Extended Abstract: The roles of networked learning, collaboration, and connectedness in the classroom

Contemporary technical communication pedagogies often place intense focus on networked and collaborative learning. These forms of learning can include the formation of networks, activity within networks, or understanding the unspoken rules of collaboration within a networked community. Over the past ten years, the emergence of social media platforms, such as Google Docs, Twitter, wikis, etc., have expanded the tools and skills that industry professionals use to collaborate in both local and global teams. Effective digital collaboration has become an essential skill for students who will likely engage in symbolic-analytical work after graduation [1]. Simply adding technologies that enable networked collaboration to the classroom is insufficient [2]; rather, social media must be included in strategic ways that foster a critical mindset for evaluating adoption, deployment, and effective use for connectivity and collaboration.