[Air-L] CFP: An Education in Facebook (Edited collection, abstracts due 19 Jan 2013)

[Tama Leaver]

An Education in Facebook?
Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network

Editors: Dr Mike Kent, Dr Tama Leaver and Dr Clare Lloyd, Internet Studies,
Curtin University



Abstract Submission Deadline 18 January 2013

Full Chapters Due 31 May 2013



We are soliciting chapter proposals for an edited collection entitled *An
Education in Facebook?* This edited collection will focus on the
relationship between Facebook and Higher Education. Facebook first emerged
in 2004 as a social network for students studying at universities in the
United States. It soon grew beyond North America, and beyond the confines
of student networking. Having evolved initially as a student social space
the platform continues to play a prominent role in the lives of many
students and staff at higher education institutions.


The collection will explore the use of Facebook the higher education
environment as both a social space, and also its growing use as part of
teaching and learning processes, both formally and informally. From
students creating informal social groups  around a course of study or
particular unit, and dedicated online study groups, to the use of Facebook
as a formal venue for teaching, we are seeking chapters that explore these
and related areas.

Is there an appropriate place for Facebook in formal higher education? What
are the tensions between private and professional spaces online for
students and teachers and what are the potential dangers of unintentional
overlap? What are appropriate roles and responsibilities for staff,
students and institutions in relation to the social network? What are the
dangers of moving important aspects of the higher education learning
environment to an external company that exploits social interaction for
profit? How is the shift to online learning in many institutions
complemented or challenged by mobile uses of social networks, including app
use on smartphones and tablets?  This book will explore these and other
topics interrogating the contemporary role of Facebook in Higher Education.


Some suggested topics (which are by no means exhaustive):

·         Facebook and/as/or Learning Management Systems?

·         Facebook as support network (for online and overseas learners,
for example)

·         Teacher-led Facebook uses as in/formal learning

·         Student-led Facebook uses as in/formal learning

·         Case studies of Facebook implementation in formal learning

·         Informal versus formal learning online

·         Social networks and the flipped classroom

·         Context collapse

·         Privacy issues in social network use

·         Copyright issues in social network use

·         Mobile learning

·         The Facebook App in education

·         Roles and boundaries in networked learning

·         Facebook as a backchannel (either positive or disruptive)

·         The politics of ‘friending’ in staff and student relations

·         Examples of innovative Facebook integration in higher education

·         Whether Facebook has a place in formal education

·         MOOCs and Facebook

·         Comparative uses of Facebook and other online networks (eg
Twitter)

Submission procedure:

Potential authors are invited to submit chapter abstract of no more than
500 words, including a title, 4 to 6 keywords, and a brief bio, by email to
both Dr Mike Kent <m.kent at curtin.edu.au> and Dr Tama Leaver <
t.leaver at curtin.edu.au> by 18 January 2013. (Please indicate in your
proposal if you wish to use any visual material, and how you have or will
gain copyright clearance for visual material.) Authors will receive a
response by February 15, 2013, with those provisionally accepted due as
chapters of no more than 6000 words (including references) by 31 May 2013.


About the editors:

The three editors are from the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin
University. Dr Mike Kent’s research focus is on people with disabilities
and their use of, and access to, information technology and the Internet.
He recently co-authored the monograph *Disability and New
Media*(Routledge, 2011). His other area a research interest is in
higher
education and particularly online education.  Dr Tama Leaver researches
online identities, digital media distribution and networked learning. He
previously spent several years as a lecturer in Higher Education
Development, and is currently also a Research Fellow in Curtin’s Centre for
Culture and Technology. His recent book is *Artificial Culture: Identity,
Technology and Bodies* (Routledge, 2012), and he is currently co-authoring
a monograph entitled *Web Presence: Staying Noticed in a Networked World*.
Dr Clare Lloyd specialises in mobile communication and mobile media. Her
recent publications include the co-authored papers ‘Consuming apps: the
Australian woman’s slow appetite for apps’ (2012); and ‘Fun and useful
apps: female identity construction and social connectedness using the
mobile phone’ apps’ (2012).**