As a researcher my interest in continuous professional development (CPD) and collaborative social media spaces is informed by both my role as a student on the University of Edinburgh MSc in eLearning programme and my professional role as Social Media Officer for EDINA, a JISC National Data Centre based at the University of Edinburgh.
EDINA delivers online services and projects for the UK Higher and Further Education sector and my role involves providing support, advice and training to colleagues on the use of social media tools and emergent practice in related areas including crowd sourcing. Whilst most service users are students, many of those engaged in social media communities around EDINA activities are professionals such as librarians and academics. Delivery of training and current awareness, through social media and other channels, is a key element of supporting these stakeholders, making CPD practices an area of considerable interest.
My professional role sits within a fast changing domain without established authoritative sources of information. Social media is therefore a key part of my own CPD and I have significant personal interest in exploring my own and others’ practice. My particular interest in the role that Zones of Proximal Development and scaffolded learning play originates in the types of peer support I both directly engage in and attempt to foster in stakeholder communities through social media.
It is important to note that within the research questions examined here there is an implicit assumption that learning of some nature(s) takes place within social media; this is grounded in my professional and personal experience of these spaces. The extent, nature, and characteristics of learning processes around social media are the central concerns of this research, however, the assumption that learning takes place has also been deliberately tested through several questions, and through attempts to select a diverse group of perspectives in the interviews described.
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