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Grounded in critical race theory and a burgeoning field of Black feminist technology studies, this article takes a techno-structural approach to understanding the promise and peril of internet technology to support activism, transformational resistance and counter-storytelling for Black college-agewomen. Qualitative interviews with 17 Black undergraduate women reveal multiple benefits of leveraging social media for racial justice, as well as the socioemotional and academic consequences of algorithmic racism. These findings support the need to develop new conceptual frameworks that can foster students' sociotechnical consciousness, and further equip them with the critical race techno-literacies needed to disrupt anti-Blackness both on and offline.

Objective: This paper examines the ways in which young people in Eastern Canada learn about menstruation and construct personal period pedagogies through embodied experiences and encounters with digital and social media. Design: A qualitative exploratory approach was undertaken to elicit the stories and voices of young people who menstruate. Menstruation is conceptualised as a deeply bio-social phenomenon and knowledge was understood as created, contested and negotiated across settings and contexts. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine university students (ages 19-23 years) in Eastern Canada as part of a pilot project informing a broader study about menstruation education and menstrual experiences. To be eligible for inclusion, participants were required to have experienced one menstrual cycle in the past 6 months and engaged with social media at least once per week. Setting: This project was conducted in a small University town in Maritime Canada. Results: Young people interviewed learned about menstruation through knowledges assembled from conversations family members and peers, educational and medical settings and content encountered on social and digital media. Three themes were developed from the analysis. The first two capture how young people actively try to 'Fill in the Gaps' left by conventional menstrual education approaches and therefore turn to informal and narrative knowledges circulating on social media in efforts to answer the question 'Am I normal'. The third theme describes how participants actively 'Balance Authority and Intimacy' when seeking menstrual information that resonates with their embodied experiences. Conclusion: Substantial gaps exist in the menstrual knowledges available to young people, particularly in relation to the embodied and emotional dimensions of having and managing a period. Digital and social media have the capacity to contribute to personal period pedagogies by acknowledging and exploring aspects of menstruation not adequately addressed in other contexts.

Since social media is increasingly pervasive in modern society, this bibliometric study aims to investigate its educational applications. Using the Scopus database, the bibliometric method analyses publications published between 2010 and 2022. The research indicates that student participation and ease of access are the two main benefits of using social media in the classroom. However, it also spreads misinformation and poses privacy and security risks. Articles that discussed how social media could be used in the classroom were found and organised using a bibliometric analysis based on their subject matter, year of publication, and authors. The research shows that between 2001 and 2020, there was a rise in the number of papers discussing the use of social media in the classroom. In addition, the top five countries in terms of annual publication output include the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia/India, and Canada. To further explore the connections between relevant articles, a co-citation network analysis was performed. Therefore, there must be strict rules and policies for using social media in education to address privacy and security concerns and the spread of false information.

This study discusses the findings of a survey designed to capture students' allocations of credibility to online materials resembling social media posts. The survey respondents were 1,019 undergraduate students at a medium-sized Canadian university. The students came from a range of programs and years of study in those programs. The survey instrument presented varying stimuli to students to see how their scores varied, and then asked students to explain their scoring. A number of significant dynamics emerged, such as the students' tendency to give lower credibility scores to poorly presented information, even if the information was factual, and to explain information by referring to previous knowledge. These dynamics varied little by area or year of study, which suggests that presentation should be recognized as a powerful heuristic in online credibility assessment. [Note: The publication year (2024) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct publication year is 2023.]

It is generally accepted that Canadian universities are less stratified than their southern neighbours, a hypothesis popularized in the mid-2000s and verified by subsequent comparative empirical research. Through this piece, we revisit the Canadian "flatness" hypothesis, embracing a more sociological definition of status hierarchies and using social media followers as a focal proxy for status. Despite our theoretically based skepticism, adoption of an alternative status proxy, and use of more recent data, our analyses validate the flatness hypothesis. We theorize the implications of these findings, and our novel approach, for the study of organizational stratification in higher education.

A lack of dialogue and collaboration between researchers and practitioners has been recognized in the field of second language education. Social media platforms such as X/Twitter have potential for connecting professionals in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) community and supporting professional learning and research; however, studies of TESOL professionals' uses of X/Twitter have only examined posts/tweets from a limited number of communities marked by hashtags/ keywords. This study identified 23 hashtags relevant to TESOL instruction for adults in the Canadian context and used them as search parameters to extract a data set of 4,833 posts/tweets. Eighty-two North American university professors who had published in the field of TESOL, were selected and searched for on X/Twitter. Upon locating 15 X/Twitter professor accounts, all 272 posts/tweets posted over the one-year period, were extracted. Two content analyses were conducted to infer the purpose of the posts/ tweets and identify the hashtags used by the professors. Results reveal considerable variation in the professors' and other TESOL community members' uses of X/Twitter and suggest that the two groups participate in rather separate X/Twitter communities. Recommendations for maximizing X/Twitter as a tool for professional learning and research and fostering the research-practice link are provided.

Swearing uses language forms that are taboo and potentially offensive. These are often used for emotional expression. Multilingual research shows that because the first language retains most emotional force (Dewaele [2004]. "The Emotional Force of Swearwords and Taboo Words in the Speech of Multilinguals." "Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development" 25 (2/3): 204-219; Pavlenko [2012]. "Affective Processing in Bilingual Speakers: Disembodied Cognition?" International Journal of Psychology 47 (6): 405-428), it is often the language of choice for swearing. Furthermore, swearing frequency and language preference are associated with different personality traits (Dewaele [2017a]. "Self-Reported Frequency of Swearing in English: Do Situational, Psychological and Socio-Biographical Variables Have Similar Effects on First and Foreign Language Users?" "Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development" 38 (4): 330-345). This study draws together these multilingualism research areas to investigate Persian immigrants' language choice for swearing, with reference to personality traits and socio-biographical factors, and in light of the Iranian cultural context. A mixed methods approach was adopted combining questionnaire and interview data. 204 Persian-English multilinguals residing outside Iran participated. Key findings revealed nuanced gender and personality dimensions. Specifically, women with higher Social Initiative (Extraversion) used English swearwords more frequently than Persian swearwords. Men who showed lower Emotional Stability (high Neuroticism) used Persian swearwords more frequently than English swearwords. There was also a positive relation between frequency of the use of Persian/English, self-rated knowledge in Persian/English, and Cultural Empathy and Open-mindedness. Semi-structured interviews provided deeper insight into these language choices. The study highlights how language preferences for swearing are shaped by both personality and socio-biographical factors in complex and nuanced ways.

Different patterns of sexting behaviors were examined to provide a more nuanced understanding of the context in which sexting occurs among adolescents. Participants were 1,000 Canadian adolescents (50.2% girls) between 12 and 18 years (M[subscript age] = 15.21, SD = 2.00) who completed measures of sexting, cyber bullying and victimization, problematic social media use, self-regulation, and demographics. Contrary to our hypotheses, three latent profiles of sexting represented the frequency of sexting rather than whether the sexting was consensual versus non-consensual or with a partner versus non-partner. Participants in the "moderate" and "high sexting" profiles representing one fifth of youth, reported less self-regulation, experienced more cyber victimization, and engaged in more cyber bullying and problematic social media use than those in the "no/low sexting" profile. Our findings support the normalcy approach to education, which considers some sexting among healthy developmental behaviors.

Based on the concept of Communities of Practice (CoP), this study describes the design and implementation of an online academic conference, Pedagogy and Practice in Technology Enhanced Language Learning (PPTELL) 2021, as a backdrop for exploring how to effectively promote the development of academic citizenship within the PPTELL CoP. To address this, we propose a framework focusing on four interrelated and interdependent dimensions: ubiquitous technologies, social practice, knowledge building, and academic citizenship. The conference utilized Zoom, Second Life, Slido, and several social media apps for various sessions and activities. A triangulation design was employed to analyze data from a post-conference online survey and observation notes. Our findings highlighted the effectiveness of the design in fostering academic citizenship, supported by multiuser virtual worlds like Second Life that enabled social engagement and knowledge building. We also discuss potential solutions to the challenges encountered, taking into account the nature of academic and higher education environments today.

This paper applies Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as well as data analysis to gain a better understanding of the existing perception on the education system. 45,278 tweets were downloaded and processed. Using a lexicon-based approach, examining the most frequently used words, and estimating similarities between terms, we detected that a predominantly negative perception of the education system exists in most of the analysed countries. A positive perception is identified in certain low-income nations. Men exhibit a more positive sentiment than women as well as a higher subjectivity in some countries. The countries that exhibit the most positive perceptions India, Canada, Pakistan, Australia, South Africa and Kenya are also those that manifest the highest subjectivity.

Student engagement promotes communication and knowledge acquisition, a concept that is challenged in the online environment as few opportunities exist to physically connect instructors and learners. Limited research suggests that social media is a tool that can positively impact student engagement in the online classroom, which is especially relevant in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic and learning formats transitioning online. Specifically, Twitter, a favoured format for sharing news, entertainment, and professional networking, may provide a platform and an opportunity for engagement between students and the instructor outside of the traditional, formal classroom setting. This research explores how postsecondary students enrolled in two introductory online self-directed asynchronous courses used social media tools for personal, professional, and academic purposes and how Twitter, as a course evaluation requirement, contributed to interaction and engagement. Relying on 104 pre- and 34 post-semester surveys, our analysis revealed that while Twitter was not used as widely as other social media platforms, a notable proportion of students shared positive perceptions about Twitter's use. Further analysis revealed some polarizing results with recommendations for successfully implementing Twitter in online learning.

Social media is an important part of all of our lives. However, there is no requirement for students in Manitoba to receive formalized education in regards to social media and its usage in the K-12 Canadian curriculum instruction. Such formalized education is extremely important for adolescents to understand the multiple facets of social media usage and engagement. These facets include and are not limited to exploring both the risks and the advantages associated with social media usage, consistent classroom programming with multiple members of the school team (guidance counsellor, school social worker and school psychologist), access to community resources, and management of social media to navigate their life online. When adolescents are safe online, they can use social media as an important tool to enhance their lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a drastic transformation to schooling for students throughout the world. During this period, a number of issues arose in our local, national and global communities, including the death of George Floyd and subsequent protests and rallies organised by #BlackLivesMatter. Living through and witnessing many social issues, coupled with the new and enduring pandemic, furthered our understandings of how young people were engaging with these topics without the structures of schools to support them. This article presents the results of a case study where youth aged 15-17 years shared their experiences and understandings about many social justice issues they were observing. The most significant learning around these issues for youth occurred informally through social media as opposed to in the classroom, reinforcing that schools are not ethical spaces from which to challenge institutional, structural and systemic barriers to justice. As such, this article discusses the potential for formal education to be transformed into an ethical and decolonising space to learn about and challenge injustice.

The current political climate is characterized by an alarming pattern of global democratic regression driven by authoritarian populist leaders who deploy vast misinformation campaigns. These offensives are successful when the majority of the population lack skills that would allow them to think critically about information in the political sphere, to identify misinformation, and therefore to fully exercise democratic citizenship. Political science has theorized the link between information and power and information professionals understand the cognitive decision-making process involved in processing information, but these two literatures rarely intersect. This paper interrogates the links between information literacy (IL) and the rise of authoritarian populism in order to advance the development of a new transtheoretical model that links political science (which studies power), information science, and critical pedagogy to suggest new paths for teaching and research. We call for a collaborative research and teaching agenda, grounded in a holistic understanding of information as power, that will contribute to achieving a more informed citizenship and promoting a more inclusive democracy.

If teachers have previously used technology (e.g., Learning Management Systems, document sharing, video-conferencing, gamification, social media or video-recording), they are likely to use it again. For second language teachers, sudden or planned-for online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in their using new or familiar technology to support their pedagogy, engage students, or provide authentic target language input. However, since online instruction was temporary, perhaps their use of certain technologies was temporary as well. To investigate L2 teachers' use of technology before, during, and (anticipatedly) after the pandemic, this study statistically analyzed data on technology use (n = 18 items) from a survey of Canadian L2 teachers (n = 203). It inquired about their use of Learning Management Systems, document sharing, video-conferencing, gamification, social media, and video-recording. Findings reveal that teachers' use of technology during the pandemic predicted their anticipated use post-pandemic. Teachers who used any of the six technologies during the pandemic were significantly more likely to anticipate using those same ones post-pandemic than those who did not. Despite the challenges of implementing these tools under these circumstances, these six technologies may remain as part of L2 teaching in the future.

In this article we explore how digital play as conducted through various social media and online meeting platforms facilitated resiliency and confidence building in children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using day-in-the-life methodology and narrative inquiry, we disseminate and examine observations collected on children aged 2-10 during lockdown in a Newfoundland neighbourhood. Children utilized platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Zoom to embrace their agentic digital play in ways that repurposed the platforms to fulfil life milestones and social needs otherwise impacted and disrupted by pandemic restrictions. Through a series of vignettes and interviews, our research not only examines how such digital play benefits children and their healthy development, but how parents reacted to and assisted with their children's agentic digital platform manipulation and how this provided positive benefits and enriching experiences to the entire family. We additionally explore the conflicts and tensions both children and parents encountered in securely implementing free play via digital platforms, including fears of excess screen-time, digital dependency, and online threats, all of which risk limiting children's ability to independently explore their creativity and identities through digital play if not handled sensitively. Despite the hurdles to implementing digital play, this study exposes why it is essential for families to navigate this online terrain; this study ultimately poses that digital play and online platforms not only were beneficial to maintaining and building family resilience during the pandemic but will be vital assets in sustaining resiliency and positive mindsets moving forward with pandemic recovery.

Studies have shown how digital communications impact administrators' work, but few have looked at the reputational risks to school administrators incurred through social media and digital communications. This Alberta case study looks at risk through Kasperson et. al's (1988) social amplification of risk framework for an exclusion room controversy. Twitter responses are analyzed and interpreted over a longitudinal, 5-year period. Despite school administrators' perceptions that risk might be generated on social media from community-led, grass-roots sources, traditional figures and agencies such as provincial news media and politicians appear more influential than school administrators, teachers, or parents in the Twitterverse. Implications are drawn for educational administrative behaviour and policy.

Teacher federations are often criticized as "roadblocks" to educational change. It is arguable, however, that their advocacy work has been paramount in securing safer return to school conditions across Canadian Educational jurisdictions. Utilizing Carter et al. (2010) framework of union responses to changing policy environments, this paper draws on publicly available documents and social media posts from March through to October of 2020 to examine the ways in which teacher unions in various Canadian contexts have responded to the issue of school reopening plans amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the paper analyzes the extent to which Canadian teacher unions have been able to move into the realm of union renewal as a means of building internal capacity and developing external networks to strengthen their public advocacy work.

Cooperative education is a form of work-integrated learning that includes both classroom study terms and paid work experience. Prior work has studied the benefits of cooperative education for students, employers, and academic institutions. In contrast, this article studies the impact of co-operative education on students' mental well-being. This is done by mining the Reddit social media platform, which includes, among many other topics, discussion communities for major U.S. and Canadian colleges. This analysis reveals that students report feelings of self-doubt resulting from a competitive co-op job market, especially when placed in entry-level jobs that are not related to their academic programs, and anxiety due to job interviews, especially when they coincide with exams and other academic deadlines. Additionally, recent discussions frequently point out cancelled work terms due to the COVID-19 pandemic, creating even more competition, financial hardship, and pressure to make alternate academic or employment arrangements.

This research addresses an identified need to further understand digital literacies (DL) and whether undergraduate students view DL as being important in their lives and in their learning. Using a cross-sectional survey sent to a stratified random sample of 2500 undergraduates representative of the overall student population at a medium-sized Canadian undergraduate university (survey response rate of 19.8%, N = 496), we explored the relationships between social media and digital literacies, particularly in different disciplinary contexts. We also explored the ways in which students report using social media in their university learning, showing that students value social media for collaboration, discussion, information finding and sharing, and practise activities related to their learning. Additionally, we examined the importance students place on DL, and how they perceive and rate their own abilities with digital literacies across three domains: procedural and technical, cognitive, and sociocultural. Findings illustrate an observable gap between the high importance that students place on digital literacies (including DL for social media) in their learning and their lives and the lack of coverage students reported receiving about these topics in their undergraduate education. Based on the study's findings, we discuss the specific ways that those in the higher education community can address this gap by engaging with and fostering development of digital literacies within specific disciplinary and professional contexts, and in interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary learning settings across the curriculum.

Critical media health literacy (CMHL) is concerned with identifying health-related messages in the media, acknowledging the potential effects on health behaviours, critically analyzing the content of the message, and the subsequent application of the message to one's health behaviours (Levin-Zamir & Bertschi, 2018). This exploratory research examined the CMHL skills of students (n = 120) in an entry-level, online asynchronous health and wellness course, by examining their ability to think critically about health-related themes presented in news media articles online and apply course-based knowledge during a Twitter event. Employing a content analysis of tweets from the event, students were found to illustrate CMHL skills when interacting with peers on Twitter, more than when directly assessing online news media. The findings suggest that the course curriculum be altered to include CMHL skills, to better equip students with the ability to identify accurate health information in the media.

There is evidence that cyberbullying is a problem that is increasing among children and adolescents. Although often occurring outside of school, its effects often find their way into the offices of principals and school mental health providers. This article reviews the issues involved in cyberbullying and its effects and points the way toward effective prevention and intervention strategies.

Analyzing the process of how students self-regulate their learning has always been an educational research interest due to changing demographics of Digital Native learners (Prensky, 2001). This research focuses on lesson planning adapted to the Self-Regulated Learning Strategies university students develop when learning English or French and the specific factors that play a major role in defining their Self-Regulation Learning Strategies and specifically the Metacognitive and Cognitive ones. Pintrich's (2000b) Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) standardized set of learning scales was used, and specifically the Cognitive and Metacognitive scales (CMS), each of which had a set of sub-scales of Rehearsal (ENS), Elaboration (ELB), Organization (ORG), Critical Thinking (PEC), and Metacognitive Self-Regulation (ARM). Data were collected from a sample of 491 students from universities in Turkey, Chile, Iran, and Canada. The research results indicated above mean average (M=3.4) use of each of the Self-Regulated Learning strategies by the students in the four institutions and slightly higher mean (M=3.5) for the Critical Thinking strategy. The results also indicated differences in the SRL strategies among the four institutions.

Growing interest in online learning has instructors looking for new ways to engage learners in asynchronous discussions. Building on experiences with hashtag use to connect on social media platforms, the purpose of this study is to investigate the contexts of hashtag use and its associated impact on learner engagement in asynchronous online discussions. In more detail, this mixed-methods case study will answer the following questions: 1) How and in what context do students use hashtags in online discussions? and 2) In what ways, if any, does the use of hashtags promote engagement in an online community? Findings suggest that while classifying and organizing course information was a strong motivator for tagging posts, hashtags were also used to connect to others in the learning community, express opinions, and encourage knowledge building. The results from our study contribute to a better understanding of engagement with and through hashtag use.

The research goals were to identify the key supports, barriers, and learning preferences related to the persistence of online Indigenous university students. Two Indigenous community meetings were held, 212 online Indigenous students were surveyed, 20 Indigenous students were interviewed, and a talking circle was held with six Indigenous university online students. The strongest converging factors related to persistence were: (1) cultural; recommendations for more Indigenous faculty and culture on campus; (2) social; good relationships with faculty and students, positive social environment, time management, and motivation; (3) cognitive; literacy, mathematics, and computer skills; and (4) physical; financial support, affordable housing, family support, and non-academic support at university. Students preferred embedded media, graphics, virtual environments, and games over other online design elements. Email was the preferred method to communicate with faculty. Texting, using social media, and virtual environments were preferred to communicate with other students. Most students had extensive experience with texting, Facebook, and chat, but far less experience with blogs, Twitter, or Wikis. Students liked group work but assigning one mark for group projects worked against social cohesion. Most students reported having the skills needed to complete online courses, with the exception of time management. The findings support a wholistic Indigenous human model of university persistence that includes intersecting social, cognitive, physical, and cultural components.

Instances of anxiety, depression, and loneliness are attaining epidemic-levels among college-age students. Self-determination theory suggests that such feelings are attributable to antagonistic situations hindering the satisfaction of an individual's basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a phenomenon that arose in the context of social media use and refers to the need to stay continually connected. Studies have shown that problematic social media and mobile technology use are related to feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness, and FOMO. Few studies have examined the relationships between these factors and academic performance. This study examines how Loneliness, FOMO, and the basic needs Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness, are related to Academic Performance. We find a positive influence of FOMO and a negative influence of Autonomy on Academic Performance. We discuss these and other findings.

In this study, we examined how technology impacts adolescents' perceptions of, and affective responses to solitude, as well as how adolescents' own motivations for solitude (shyness, affinity for aloneness) were related to these reactions. Participants were N = 437 adolescents (297 girls; M[subscript age] = 16.15 years, standard deviation (SD) = 0.50) who were presented with a series of hypothetical vignettes asking them to imagine themselves in the context of pure solitude (alone in their room with the door closed), as well as being physically alone but engaged in increasing levels of virtual social engagement, including passive (e.g., watching videos, scrolling, but no direct social engagement), active (e.g., texting), and audio-visual (e.g., Facetime) technology use. Following each vignette, participants reported their perceptions of being alone and positive/negative affective responses. We also measured general motivations for solitude (shyness, affinity for aloneness). Among the results, adolescents perceived themselves as less alone in vignettes depicting increasing virtual social engagement. Affective benefits of increased virtual engagement were also found (e.g., less loneliness/boredom/sadness, greater social connection/contentment). However, these effects were moderated by solitude motivations, with different patterns evident as a function of participant shyness and affinity for aloneness. Findings highlight the importance of considering the nature of adolescents' technology use when alone, as well as motivations for solitude, when considering links between solitude and well-being.

There is a dearth of research that examines legal literacy among pre-service teachers in Canada. Pre-service teachers' legal literacy refers to the knowledge level that teacher candidates in teacher education programs have with respect to educational law and policy and how it affects their preparation for entering the teaching profession. This article presents findings from an exploratory mixed-methods study that examined teacher candidates' (n=1731) reflections that detail observations of and experiences with legal issues while on practicum placements in a teacher education program in one southeastern Ontario university during three academic years. We identify teacher candidates' most frequently cited aspects of school law and policy, analyze teacher candidates' awareness of school laws and policies pertaining to those aspects, and explore their perceived preparedness to deal with legal issues occurring in their practicum placements. We conclude with a discussion of findings and research implications for teacher education programs.

Online training is rapidly being adopted by universities. It is important to contemplate how to effectively support the development of the techno-pedagogical skills of online instructors, particularly when using a synchronous delivery method. A descriptive research project with a convenience sample of 14 professors and lecturers was used to test a training sequence in using Web conferencing. A one-group, pre-test, post-test, pre-experimental design combining data collection through a questionnaire and observation was implemented. The questionnaire focused on the profile of the participants regarding their use of technology, social media, and cloud computing. Techno-pedagogical skills were observed in 10 simulated situations. Surprisingly, participants whose profile indicated high access to technology and social media did not perform any better than those with less access. The use of several cloud-computing services was conducive to a higher score when observing more inclusive simulated situations. To provide effective support to online instructors, we recommend they be given the necessary training to ensure efficient and effective performance and prepare them for switching from in-class teaching to online instruction while taking all challenges into account.

Youth today spend a tremendous amount of time with digital media. The purpose of the present study was to estimate developmental associations between screen media use between the ages of 15 and 17 and corresponding changes in prosocial behavior. Participants (N = 1,509) were part of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a population-based study of children born in the province of Quebec, Canada. Youth self-reported internet and video game use and television or movies/DVD viewing, as well as prosocial behavior at the ages of 15 and 17. Analyses were conducted using multilevel linear modelling to account for between-, within-, and lagged-person effects. Internet and video game use accounted for less prosocial behavior at the within-person and lagged-person levels. Television use also accounted for lagged-person effects in prosocial behavior. Finally, internet use and television viewing contributed to between person differences in prosocial behavior. Our study presents strong statistical evidence that media use during adolescence can undermine the development of prosocial behavior.

Citizen science is a research collaboration between scientists and volunteers who provide data for education, conservation, and environmental protection. Volunteers, often the locals in the area, provide data on species occurrence while researchers perform distribution mapping or other data analysis. Social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr can be used as platforms for the public to share their photos of species and for scientists to aid in identification. In this article, we show how social media groups can be used to generate data on species distribution of myxomycetes.

The current study investigated the relations between gamified refutations of COVID-19 misconceptions and individuals' emotional reactions and knowledge retention within a large-scale public health education campaign. Refutations have a substantial body of evidence supporting their use to correct misconceptions, yet reduced efficacy has been observed for some topics that generate negative emotional responses. We tested whether gamification could mitigate these limits given that it capitalizes on positive affective engagement. From May to December 2020, approximately 200,000 individuals were recruited from social media in Canada to engage with a nongame interactive survey as a control or a fully gamified platform focused on correcting COVID-19 misconceptions. Gamification was associated with a greater number of happiness and anxiety responses and fewer responses of anger and skepticism in reaction to having misconceptions corrected by refutations. Further, participants who engaged with gamified refutations retained correct information after a brief period. Finally, happiness and anxiety were positively associated with and anger and skepticism were negatively associated with retention of refutation information and support for related public health policies. Implications for scaling up and reinforcing the benefits of refutations for public engagement with science are discussed.

COVID-19 has required researchers to change methods to better reflect the new realities of social distancing, sheltering in place, and the use of extended quarantines to isolate from the community. The paper illustrates the implications of shifting recruitment strategies midstream with populations that are already normally considered 'hard-to-reach'. The population in this illustration involves mothers with young children in shared parenting arrangements across three Canadian provinces (Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario) who have experienced domestic violence. Due to public health protocols that required social distancing, strategies typically used to engage vulnerable populations in research, including collaborating with community service providers and face-to-face contact were no longer possible. With limited knowledge and resources, we pivoted our recruitment strategy from the use of posters in agencies to a paid Facebook advertisement strategy. Prior to our social media campaign, our time-intensive recruitment efforts had produced very few responses to our online survey. Our advertisement ran from March 13 to 12 July 2020 and Facebook reported that it 'reached' an approximate 42,488 viewers Through Facebook, we discovered a number of support groups for mothers with young children that only exist online. Rather than putting up posters in their settings, community service providers became online recruiters through their 'tweets', 'likes', and 'sharing' of our study. The impact of COVID-19 on our research has taught us about the power of social media as a recruitment strategy. Facebook is a useful tool to enhance research awareness and engagement with hard-to-reach populations even post COVID-19.

Purpose: This paper adds to the growing body of research examining the impacts of COVID-19 physical distancing measures on the everyday lives of young people. It draws on theories of "digital intimacies" and "relationship maintenance" to argue that young people's reflections on COVID-19, physical distancing and online relationships expose larger gaps in sex, relationships and health education pedagogies. Design/methodology/approach: Five semi-structured online focus groups were conducted with Canadian adolescents aged 16-19 probing their experiences of dating and platonic relationships during COVID-19. Narrative thematic analysis methods were used to develop themes outlining how physical distancing measures have affected young people's relationship norms, expectations and values. Findings: COVID-19 physical distancing measures and school closures appeared to create the conditions for some young people to productively reflect on the labor involved in the maintenance of their relationships in relation to considerations of proximity, reciprocity and distance. This labor was particularly articulated by female participants, many of whom expressed that life disruptions caused by COVID-19 catalyzed learning about their own relationship needs, desires and boundaries. Research limitations/implications: Results from this research are not widely generalizable, as each participant had a unique experience with COVID-19 physical distancing measures, schooling and in-person contact. Due to anonymity measures implemented, participant narratives cannot be confidently associated with demographic surveys that hampered the ability to offer an intersectional analysis of participant experience. Originality/value: Discussions of relationship maintenance and digital intimacies elucidate the limitations of health education's tendency to construct adolescent relationships as existing along binaries of "healthy" and "unhealthy." Health education might benefit from more meaningful integration of these concepts.

Objective: To assess preferred sources of information for seeking physical activity (PA), and how PA information seeking may contribute to participation in a campus PA program. Participants: Students attending a large, Western Canadian university between April 2015 and April 2018. Methods: Secondary analysis of an annual campus-wide survey. Results: Students sought PA information for general health. Females sought information about weight loss for appearances; males sought information for muscle gain for appearance. Internet and friends were primary sources of PA information. Regression analysis indicated females 2.49 (95% CI 1.98-3.13), domestic students 2.86, 95% CI (2.04-4.02), and first year students 24.88, 95% CI (18.12-34.17) were most likely to participate in a campus PA program. Only health reasons significantly contributed to participation 1.42, 95% CI (1.06-1.89). Conclusions: Emerging adults attending university may benefit from PA promotion that makes use of their preferred information sources.

Purpose: The authors explore the coproduction of a digital archive with 50 2SLGBTQ+ youth across Atlantic Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to catalyze broader public participation in understanding 2SLGBTQ+ youth-led activism in this place and time through art production. Design/methodology/approach: Through a mail-based participatory visual research project and an examination of collage, zines and DIY facemasks, the authors highlight how the production, sharing and archiving of youth-produced art adds to methodological discussions of exhibiting and digital archiving with 2SLGBTQ+ youth as a form of activist intervention. Findings: In reflexively examining the cocuration of art through social media and project website, the authors argue that coproducing digital archives is an important part of knowledge mobilization. Also, the authors consider how the work has been interacted with by a broader public, so far in an exclusively celebratory manner and note the benefits and challenges of this type of engagement to the youth and to the understandings of 2SLGBTQ+ youth archives. Originality/value: The authors suggest that these modes of engaging in participatory visual research at a distance offer original contributions in relation to how participation can be understood in a digital and mail-based project. The authors see participant control of how to share works within digital archives as a contribution to the understanding of people's capacity to negotiate and take ownership of these spaces. These strategies are participant-centered and suggest ways that archiving can be made more accessible, especially when working with communities who are socially marginalized or otherwise excluded from the archival process. [This article was written with the Pride/Swell project.]

Research has frequently found that students use their information and communication technologies--such as smartphones and laptops--for non-academic uses in the classroom. These uses include sending messages as well as checking email and social media accounts. This study aimed to examine students' in-class information and communication technology use, their motivations for it, and perceptions of it, as well as their attitudes toward restriction and integration of information and communication technologies in the classroom. It was found that students most frequently engage in non-academic information and communication technology use when they feel that they would not miss any new class content, or when they feel disengaged. Students perceived that their non-academic information and communication technology use had costs, especially distraction. However, students also reported negative attitudes toward policies that would restrict their information and communication technology use in the classroom but had positive perceptions of attempts to integrate information and communication technology use. We propose that information and communication technology integration can be an effective method of increasing student engagement--and therefore "decreasing" non-academic information and communication technology use.

Contemporary children are growing up in a post-typographic era, where mobile electronic devices and digital texts are increasingly present. For parents and educators, shifts into new digital practices and new text forms can create a sense of uncertainty. In response to parent and teacher interest, popular media have frequently focused on topics relating to young children and shifting digital practices. This study addresses popular media accounts of children and digital technologies over five years (2013-2018), looking in particular at the emergence of mobile devices and their impact on children's changing literacy practices. The authors collected popular media articles over this time period and analysed them for the ways in which children and digital technologies were represented and these media called on teachers and parents to respond. The authors provide an overview of their findings and address key themes from the articles, sharing influential examples and addressing the implications and influences of media perspectives. Finally, the authors examine the implications of popular media accounts in relation to informing parent beliefs and approaches, and curriculum responses.

The use of social media platforms (such as Facebook) for research recruitment has continued to increase, especially during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Social media enables researchers to reach diverse communities that often do not have their voices heard in research. Social media research recruitment, however, can pose risks to both potential participants and the researchers. This topic paper presents ethical considerations related to social media recruitment, and offers an example of harassment and hate speech risks when social media is used for research recruitment. We explore the implications of hate speech risks for ethical research.

The purpose of this research was to develop and test an instrument to measure school leaders' use of Twitter for professional development (PD) and learning. Findings from an exploratory factor analysis indicate that the resulting nine-item Twitter for PD Scale offers a valid and reliable instrument to measure school leaders' use of Twitter for PD and learning. Researchers and practitioners can use the Twitter for PD Scale to measure the influence of Twitter-delivered PD on various educational outcomes.

A case study approach was used in examining Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use within a small First Nation high school in Northern Ontario. Quantitative and qualitative data was gathered from students, teacher, and the administrator, who participated in an online survey, followed by interviews on their use of ICT in education. How ICT was used in the classroom was examined as well as identifying the challenges and benefits. The students' benefits included easier access to research through the Internet, facilitated organization through the use of Google drive, and the use of social media. Challenges were similar to those found in in mainstream schools with concerns of technical problems, off task behavior, and improper referencing. The teacher and administrator identified barriers preventing the increased use of ICT, including the lack of professional development, resources, and Indigenous language software. The administrator recognized there was a wide skill set range among teachers in the adoption of ICT integration into their teaching. Recommendations include more professional development in ICT for teachers, additional resources for ICT, and more development of Aboriginal language software.

This section shares recent dissertations and theses with the "Journal of International Students" readers. There were about 139 graduate dissertations and theses related to the issues and challenges of international students in 2016. The complete versions of these selected dissertations are available in the ProQuest, Michigan-based electronic publisher. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, spanning from 1743 to the present day. This database has found 17,164 results from 1922-2018 while searching the keywords "international student" in its search engine. Across the 139 dissertations that came out in 2016, the authors found about a dozen themes. The most common theme was acculturation, with 32 dissertations. Other themes in order of the frequency were writing/academic skills (16), retention (13), language (9), counseling (9), global awareness (8), social media technology and online education (6), discrimination (6), identity (7), recruitment (5), teaching assistants (4), community engagement (4), career (4), college choice and mobility trends (4), community college (3), and miscellaneous (9). This article provides a more detailed list of key ideas that were addressed in these various themes.

In the past five years, there has been considerable interest in the decision-making process of school board officials in the field of education. However, a paucity of research exists on how these leaders use online resources to inform decision-making. Through an online survey and face-to-face interviews, this study examined the use of online resources by school board trustees (n =164) to support board-level decisions. Trustees used online articles (news, research articles, journals) twice as much as social media (Twitter, Facebook, blogs) or repository services (clipping services, Google Scholar). Almost 70% of trustees used three or more resources to inform their decision-making. Seventy-five to 85% of trustees rated online articles and repository services as being useful. Trustees actively checked the trustworthiness of online resources by evaluating sources, crosschecking data, and asking colleagues. Key barriers to using online resources included lack of time, finding reliable or relevant information, and negotiating conflicting results. Some trustees wanted access to a third-party repository of valid, reliable information.