1. Title & Description Exploring the Merits of Social Networking in Management Education. Event: SoB Teaching Better Seminar MANT 339, is a third year course that aims to build the students' understanding of the area of Human Resources Development. Students have to complete a group project that aims to develop their knowledge and skills in analysing training needs and developing relevant training interventions. The course is built on the principles of adult learning - encouraging collaborative learning and students taking control of their own learning. A research project was set up in collaboration with HEDC to examine a prototype of a Networked Learning Environment to try and encourage students to engage in collaborative learning around the group project and to facilitate ongoing contact between lecturer and students. This presentation will discuss what we did and present our findings on how both the lecturer and the students responded to and utilised the Networked Learning site. We will also discuss the implications for further use of networked learning in the university learning environment.

2. Exploring the Merits of Social Networking in Management Education Wednesday 22 October 2008 Vicky Browning Management Russell Butson Higher Education Development Centre (HEDC) School of Business Teaching Better Seminar Acknowledgements: Carla Thomson, Assistant Research Fellow, Higher Education Development Centre (HEDC),

4. Project Rationale

8. Participants

10. Students Computer Experience – 1 as at the 25/09 - 29 respondents

11. Students Computer Experience – 2 as at the 25/09 - 29 respondents

12. ...as at the 25/09 - 29 respondents

13. Research Approach

14. Our Research Position/Influences Theoretical Framework Social Constructivism Investigative Perspectives Sociotechnical Approach Actor-Network Theory Emergent Design-based Approach

16. Intervention + Interaction with students / staff

17. Virtual Environment A Complex Semi-Structured Work Environment Students were informed that the site required them to be active at networking, uploading and producing

21. Findings so Far...

22. My experience Emotions/ Perceptions Time (July – mid October) Excitement/ Anticipation Discomfort in ‘ their world’ ‘ Reality’ Questioning Deflation Realistic expectations Manage the process + -

25. Research Findings - emerging

27. Use of Tools

28. Marks - Top 8 groups [range 25-32] Group Members Hits Posts % Status Tues-12-01 7/25.5 5 824 26 3% Active Producers Tues-03-01 1/28 5 788 29 4% Active Producers Mon-03-03 4/26.5 5 265 6 2% Passive Viewers Tues-03-03 8/25 4 246 7 3% Passive Viewers Tues-12-04 5 185 10 5% Passive Viewers Tues-03-02 5/26 5 181 7 4% Passive Viewers Tues-03-04 2-28 5 162 4 2% Passive Viewers Mon-03-01 4 125 2 2% Low Use Mon-03-05 6/25.5 3 83 4 5% Low Use Mon-03-04 5 73 2 3% Low Use Tues-03-05 3/28 2 52 1 2% Low Use Mon-03-02 2 49 2 4% Low Use Tues-12-05 5 47 2 4% Low Use Mon-11-03 2 39 0 0% Low Use Tues-12-02 4 30 1 3% Low Use Mon-11-02 1 26 1 4% Low Use Tues-12-03 3 25 1 4% Low Use

29. Discussions: Arrangement of meeting – 2 week period - This process was repeated by every group Fri p.m.. A . Hey guys - can we get together next week to work on our presentation? I can meet Mon at 11, all day Tues and after 3 on Wed. Mon a.m B . Yeah, for sure – can’t do today but otha times suit me Mon p.m C . 2mr I can only do 9-10 a.m – but Wed all gd Tues a.m A . O.K. I’ll book lib rm for 2mr at 3 Tues a.m C . cool thanks– c u there Tues p.m D . sori guys can’t do meeting tomorrow – I’ve got Maori at that time Wed a.m E . neitha – just checked site- got flu- sori Thurs p.m B . Sori yea, flu got me too – so meeting didn’t happen – thanks for txt A. Let’s try for da weekend sometime? Thurs p.m. A . Hey guys -yeah we’ve really got to get our presentation sorted soon What about meeting Sat sometime between 12 and 3? Fri a.m. D . Yup – Sat avo suits me. Fri a.m. C . Hey – I’m really sorry I’ve got work Sat avo- would Sun avo suit everyone – I can do anytime. Fri p.m. A . Ok - shall we try for Sun at 1? I’ll book the rm E . I’ll be there Sat a.m. D . Hi Sorry – I can’t do 2mr’s meeting – I’ve got soccer practice. Later any gd? Say after 3? Sat a.m. B . hey guys 1 on Sun no good for me either-I can do 10-12 or after4 on Sun

30. Calendar Discussions: Arrangement of meeting – 2 week period - This process was repeated by every group Fri p.m.. A . Hey guys - can we get together next week to work on our presentation? I can meet Mon at 11, all day Tues and after 3 on Wed. Mon a.m B . Yeah, for sure – can’t do today but otha times suit me Mon p.m C . 2mr I can only do 9-10 a.m – but Wed all gd Tues a.m A . O.K. I’ll book lib rm for 2mr at 3 Tues a.m C . cool thanks– c u there Tues p.m D . sori guys can’t do meeting tomorrow – I’ve got Maori at that time Wed a.m E . neitha – just checked site- got flu- sori Thurs p.m B . Sori yea, flu got me too – so meeting didn’t happen – thanks for txt A. Let’s try for da weekend sometime? Thurs p.m. A . Hey guys -yeah we’ve really got to get our presentation sorted soon What about meeting Sat sometime between 12 and 3? Fri a.m. D . Yup – Sat avo suits me. Fri a.m. C . Hey – I’m really sorry I’ve got work Sat avo- would Sun avo suit everyone – I can do anytime. Fri p.m. A . Ok - shall we try for Sun at 1? I’ll book the rm E . I’ll be there Sat a.m. D . Hi Sorry – I can’t do 2mr’s meeting – I’ve got soccer practice. Later any gd? Say after 3? Sat a.m. B . hey guys 1 on Sun no good for me either-I can do 10-12 or after4 on Sun

31. Collective construction of knowledge & the development of a collective – only found in 4 groups Tool Idea Response Wiki A: Hey, this is what I’ve found for our research so far …, are you finding the same idea B: Hey guys. The vast majority of what I’ve found correlates with what A’s finding … What do you think? Blog A: Hi guys – some of us managed to meet and create an outline for our presentation … See what you think? I’ve just put general points we decided on up so feel free to change it anyone. PS. There is a link to the outline below this post B: Looks good. For my part of the topic I’m going to … Hope this helps. C: Thanks. Might be good if we all shared our ideas here. For my part, I plan to … D: I’ve made some changes to my part - have placed my ideas in the documents library on group page if you want to have a look File A: this is the thing we were looking at during the meeting tonight … it outlines the things we need to make sure we consider. Do have a look through guys and see what else you think we need B: This is my suggestion for what else we need in the overview –what do you think? C: This is the updated overview – think we’ve got it pretty sorted now. Any ideas about specific research direction? B: I don’t know how much of the theory we’re going to use, but here it is – probably need a bit of compressing A. Here are my ideas about what the most important things are to pinpoint in the theory – be good to get you guys feedback Discussion A: I’ve posted my research on the wiki. Give it a go – add whatever you want B: Thanks. Looks good. Just wondering if we need to re-direct some our research … C: I think for our research we need to keep in mind these guidelines: … A: O.K. I’ve posted my updated research …

34. Feedback: Collaborative professional processes Sep 17, 2008 5:49 pm Lecturer: You clearly outlined the methods of data collection you used and the purpose for the HRDNI of each of these methods. It would have assisted our learning if you had written on the board our feedback from the learning exercise. We could then see the link to the points you suggested. Sep 20, 2008 2:10 pm I thought your presentation was really good. I thought you structured it well in that you built up to the class interaction so we knew exactly why you were doing this form of exercise and then you expanded further afterwards. I felt doing the class interaction gave me more knowledge about why focusing on teaching tacit knowledge was important … Sep 21, 2008 12:22 pm Overall i thought this was a good presentation ... But i felt there was a bit too much theory for the presentation because if you were actually presenting to a company they would be more interested in your findings and recommendations. I also felt that you should of paid a little more attention to your intervention and explained it a little more because there was a little confusion. But … the slides were set out clearly and were easy to understand. … . Sep 28, 2008 7:40 pm Thanks for all the feedback on our presentation Dealing with the content of our PowerPoint-presentation, we tried to balance it as good as we could. We tried not to have many details on our slides, but just to have enough so people would not lose interest during the presentation. I think what worked well for our group, was that the structure were quite good all the way through our presentation. This helped us a lot when we were delivering the content. I can clearly see though what you guys mean about to much theory in relation to presenting to the company. Our HRD intervention on tacit knowledge was a bit more difficult to perform in class than we had expected. If we were to do that again we would most likely use more time on this intervention. Using more time on the HRD intervention would have enabled us for example to use more time on presenting the workshop lesson plan (e.g. using the overhead projector actively), considering transfers of learning more thoroughly (how the delegates are assisted into carrying what they learnt at the session back to the workplace) and finally evaluating the whole session. Hopefully this feedback can be useful for others.Best regards Sep 30, 2008 12:10 am Hi everybody, I will also on the behalf of my group say thanks for all the useful feedback we have received. … I found our presentation quite good. I think we had a good structure in our presentation and I think we managed to deliver the content in a way that satisfied all of us. … I think we did pretty well. However, we could have used more energy on the intervention - but we didn’t really know how to prioritize the time that we were given. I think we came up with a really interesting intervention that explained the theory about tacit knowledge in a good way ...

39. Would we have seen a difference if the participants were 1 st years?

40. Would we have seen a difference if the participants were 1 st years? We don’t believe so reason...

41. Development of graduate attributes

42. Development of graduate attributes ?

43. University of Otago Graduate Attributes – A selection relevant to this project COMMUNICATION : the ability to communicate information, arguments and analyses effectively CRITICAL THINKING : the ability to analyse issues logically, consider different options and viewpoints, and make informed decisions . INFORMATION LITERACY : a basic understanding of information literacy and specific skills in acquiring, organising and presenting information, in particular through computer-based activity LIFELONG LEARNING : a commitment to lifelong learning, with the ability to apply knowledge, develop existing skills, adapt to a changing environment, and acquire new skills RESEARCH : the ability to conduct research by recognising when information is needed, and locating, retrieving, evaluating and using it effectively SCHOLARSHIP : a commitment to the fundamental importance of the acquisition and development of knowledge and understanding SELF-MOTIVATION : the capacity for self-directed activity and the ability to work independently TEAMWORK : the ability to work effectively as both a team leader and a team member WORKPLACE-RELATED SKILLS : enterprise, self-confidence and a sense of personal responsibility within the workplace and community (Adopted by Senate March 2003)

44. Where to from here...

45. Creating this The more toward an academic/professional paradigm rather than a schooling paradigm

46. Thank you