Minocha,+S+2010

=Role of the educator in social software initiatives in further and higher education: A conceptualisation and research agenda=

Shailey Minocha, Andreas Schroeder and Christoph Schneider British Journal of Educational Technology (2010)

Higher and further education institutions are increasingly using social software tools to support teaching and learning. A growing body of research investigates the diversity of tools and their range of contributions. However, little research has focused on investigating the role of the educator in the context of a social software initiative, even though the educator is critical for the introduction and successful use of social software in a course environment. Hence, we argue that research on social software should place greater emphasis on the educators, as their roles and activities (such as selecting the tools, developing the tasks and facilitating the students’ interactionswith these tools) are instrumental in a social software initiative. To address this gap, we have developed a research agenda on the role of the educator in a social software initiative. Drawing on role theory, both as the basis for a systematic conceptualization of the educator role and as a guiding framework, we have developed a series of concrete research questions that address core issues associated with the educator roles in a social software context. We have provided recommendations for further investigations. By developing a research agenda, we hope to stimulate research that creates a better understanding of the educator’s situation and develops guidelines to help educators carry out their social software initiatives. Considering the signiﬁcant role an educator plays in the initiation and conduct of a social software initiative, our research agenda ultimately seeks to contribute to the adoption and efﬁcient use of social software in education.
 * Abstract**

In a large number of cases, social software initiatives are not conducted by dedicated support teams but by individual educators who carefully integrate the tools into the course environment and provide the necessary student support (Minocha, 2009a). The diverse roles of the educators are, therefore, crucial for the efﬁcient and sustainable use of these tools in a course environment.

Biddle (1979) deﬁnes a role as ‘those behaviours characteristic of one or more persons in a context’ (p. 58). Role theory summarizes a body of sociological research that focuses on identifying the circumstances and mechanisms under which individuals perform particular social or organizational ‘roles’, such as the role of a friend or the role of a supervisor.

Research Question (RQ) 1.1: What are the behaviours that educators perform as part of a social software initiative? RQ 2.1: How does the social position of the educator inﬂuence role behaviour in a social software initiative? RQ 2.2:What are the effects of a mismatch between the formally recognised roles and actual role behaviour of an educator in a social software initiative? RQ 3.1:What expectations do students have towards the role of the educator in a social software initiative? RQ 3.2: Howdo the expectations of students inﬂuence the role behaviour of the educator in a social software initiative? RQ 3.3: What are the effects of a mismatch between student’s role expectations and the educator’s role behaviour? RQ 4.1: How do the characteristics of the social software tool inﬂuence the role behaviour of the educator? RQ 4.2: How do students’ prior experiences with particular social software tools inﬂuence role expectations? RQ 4.3:What are the effects of a discrepancy between the expectations students have towards the educators in a face-to-face environment and in a social software initiative? RQ 5.1:How do the teaching and learning objectives of the social software initiative inﬂuence the roles of the educator?