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Virtual worlds have the potential to provide a new environment in which to engage learners in constructionist activities. However, they were not designed for education and have features and affordances which are not found in traditional constructionist environments. These may limit the pedagogy in action and/or provide new opportunities with which to transform constructionist pedagogy in practice, but to date there has been no research on these issues. To address this, we explore constructionism in action in the virtual world Second Life. This is the first study to examine the theoretical alignment of pedagogy and technology in practice. An exploratory case study of a purpose-built constructionist learning experience was conducted. The experience was designed based on the theoretical alignment of pedagogy and technology and implemented with 24 postgraduate students over four weeks. Open non-directive interviews, chat logs, constructed artefacts, learners’ written reflections and observations were collected and analysed using the constant comparative approach. The findings provide insights into how learners engage in meaningful artefact construction, highlight the role of avatars and draw attention to the importance of the designed space. New opportunities for distributed constructionism are identified. We conclude that virtual worlds are effective environments for constructionist learning.

This study aims to apply the concept of affordances (J. Gibson, 1979) to the context of immersive virtual reality (VR). As a first step, this study investigates users' visual orienting and exploratory behaviors while they navigate a virtual house indexed by their gaze on virtual objects, viewing time, and time spent in different rooms in the environment. A content analysis of participants' (N = 22) video recordings of VR exploration was conducted based on second-by-second time frame. Results indicate that participants tend to orient to the virtual objects when they display novel or unusual information. Also, users’ exploratory behaviors were focused on the virtual objects that are related to available actions of the given virtual environment.

As algorithm-based services increase, social topics such as fairness, transparency, and accountability (FAT) must be addressed. This study conceptualizes such issues and examines how they influence the use and adoption of algorithm services. In particular, we investigate how trust is related to such issues and how trust influences the user experience of algorithm services. A multi-mixed method was used by integrating interpretive methods and surveys. The overall results show the heuristic role of fairness, accountability, and transparency, regarding their fundamental links to trust. Despite the importance of algorithms, no single testable definition has been observed. We reconstructed the understandings of algorithm and its affordance with user perception, invariant properties, and contextuality. The study concludes by arguing that algorithmic affordance offers a distinctive perspective on the conceptualization of algorithmic process. Individuals’ perceptions of FAT and how they actually perceive them are important topics for further study.

The aim of this study was to explore the effect of computer-mediated communication (CMC), as compared with traditional face-to-face instruction, on the acquisition of the request speech act. It also examined the differential impacts of synchronous and asynchronous CMC modes on pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic competences. The participants were 106 Iranian EFL learners who received the treatment via synchronous (Syn), asynchronous (Asyn), and face-to-face (F-F) instruction types for eight sessions during an intensive extracurricular program. During each of the treatment sessions, the participants received the metapragmatic instruction; watched computerized video clips on requests; and then were paired with a partner to discuss some prescribed questions and to create their own dialogues based on the given situations. During this phase, they were engaged in synchronous text-based chat, asynchronous text-based chat, or face-to-face discussion, based on their group assignment. Prior to and after the treatment, the written discourse completion test (WDCT) pretest and post-test were administered. The data analysis by an ANCOVA and a series of t-tests showed the superiority of CMC-oriented instruction over F-F instruction. While no significant difference was found between Syn and Asyn groups in their post-test performance, they performed differentially on some measures of pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic competences. The findings have pedagogical implications for EFL teachers, practitioners, and courseware designers to use CMC affordances for delivering pragmatics instruction.

This article explores the dynamics of collaborative learning in the classroom from the perspective of the commonalities and interdependence in the degree of physiological activation from the sympathetic nervous system (i.e., sympathetic arousal) of group members. Using Empatica E4 wristbands, electrodermal activity-to derive arousal-was measured in 24 high school students working in groups of three (i.e., triads) during two runs of an advanced physics course. The participants met three times a week over six weeks for lessons of 75?min each. Most of the time (?60-95% of the lesson) the triad members were at different arousal levels, and, when they were on the same level, it was mainly the low arousal (or deactivated) level. Less than 4% of the time were the triad members simultaneously in high arousal. Possible within-triad arousal contagion cases (71.3%) occurred mostly on a one-to-one basis and with a latency from within a few seconds up to 10?min, but usually within 1?min. This study supports the view that only small parts of group work are collaborative, as far as the synchronicity and coordination which collaboration presupposes. Although exploratory, results also illustrate the affordances of physiological measures to characterize collaborative processes. (DIPF/Orig.)

Emotionally-responsive chatbots are marketed as agents with which one can form emotional connections. They can also become weak ties in the outer layers of one's acquaintance network and available for social support. In this experiment, which was designed to study the acquaintance process, we randomly assigned 417 participants into three conditions: face-to-face (FTF) chat with a human, online chat with a human, and online chat with a commercially-available, emotionally-responsive chatbot, Replika. After a 20-min getting-acquainted chat, participants reported their affective state and relational evaluations of the chat. Additionally, all chats were recorded and text analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program. In all conditions, participants reported moderate levels of positive emotions and low levels of negative emotions. Those who chatted FTF with a human reported significantly more negative emotions than those who chatted with a bot. However, those who chatted with a human also reported more homophily with and liking of their chat partner and that their partner was more responsive. Meanwhile, participants had fewest conversational concerns with the chatbot. These findings have implications for future computer-mediated interaction studies: conversations with chatbots appear to have different affordances and effects on chatter enjoyment and conversational concerns in getting-acquainted contexts. These results may help designers improve reception and marketability for chatbots in consumer markets.

With production increases and new affordances offered by wearable devices, it is surprising that individuals resist the adoption and use of smartwatches. This study examines the barriers to smartwatch adoption to understand why individuals avoid smart technologies. To more fully understand this phenomenon, we draw from reactance theory, which suggests that individuals will react against efforts that infringe upon their perceptions of freedom. Specifically, we develop a research model that explores how perceptions of value incongruence and social influence affect perceptions of freedom restriction, affecting perceptions of intrusiveness of the smartwatch and result in status quo behaviors towards the smartwatch. We test this model by surveying individuals who do not own smartwatches about their perceptions. We contribute to research with new applications of reactance theory to explain smartwatch status quo. We offer implications for practitioners on how to mitigate the status quo behaviors towards smartwatches.

Although social media offer adolescents new possibilities for emotion regulation, little is known about how adolescents use different platforms to this end. This study adds to the emotion regulation literature and affordances-of-technologies perspective by describing whether and how adolescents use different social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, 9Gag, and blogs) for emotion sharing and how technical, social, and contextual factors influence these practices. In-depth interviews with 22 adolescents aged 14 to 18 show that adolescents share emotions on multiple of these platforms. Although the different platforms have similar affordances, their social norms clearly differ and influence adolescents’ online behavior. Facebook statuses, Instagram, and Snapchat are mostly used for sharing positive emotions, if emotions are shared at all. Twitter and Messenger, on the other hand, are also used for sharing negative emotions, albeit for different reasons.

This study investigates technology dependence associated with the work-related use of mobile social networking (MSN) by salespeople. A scale for maladaptive technology dependence behaviors (MTDB) is developed and empirically validated using survey data from 242 mid-level sales managers in the US. Personal and job-related antecedents, as well as consequences of MTDB for sales outcomes, are also examined. Results suggest that emotional attachment to MSN and perceptions of its greater affordances for task accomplishment may lead to maladaptive behaviors of overreliance on MSN for job completion, blind trust, cognitive absorption and dysfunctional use. These associations increase in organizations with competitive psychological climate. Findings also show that using MSN for prospecting does not lead to maladaptive dependence, as opposed to using it for customer relationship maintenance. Salespeople using MSN for relationship maintenance exhibit more maladaptive behaviors if they experience work-related role stress. Finally, salespeople who exhibit MTDB are less likely to complete their assignments and participate in teamwork. These findings provide tools for organizations to develop technology use policies, design sales training, and enhance the work environment. Future studies can examine dependencies on others types of technologies (CRM, marketing automation, etc.), and in other contexts (online retailing, social media analytics, etc.)

Participation of individual workers (i.e., solvers) is critical to the viability and success of crowdsourcing platforms. Past literature indicates that gamification artifacts, by intriguing solvers’ intrinsic motivations, can encourage solvers’ participation in crowdsourcing. Nevertheless, little research has systemically theorized how intrinsic motivations mediate the relationship between gamification artifacts and crowdsourcing participation. Based on the motivational affordance perspective and related literature, this study theorizes gamification artifacts i.e., point rewarding and feedback giving, and identifies four intrinsic motivations (i.e., self-presentation, self-efficacy, social bonds, and playfulness) in the context of crowdsourcing. It then hypothesizes the mediating effects of the four intrinsic motivations on the relationships between the two gamification artifacts and crowdsourcing participation. It tests the model using survey data from 295 solvers in a large crowdsourcing platform. Results show that self-presentation, self-efficacy and playfulness positively mediates the impacts of two gamification artifacts on solvers’ participation. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.

Social networking sites (SNSs) offer unprecedented opportunities for broadcasting self-disclosure. However, questions regarding when and why people tend to post distressing information on SNSs have received insufficient scholarly attention. Rooted in the functional approach of self-disclosure, we investigated how perceived SNS affordances (i.e., network accessibility, visibility, and visibility control) are associated with broadcasting distress disclosure tendencies on SNSs via disclosure goals. Working with 398 college students, we found that people disclose distress on SNSs for seeking support and expressing emotions. However, anticipated negative evaluations can lessen the associations between disclosure goals and distress disclosures on SNSs. Furthermore, the results revealed that network accessibility was indirectly associated with distress disclosures on SNSs via support-seeking goals while visibility control was indirectly related to distress disclosures via emotion expression goals. The indirect effects indicate the importance of studying disclosure goals when investigating the associations between affordances and disclosures. Together, this study advances our understanding regarding online distress disclosures by integrating SNS affordances, disclosures goals, and subjective risks.

Ephemerality, a technical innovation in social media, aims to design a system to erase communication artifacts after a short period. Ephemerality-based affordances are attracting growing attention as they allow users to maintain a delicate balance between information disclosure and privacy protection in the social media world. Despite its high practical relevance, few studies have provided insight into how ephemerality-presented information disclosure impacts users' self-disclosure intentions on the basis of a cost-benefit trade-off. This study sought to fill this gap under the structure of privacy calculus theory to determine the influence of ephemerality on the tension between information-privacy concerns and information disclosure. This study developed a theoretical model integrating perceived ephemerality and tested it using online survey data collected from 302 “Visible to Friends” active Chinese users in eight Chinese universities. The results confirmed that individuals' perceptions of the ephemerality of technology features significantly impacted users’ self-disclosure intentions by counteracting perceived severity and perceived intrusion concerning privacy risks. Furthermore, perceived ephemerality was shown to positively predict the constructs of benefits, including perceived usefulness and perceived controllability, to significantly affect self-disclosure intentions. Results are validated in an ephemeral social media context, WeChat Moments, and the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Many researchers who study the impact of computer-based assessment (CBA) focus on the affordances or complexities of CBA approaches in comparison to traditional assessment methods. This study examines how CBA approaches were configured within and between modules, and the impact of assessment design on students' engagement, satisfaction, and pass rates. The analysis was conducted using a combination of longitudinal visualisations, correlational analysis, and fixed-effect models on 74 undergraduate modules and their 72,377 students. Our findings indicate that educators designed very different assessment strategies, which significantly influenced student engagement as measured by time spent in the virtual learning environment (VLE). Weekly analyses indicated that assessment activities were balanced with other learning activities, which suggests that educators tended to aim for a consistent workload when designing assessment strategies. Since most of the assessments were computer-based, students spent more time on the VLE during assessment weeks. By controlling for heterogeneity within and between modules, learning design could explain up to 69% of the variability in students' time spent on the VLE. Furthermore, assessment activities were significantly related to pass rates, but no clear relation with satisfaction was found. Our findings highlight the importance of CBA and learning design to how students learn online. Computer Based Assessment (CBA) is increasingly used in higher education.The study unpacks how educators on 74 undergraduate modules designed CBA.The analysis using fixed effect models suggests that educators implement vastly different learning designs (LD).Assessment activities strongly influence students' time spent on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).LD explains 69% of variability in students' time spent on the VLE.

As mobile phones have evolved into Smartphones, they have become more than simple communication tools; transforming into personal assistants, entertainment devices and information gateways. There is a need to understand how this rapid transformation and complexity of Smartphone uses have impacted on users relationship with their phones. This study presents a thematic analysis of three focus group discussions around attitudes and experiences of owning and using Smartphones. Themes that emerged included a bifurcation in attitudes to Smartphones as simultaneously materialistic objects, and ones which users express anthropomorphic and sentimental views about. Participant accounts reflected the evolution of Smartphones from functional communication devices, to informational and recreational tools. Participants discussed using Smartphones to alleviate boredom and that device usage had become habituated for some users. However, context determined Smartphone use with some participants using them to feel secure while away from familiar settings. Participant accounts provide rich insights into different Smartphones uses and infer numerous implications for understanding why some users develop strong psychological attachments to them. Findings also imply that users may not be attached to the device itself, but rather the affordances on offer. The implications of these findings, for example in the assessment of Smartphone addiction, are discussed. Qualitative account of young people's attitudes and experiences of smartphone use.Smartphone described simultaneously in materialistic and anthropomorphic terms.Smartphones help users feel secure when away from their familiar, home setting.Sheds light on reasons why some people may become attached to their smartphones.

Previous work on social network sites (SNSs) has extensively examined Facebook use. Grounded in the scholarship of social capital and social relationship maintenance, we examined international students’ participation with Facebook versus a SNS in their home-country (Renren or Cyworld). We anticipated that social network building on Facebook would be driven by desires to expand bridging social capital, whereas SNS use on Renren/Cyworld would function to maintain existing bonds. A survey of 335 Chinese and Korean students in the U.S. showed that when given multiple choices of SNSs, the affordances of SNSs are sustained across cultures, networks, and sites. We conclude with thoughts as to how our findings might be used to help people manage social relationships across two different sites in their home country and new country of residence.

Adolescents are active users of Facebook and are spending an increasing amount of their daily time on its use. Several recent studies have advocated the need to integrate Facebook use into our existing educational practices. However, at the same time, scholars and educators are wary of the fact that intensive Facebook use (IFU) may not translate into educational uses, learning outcomes and academic well-being. IFU represents an important service use concept that evaluates any user's emotional attachment, connectivity and integration with Facebook use. To address this gap, the present study investigated the role of different Facebook U&G and educational affordances in predicting the IFU among adolescents. A cross-sectional study with 942 adolescent Facebook users from India was conducted. The study results suggest that content U&G did not, while process, technology and social U&G did, play significant roles in predicting IFU. In comparison to Facebook U&G, different educational affordances, namely perceptions of Facebook use in Mathematics, Science and English education, perceptions of its formal use in classrooms and academic information seeking and sharing, did not significantly predict IFU. The study concludes with various theoretical and practical implications for scholars, educational solution developers, pedagogical experts as well as education policy makers.

This study examines contemporary gatekeeping as it intersects with the evolving technological affordances of social media platforms and the ongoing negotiation of professionalized journalistic norms and routines in contentious politics. Beginning with a corpus of just over 4.2 million Tweets about the racially charged Ferguson, Missouri protests, a series of network analyses were applied to track shifts over time and to identify influential actors in this communicative space. These models informed further analyses that indicated legacy news organizations and affiliated journalists were least present and only marginally engaged in covering these events, and that other users on Twitter emerged as far more prominent gatekeepers. Methodological considerations and implications about the importance of dialogic and reciprocal activities for journalism are discussed in building on previous theorizing.

Humans of New York (HONY) is a popular Facebook page which has more than 13 million fans. The posts on HONY are termed as networked narratives, which are stories told on social media with technology affordances enabling story co-construction between the story tellers and the readers. A content analysis ( N = 390) was conducted to examine the popular topics on networked narratives and its impact on social media engagement as represented by the number of likes, the number of shares, and likability of characters featured in the post. Results revealed a set of topics of the networked narratives were associated with social media engagement. Also, the tone and the length of posts were associated with social media engagement.

Collaborative groupwork is a key creativity tool in industry. Digital Creativity Support Systems (CSS) have become a critical catalyst of distributed creative processes. Under laboratory conditions, this interaction design study uses an experiment to investigate the impact of apparent icon finishedness as a social affordance for elaborative dialogue, and enhanced creativity. The experiment examines the idea generation processes of 37 pairs of active managers using a synchronous CSS. Apparent finishedness is a purely presentational factor - it is completely separate from the actual substance of an idea. The results show that presenting ideas with icons made of sketchy natural lines with low perceived finishedness encourages elaborative dialogue and creativity. Low perceived finishedness icons functioned as a social affordance - they afforded the social behaviour of building upon each other's ideas as well as more creative idea generation. This is the first study to quantitatively examine the perceived finishedness of icons. This study shows that minor changes in visual treatments significantly impact creative processes and outcomes. As co-constructive interaction is central to many collaborative behaviours across working and learning, this study has clear implications for the subtle encouragement of co-construction in computer-mediated communication. Presenting ideas with icons made of sketchy lines encourages elaborative dialogue and creativity.The results of a lab experiment prove the positive effects of visual affordance for collaboration.Minor visual changes in a collaborative interface significantly improve creativity

Recent research has demonstrated that individuals fall victim to phishing because of the joint and independent influence of email habits and cognitive heuristics. Much of this work has, however, ignored the influence of smartphones and mobile devices-which are now utilized by the majority of the U.S. population-and it remains to be seen whether the manifestation of habits or heuristic processing is heightened on such devices. To this end, the current research conducted simulated phishing attacks that varied in the cues available in the email and examined how the devices used by subjects to access it influenced the outcome of the attack. The overall results point to a moderating role of device affordances on email habits rather than heuristic processing. It appears that the load of emails a person reads potentiates mobile device usage and thusly leads to the strengthening of email habits. The presence of graphical cues in the email heightened heuristic processing but this was not significantly enhanced on mobile devices. The overall results have important implications for our understanding of the affordances of smartphones, and how they enhance the likelihood of online deception. Research examines if smartphones influence cognitive processing or email habits.Results point to email habits being moderated by smartphone use.Device use potentiate habits and ultimately lead to phishing victimization.

Creativity has been of research interest to psychologists dating back many decades, and is currently recognized as one of the essential skills needed to succeed in our complex, interconnected world. One medium that has affordances to assess and support creativity in young people is video games. In this paper, we briefly discuss the literature on video games and creativity and provide an example of current work being done relative to measuring creativity in the context of a game called Physics Playground using stealth assessment. To validate the stealth assessment of creativity, we conducted a one-group pretest-posttest study with 167 8th and 9th graders from a K-12 school in Florida. Results suggest that our stealth assessment of creativity is valid (i.e., our stealth assessment estimate significantly correlated with our external performance-based measures of creativity). Additional analyses revealed that creativity (i.e., estimated using our stealth assessment of creativity) significantly predicts in-game performance (e.g., number of levels solved), game enjoyment, and learning of physics content. We conclude with a discussion of future directions in this line of creativity research.

Interactive digital game play is a popular activity of childhood. The current study examined metacognitive affordances provided by digital games for children 6- to 10-years-old. Fifteen games from five different genres were coded for features of interactivity, including level-of-control, feedback, and adaptivity. Parents reported time their child spent on each of these games, and children completed a measure of metacognitive awareness. Children's preference for different gaming environments were also examined. Results indicated that exposure to games high in interactive features was positively associated with children's metacognitive awareness. However, exposure to games with fewer interactive features was unrelated to metacognitive awareness. Game preferences did not differ by age or sex. These results support the hypothesis that different digital games provide children with differential opportunities for metacognitive experience and have implications for future research investigating interactive media and children's cognitive development during middle childhood.

The extent of a social media public figure's success often rests on their ability to establish a personal connection with audiences. Drawing from decades of prior research on parasocial interaction and a typology of personal branding affordances developed in our prior work, this study examined the extent to which a platform's perceived affordances might predict such parasocial interaction. Results supported this association and identified social presence and media multiplexity as independent mediators of it, consistent with prior work in interpersonal communication and technology research. Moreover, the pattern of findings validated audience involvement and locus of promotion as key dimensions delineating the personal branding affordances typology, with multiplatform participatory affordances fostering the most intimate perception of public figures by audiences (i.e., with heightened social presence, media multiplexity, and parasocial interaction).

Information is now commonly consumed online, often displayed in conjunction with self-expression affordances (i.e., likes, votes) that create a sense of “self as source.” Sundar et al.’s (2015) theory of interactive media effects (TIME) conceptualizes such affordances as source interactivity (SI). An experiment examined medium effects of SI as well as message effects on attitudes. It tracked selective exposure to attitude-consistent vs. –discrepant political messages, to capture confirmation bias, and manipulated SI presence (affordance to up-vote or down-vote articles present or absent) as within-subjects factors. SI use and attitude change were captured. SI reduced selective exposure to attitude-consistent content. However, use of SI affected attitude reinforcement independently as well. Hence, users shaped their own attitudes both by selectively reading articles and expressing their views through SI. Directions for theory development are offered.

With a growing prevalence of social media use worldwide where individuals share varying aspects of their lives, this paper focuses on how individuals with a chronic illness use these communications platforms to discuss their health. This paper aims to provide a qualitative approach to understanding the connection between the technical features offered by Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and the therapeutic affordances experienced. Semi structured interviews were carried out with 38 participants living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease who use Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram for health-related support. Interview transcripts were analysed systematically to draw connections between platform features and therapeutic affordances. The interview data was thematically coded through an adapted SCENA Model to infer therapeutic affordances, while content analysis identified the technical features discussed. Our findings indicate that most participants (79%) use more than one social media platform for health-related discourse and that features on the platforms offer different therapeutic affordances. Facebook Groups’ privacy settings affording self-presentation as individuals feel comforted that other people cannot see what they post, while hashtags afford connectivity on Twitter and Instagram, but not on Facebook. This approach enabled the authors to identify similarities and differences between social media platforms and their technical features.

In this mixed-method study, we examined the design and potential impact of a mixed-reality integrated learning environment (MILE) in providing the simulated and immersive teaching practice for university teaching assistants. A virtual-reality-based learning platform integrating a Kinect-enabled sensorimotor interface was developed and used by twenty three university teaching assistants. Qualitative and quantitative data on the participants' participation behaviors, engagement, and perceptions were collected via video/screen recording, interview, surveys on teaching self-efficacy and sense of presence, and eye tracking. Results indicated that the MILE reinforced sense of presence and supported the performance of an ample range of virtual teaching tasks/actions with avatar-embodied live gesturing. The environmental fidelity in the mixed-reality learning spaces, the design and arrangement of virtual agents and avatars, and the affordance of embodied gesturing and walking are salient MILE design features that affected participants' sense of presence and their virtual teaching performance. A mixed-reality-integrated learning environment was used for teaching training.The environment reinforced sense of presence and immersive training experience.The environment supported virtual teaching actions and embodied live gesturing.Three salient design features of the environment emerged from the data.

Cyber-volunteering behavior through social media is becoming popular among nongovernmental organization (NGO) members. Cyber-volunteering activities have become more aggressive with the availability of social media in recent years. The objective of this paper is to discuss voluntary behavior in fulfilling NGO social missions through social media usage based on affordance theory. There is substantial literature discussing social media affordances in the context of enterprise organization, but there has been less literature discussing the activities of NGOs in social media. Hence, seven key affordances derived from the enterprise organization were used in the context of NGO working behavior, visibility, editability, persistence, virtual collaboration, synthetic representation, individualized, and collective. This research applies a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews with 25 NGO members from seven selected Islamic NGOs in Malaysia that are active in different fields of Islamic education. The interviews focus on social media affordances that have influenced the execution of social missions in the NGOs. Data was analyzed using thematic coding based on the seven identified key social media affordances. The results suggest that the social media affordances related to cyber-volunteering are achieved through promoting, training, fundraising, knowledge sharing, and problem-solving activities. These affordances are highly influenced by cyber-volunteering behavior through work culture and personal privacy. The collective, individualized, and visibility affordances are most associated with cyber-volunteering behavior, followed by persistence, virtual collaboration, and editability, and synthetic representation is found to be the least. Display Omitted Seven affordances identified associated to social media in relation to NGO.The affordances identified are related to the usage and features of social media.The affordances are also associated to the activities by the NGO members.The affordances affect the privacy and work culture behavior of NGO members.Collective, individualized, and visibility are the most relevant affordances to NGO.

Mobile technology has become popular worldwide with a broad range of users, including students from all levels of education. Although the impact of mobile technology in classrooms has been extensively studied, less is known about teachers' perceptions of how mobile technology impacts in learning and its relation to Applications (Apps) use in the classroom. This state of affairs is problematic since we know that teachers' perceptions have a great influence on their teaching practices. This study used survey data gathered from 102 teachers of 12 different primary schools in Spain. The questionnaire collected data about teachers' individual information, teachers' perceptions on the impact of mobile technology in learning, and use of a set of selected Apps in the classroom. Findings suggest that facilitating access to information and increasing engagement to learning are the two main impacts of mobile technology in the classroom. Findings also show that the choice of Apps is related to the teachers' perception of how mobile technology impacts in learning. Findings could help teachers to take advantage of the combination of affordances of mobile technology and Apps that actually improve some aspects of learning practice. Mobile learning provides access to information and new ways of learning.Apps more used are Content Learning over Informational and Learning Skills.Users of Learning and Informational Skills Apps perceive higher learning impacts.

The literature has two competing perspectives on Facebook: One claims positive effects of Facebook on individuals, while the other suggests detrimental effects. The contrasting perspectives are due to the technology-deterministic approach centering on Facebook "use" as opposed to non-use, neglecting the idiosyncrasies of members and the roles of their context. Accordingly, this study focuses on current college student members and enhancement of their self-efficacy for career development in Facebook, given college students' loyalty to Facebook and their increasing financial uncertainties in the US. We posit that Facebook provides two affordances (i.e., affordance of virtual people watching and affordance of garnering social support), which in turn increase chances of two important sources of self-efficacy-i.e., gaining vicarious experience and social persuasions. An online survey with 260 college student Facebook members was conducted; the results of data analyses corroborated our hypotheses. These findings identify the unique affordances of Facebook for self-efficacy development, thereby expanding the social cognitive theory by demonstrating that technology affordances translate into effective sources of self-efficacy. Facebook provides two affordances: virtual people-watching and social support.Virtual people-watching positively influences observational learning.Observational learning positively influences self-presentation.Self-presentation enhances students' career development self-efficacy (CDSE).Social support increases social relatedness, which in turn enhances CDSE.

A literature review was conducted to describe the knowledge and skills teachers need for using technology to foster early literacy development in kindergarten classrooms. The study was guided by three research questions, concerning 1) effects of specific technologies, 2) effective design characteristics and 3) effective use of such applications. The sample consisted of 46 articles that reported on the affordances of technology in relation to kindergartners' early literacy development. The review included studies on electronic books, computer-based training programs, technology-rich literacy curricula, assistive technology, and other educational media and sources for technology-rich literacy education. The following software applications were found effective in fostering kindergartners' early literacy development: Electronic storybooks, computer-based phonics and vocabulary training programs, software applications that enable children to 'read and write', software applications that are designed for tutorial activities, and educational television programs with a narrative format. Few of the studies reviewed provided specific information about effective design characteristics of such applications or concrete guidelines for using technology in developmentally appropriate fashion in kindergarten. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Specific types of software were found effective for fostering early literacy.Only very general guidelines were found for using early literacy technology.Limited research is available to guide teacher technology choices for early literacy.Specific guidelines for teacher use of technology for literacy in kindergarten are needed.

We assessed the effects of a sexist hashtag on the social media site Twitter.The affordances of anonymity and interactivity were manipulated.Anonymous participants reported more post-task sexism than identifiable participants.Writing sexist tweets (higher interactivity) led to more sexism than retweeting.Higher interactivity led to more negative evaluations of female job candidates. Sexism and sexual harassment are not uncommon in online environments such as social networking sites, forums, and video games. This experiment investigated whether users' anonymity and level of interactivity with sexist content on social media influenced sexist attitudes and offline behavior. Participants (N=172) used a Twitter account that was anonymous or had personally identifying details. They were asked to share (i.e., retweet) or write posts incorporating a sexist hashtag. After exposure, participants completed two purportedly unrelated tasks, a survey and a job hiring simulation in which they evaluated male and female candidates' resumes. Anonymous participants reported greater hostile sexism after tweeting than nonanonymous participants. Participants who composed sexist tweets reported greater hostile sexism and ranked female job candidates as less competent than those who retweeted, although this did not significantly affect their likelihood to hire.

Approach and avoidance are typical behavioral tendencies of consumers when exposed to a new environment. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, this study investigates the effects of atmospheric cues on consumers' approach and avoidance intentions in social commerce environments. We elucidate the interaction mechanisms between atmospheric cues (task, aesthetic and social cues) and consumers' evaluations through the lens of perceived affordances. Then we investigate how three types of perceived affordances (utilitarian, hedonic and connective) influence consumers’ approach and avoidance behavioral intentions. A three-way factorial experiment provides strong evidence that task cues, aesthetic cues and social cues elicit perceived utilitarian, hedonic and connective affordances, respectively. Approach behavioral intentions were affected by all three types of perceived affordances, yet avoidance intentions were only affected by perceived utilitarian and hedonic affordances. This paper discusses both theoretical and practical implications for social commerce research.

The effects of immersive technology on learning have been mixed. It is therefore important to determine the factors that affect when and why immersive technologies are and are not effective. One psychological construct proposed to explain why higher levels of immersive technology may lead to better learning compared to lower immersion is presence, or the subjective feeling of “being there.” Participants completed a spatial task in three levels of immersive technology, reported the amount of presence felt, and completed learning outcome tasks measuring three levels of spatial knowledge: landmark, route, and survey knowledge. The relationships between the level of immersive technology, presence, and spatial learning outcomes were examined. The highest immersion condition led to better performance on landmark, route, survey, and overall spatial knowledge, and also led to higher levels of presence. Higher presence led to better performance on route, survey, and overall spatial knowledge. However, presence only significantly mediated the relationship for survey knowledge, and effects of low vs. medium immersion condition on learning and presence often did not differ, despite the devices having largely different affordances. The relationship between immersion and learning is thus complex, depends on type of learning, and may be mediated by both presence and non-presence effects on cognitive load.

Privacy amid rapid digitalization of medical records is a critical ingredient to the success of electronic-based health service. This paper explores the potential roles of privacy attitudes concerning medical data, based on a large set of a national sample data (n = 2638) from the U.S. Health Information National Trend Survey. We examine the ways in which privacy concern and confidence are (a) mediated through one's interest in sharing information with health professionals and (b) moderated by one's medical condition and the reliance on Internet. Evidence from this study provides insights into the factors shaping health-related engagement in information technologies, helping us argue that privacy is a key predictor. Discussion offers interpretations of how people's perceived need of medical data will mediate privacy concern, contextualizing the affordances of health technologies in future algorithmic applications.

When deciding what to disclose online, social network site users weigh benefits against risks—for example, expectations of social support versus privacy concerns. Users are also influenced by a social network site's affordances. In this study, we applied the privacy calculus model to investigate whether and how affordances affect self-disclosure. Specifically, we examined N = 128 users' reactions to the affordance of association, which was embedded in two features in a 2 × 2 experimental design. Our mock-up social network site either did or did not contain cues about (a) the number of other users disclosing and (b) their similarity to the individual participant. Results showed that individual self-disclosure was slightly and significantly related to users' expectations of support and privacy concerns. Other users' disclosure and their similarity increased self-disclosure. The effect of similarity was partially mediated by expectations of support and privacy concerns. Code and data can be found at https://osf.io/8bsem .

We experimentally test the psychological effects of sharing news on Facebook.Involvement in news content depends on feedback received on shared news stories.Receiving valuable comments on shared news content leads to a sense of influence.Seeking others' opinions increases involvement more than sharing one's own opinion.Tagging friends in shared news content leads to feeling a sense of community. Social networking sites such as Facebook provide new ways of sharing news stories that allow users to act as opinion leaders in their networks, encourage discussion, and potentially increase their involvement in current events. This study identifies the particular features of Facebook that facilitate the discussion of news and tests their effects on involvement and feelings of influence. Participants (N=265) in a 3 (Broadcast level: news feed vs. wall post vs. direct message)i?3 (Elaboration: opinion vs. question vs. no comment)i?2 (Involving-friends: tag vs. no tag) between-subjects factorial experiment were randomly assigned to share a story from a news website on Facebook. Results show that user involvement in the news content depends on the social affordances of the site, particularly those that allow for audience customization and those that drive network feedback. Asking the network's opinions and targeting specific friends led to greater involvement in the news content. Discussion through comments led to a greater sense of influence and greater involvement for those sharing the news story. These findings highlight the importance of encouraging individuals to act as sources of information in their networks to drive engagement in current events in the changing news landscape.

Our study demonstrates the importance of satisfying people's need for competence.Challenging performance targets can lower perceived competence.The effect of a challenging target is stronger with controlling feedback. As Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become established tools for communication, organizations increasingly use computer-mediated work groups to support various business processes and find creative solutions to organizational problems. In such a context, groups' creative performance can greatly contribute to organizational success. Previous literature has examined the influence of various factors on different outcomes of group collaboration. However, mechanisms through which creativity can be improved, and how to design ICT's interfaces to increase creativity have received little attention. In this study, we aim to understand the effects of two specific motivational affordances, namely, performance targets and performance feedback, on people's perceived competence and creativity within the context of computer-mediated collaboration. Using computer-mediated idea generation as an instantiation of collaboration systems, we test the effects of performance targets and different types of feedback on people's perceived competence and creativity in a controlled laboratory experiment. Our results show that the difficulty of performance targets and the type of performance feedback interact, influencing people's perceived competence, which in turn influences their creativity in group collaboration. We conclude our study with a discussion of implications for the design of human-computer interfaces for computer-mediated idea generation.

We structurally model personality and communicative influences on SNS activity.Results support the hypothesized model of SNS motivations and activity.SNSs were primarily used to maintain connections rather than explore new ones.SNS affordances favor individuals who are already proficient communicators.These platforms thus enable the "rich to get richer," in communicative terms. Based on the notion that individual users would utilize Social Networking Sites (SNSs) in characteristic ways, we tested a structural model hypothesizing that personality traits, communicative and social variables, attitudes, and motives would affect level of SNS activity. Participants (n=674) completed measures of personality, communication apprehension, self-esteem, need for affiliation, attitudes, motives of SNS use, and level of SNS activity. Results offered support for the hypothesized model of SNS motivations and activity, illustrating that SNSs were primarily used to maintain relational connections with others. In addition, support was found for the contention that SNSs offer beneficial social tools for all individuals; however, this effect was highest for individuals already proficient in face-to-face social and communicative behaviors.

14 Convicted men were interviewed who created an online space to offend.This was an aid to sexual fantasy and for some a precursor to contact offending.The Internet facilitated the rapid acquisition of expertise in sexual grooming. The limited research on online sexual grooming has largely focused on the stages of grooming, typologies of offenders, or comparisons with people who download abusive sexual images of children. Little attention has been paid to Internet affordances and the role these might play in the offending behavior, the development of expertise and the avoidance of detection. This exploratory, qualitative grounded theory study involved interviews with 14 men convicted of online grooming. The analysis indicated that the Internet was used to create a private space within which to engage in purposive, sexual behavior with young people. This engagement was for all an aid to fantasy, and for some was a precursor to an offline sexual assault. The opportunities afforded by Internet platforms not only allowed access to young people but facilitated the rapid acquisition of expertise.

Previous research has often assumed social support as a unique affordance of close relationships. Computer-mediated communication alters the availability of relationally nonclose others, and may to enable additional sources or social support through venues like social networking sites. Eighty-eight college students completed a questionnaire based on their most recent Facebook status updates and the comments those updates generated. Items queried participants' perception of each response as well as the participants' relationship closeness with the responder. Individuals perceived as relationally close provide significant social support via Facebook; however, individuals perceived to be relationally nonclose provided equal social support online. While SNSs has not eroded the importance of close relationships, results demonstrate the social media tools may allow for social support to be obtained from nonclose as well as close relationships, with access to a significant proportion of nonclose relationships.

Ontological debates on affordances hinder research on technological affordances.Theories and conceptualizations of (technical) affordances have evolved over time.ANT-informed research allows a richer understanding of technological affordances. Ontological debates on the nature of affordances muddy the waters for interpreting, comparing, and critiquing research on technological affordances. The widespread use of affordances has naturalised the term, often masking the import of its evolving social science definitions. Diversity in applications of affordances across disciplines has led to calls to abandon the term altogether. Following an abridged survey of ontological debates about their general and more specific technological nature, I examine a selection of thematically linked and often-cited papers on technological affordances. I compare those with evolving social science theories of affordances and with various conceptualizations of technical affordances. Implications are discussed of ontological debates around subject-object and directions of agency for research on technological affordances for collaborative learning and co-creation of new knowledge. A rationale is posited for including actor network theory-informed research practices as a route toward richer understanding of technological affordances among the mesh of meaning making, knowledge sharing, and creation practices in networked teams' activities. Such rationales may shed further light on the extent to which technological affordances interact as in situ enablers, restrictors, and regulators in the knowledge production activities of distributed collaborative teams.

Social sharing is the act of communicating with others about significant emotional experiences.This is the first study to examine the use and effects of interpersonal media in social sharing.College students used the media for about 70% of their social sharing.They selected media whose affordances could meet their psychological needs.Social sharing through the media substantially impacted sharers' affect. Social sharing is the act of discussing significant emotional events with others. Using a daily diary methodology, this study investigated (1) patterns of media use for social sharing; and (2) effects of mediated social sharing on sharers' emotions. Results show that easily accessible and non-intrusive media (i.e., texting, Twitter) were more likely to be used for sharing positive than negative events, and intrusive and rich media (i.e., phone calling) were more likely to be used for sharing negative than positive events. Highly intense positive events were more likely to be shared via Twitter than low-intensity positive events, and highly intense negative events were more likely to be shared face-to-face than low-intensity negative events. Regardless of the medium used, people experienced increased positive affect after sharing positive events, and increased negative affect after sharing negative events. The results extend the social sharing framework, and advance the media use and effects literature.

Due to their prevalence and unique affordances, social networking sites such as Facebook have the potential to influence offline relationships. This study employed Baxter’s (2011) refinement of relational dialectics theory to explore Facebook’s role in emerging adults’ romantic relationships. Data from ten focus groups revealed that Facebook contributes to and provides a forum for discursive struggles related to the integration–separation, expression–privacy, and stability–change dialectics. Romantic partners are able to connect with each other and integrate their social networks on Facebook, but some struggle to maintain privacy and independence. As such, SNSs can be a site of and trigger for romantic conflict. Participants’ responses indicated that Facebook is interwoven with the experience of these dialectics due to its affordances, specifically the semi-public nature of relationship activities on Facebook and the shift in control over relational information from individuals to network members.