:
1) the first is characterized by vertical and hierarchical
organization, 2) the second is based on horizontal and
participatory approaches.

15. Conclusions
 Whereas spontaneous school teachers’ networks of practice seem a frequent
phenomenon on general-purpose social network sites such as Facebook, showing
complex dynamics and connections, the adoption of social media and social
networking tools by broad cohorts of academic scholars appear to face a great
deal of resistance.
 Though the first few studies highlight how early career scholars are especially
using social media in their professional lives for communication with peers (e.g.
Greenhow & Gleason, 2014), the hard way to the critical mass is still a long way
to go.
 Individuals must perceive its effectiveness in terms of relevant networks of
people and potential users for future interactions to populate it. This may take
time and such an investment may not be perceived as useful especially to new
users.
 Moreover, since at present there is no clear market leader with a sufficient
critical mass of active scientists yet, active scholars on social network sites are
confronted with multiple platforms, thus engaging with a time-consuming task to
maintain profiles on various SNS.

16. Thanks for your attention!
Stefania Manca
ITD-CNR, Italy
stefania.manca@itd.cnr.it