Educating Social Scholars: Examining Novice Researchers' Practices with Social Media

Abstract

Recent articles in the educational research fi eld have called for a stronger
research focus on students' learning with everyday technologies in-and-out-of
classrooms and on the changing nature of scholars' practices in light of technological
advancements. We present fi ndings from a mixed methods study of
whether and how novice researchers understand and practice social scholarship
– a concept currently being debated in various disciplines – which seeks
to leverage social media affordances to create expanded sites for research
collaboration, peer review, dissemination, and evaluation of research impact.
We found that novice researchers focused almost exclusively on social
scholarship of discovery and much less on interdisciplinary, teaching, or applied
scholarship. Insights from this study will appeal to those interested in
examining the theory and design of graduate student learning and faculty
development.

Keywords: social media, professional learning, social scholarship, digital
scholarship