Technology, Research and Professional Learning

Jingjing Zhang is Director of the Big Data Centre for Technology-mediated Education at Beijing Normal University. She holds a PhD from Oxford University and has also trained at the OECD in Paris and the UN in New York. Her early research in machine learning and information visualization has led her to analyze university curriculum structure. In the past few years, her research has involved collaboration with educationists, sociologists and anthropologists. This has modified her research interests, giving them a focus on social constructivism of learning in real-world settings. She collaborates with scientists to develop data mining techniques (e.g. complex networking analysis) to explore human relationships and activities online, particularly in the learning sciences. This includes the impact on learning and collaboration produced by using open educational resources (OERs), massive open online courses (MOOCs), and knowledge visualization.

• Preface.- Part One: Historical and Theoretical Accounts.- 1 The Historical Accounts of the Use of Network Technologies in Academia.- 2 Theoretical Accounts of Technology and Learning.- 3 Challenges of Understanding Technology, Research, and Learning.- 4 Definitions and a Model.- Part Two: Scholars and Their Research Contexts.- 5 Interviewing Oxford Scholars.- 6 Wellcome Centre for Neuroethics at Oxford.- Part Three: Network Technology, Intellectual Exchange and Research.- 7 the Nature of Network Technology in Academia.- 8 Intellectual Exchange in Academic Dialogue.- 9 Changes to Scholarly Communication.- 10 Research Contexts Conducive to Intellectual Exchange.- 11 Conclusions.- Bibliography.- Appendices.