Introduction

Anecdotal evidence suggests that social media are effective as peer learning communities and are increasingly useful tools in continuous professional development (CPD). In this research I investigate these topics by examining the nature and efficacy of collaborative learning between professional participants within social media spaces.

Social media are online spaces where users are enabled to publicly connect, collaborate and share their own content. These spaces have seen rapid and widespread adoption and are currently experiencing particularly rapid growth in professional contexts. It appears that information exchange via social media may be valuable, that learning and sharing of experience is taking place, but there is little research into the processes and nature of such learning and any connection to CPD.

This research has been developed as a result of my own interest in social media and my sense, through personal and professional experience, that meaningful learning does take place in these spaces. Social media is still emerging as a subject of theoretical attention however Social Network Theory (e.g. Granovetter 1973, Erikson 1988), Actor-Network Theory (e.g. Latour 2005, Fenwick and Edwards 2010), Scaffolded Learning (Vygotsky 1978), and the concept of learning through Communities of Practice (Lave and Wenger 1991) and Affinity Spaces (Gee 2004) all provide useful theoretical groundings for understanding social media practice.

This work also draws on recent research into the use of social media in everyday life including the Pew Internet and American Life Project[1], the Oxford Internet Survey[2], and work on cultural and educational implications of new social technologies as investigated by researchers such as danah boyd, Mimi Ito, and Christine Greenhow. It must also be acknowledged that a great number of research projects into social media are ongoing, presenting particular challenges for understanding emerging theory, though highlighting the timely and relevant nature of this work.

[1] Pew Internet and American Live Project: http://pewinternet.org/

[2] Oxford Internet Survey: http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/oxis/

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