No abstract

In this paper, we describe a case study of an undergraduate course on research methodology, in which lecture was reduced to a minimum and replaced with experiential learning activities. The course design was project-based and spiraled through four phases: a mini-lecture on a given research method, an “early practice” activity, and “reflection on practice” tutor-guided small group collaborations which led to deeper understanding of the given research method. This particular course design constitutes a paradigm shift in comparison to the predominant in Greek higher education didactic pedagogical model. How this paradigm shift was received and experienced by the participating students? In order to get rich insights into the lived experiences of the participants (N=15), we adopted a blended qualitative research approach: thematic analysis combined with students’ critical reflections on their experience, aiming to produce a thick description of our intervention. The course design and implementation positioned students and their tutors as knowledgeable actors able to contribute research insights through their transactions.

Collaborative work in small groups offers participants the opportunity to learn not only through the multilayered processing of a particular subject of a given body of knowledge but also through the spontaneous and unprompted communication of the different perspectives, allowing for a multivoiced understanding of the subjective lived experience. Additionally, reflective practice allows participants to revisit, understand more thoroughly, and revise their lived experiences, and, by doing so, redefine in a more empowering way their personal narratives. Online blogging in public interconnected spaces forms the necessary techno-social background for supporting the development of specialized micro-networks of practice and empowerment for all the participants. In this work, we combine these three pillars, (a) group work, (b) reflective practice, and (c) online blogging, into a university teaching model that exploits synergies and creates a context of trust and commitment to share and learn in groups. The innovation in the proposed model lies in the utilization of the individual reflections on the participants’ blogs to extend online a meaningful face-to-face group process that takes place in the here and now of the weekly group meetings. The first results from the pilot application of this model in higher education settings are presented and discussed.

We studied the community structure pattern in the visualizations of ten personal social networks on Facebook at a single point in time. It seems to be a strong tendency towards community formation in online personal, social networks: somebody’s friends are usually also friends between them, forming subgroups of more densely connected nodes. Research on community structure in social networks usually focuses on the networks’ statistical properties. There is a need for qualitative studies bridging the gap between network topologies and their sociological implications. To this direction, visual representations of personal networks in social media could be a valuable source of empirical data for qualitative interpretation. Most of the personal social networks’ visualizations in the present study are very highly clustered with densely-knit overlapping subgroups of friends and interconnected between them through wide bridges. This network topology pattern seems to be quite efficient, allowing for a fast spread and diffusion of information across the whole social network.

Starting from the grassroots movements and the Arabic spring we examine the utopic views of social media as they emerged at the dawn of the 21st century. Inspired by Umberto Eco’s dystopic notion of an army of idiots we analyze the techno-social dynamics of trumpism, Brexit and the global raise of extremist voices on social media over the past decade. How these phenomena relate to the techno-social complexity of the modern world? Is Trump’s successful presidential campaign related to social media dynamics, and to an army of idiots that emerged due to this dynamics? How specific social media affordances, like spreadability, searchability, anonymity, pseudonymity and echo chambers contribute to the emergence of a brand new, complex and unpredictable, social landscape? To address these questions, we take into consideration the last Mark Zuckerberg’s manifest Building Global Community (published on February, 2017) and we argue on how Logos-driven, virtual communities can play a critical role in an era of liquid reality, destabilization and unpredictability.