Research
The Praxis of Learning Analytics for a Conceptual Open Textbooks System
Textbook costs have skyrocketed in recent years, putting them beyond the reach of many students, but there are options which can mitigate this problem. Open textbooks, an open educational resource, have proven capable of making textbooks affordable to students. There have been few educational development as promising as the development of open textbooks to lower costs for students. While the last five years have witnessed unparalleled interest and significant advances in the development and dissemination of open textbooks, one important aspect has, until now, remained unexplored: the praxis of learning analytics for extracting information regarding how learners interact and learn with open textbooks, which is crucial for their evaluation and iterative improvement process. Learning analytics off ers a faster and more objective means of data collection and processing than traditional counterparts, such as surveys and questionnaires, and—most importantly—with their capability to provide direct evidence of learning, they present the opportunity to enhance both learner performance and environment.
Real-Time Digital Content Analysis for a Networking Platform: An Overview of Digital Content Strategies based on a Case Study in Turkey
The research study provides an in-depth analysis of content types for an Islamic social networking platform to offer digital content strategies for conveying their messages across the target audience. As the starting point for engaging in social media usage is to monitor the social media presence of relevant people and organisations an analysis of 25 most connected Islamic leaders and groups in Turkey has been included in this research study. A real-time social media analysis has been used via means of Social Mention. Use of social media of these individuals and groups is not linear, but involves multiple stages of monitoring and utilising opportunities to learn, engage with others, and use this influence to share their message. This research study identified that the challenges of social media efforts of these groups related to the lack of production of video or multimedia products (such as Flash animation videos or short video clips) which attract most of the target audience, challenges in delivering the message in multilanguage. The analysis in this research study suggests that an Islamic social networking platform can contribute to reducing some of the key barriers to advocacy of these religious leaders. These barriers include the lack of time, resources, access to media and ability to exert adequate influence to create change.
