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The paper presents a systematic literature review of empirical studies on the use of Twitter by higher education academics for professional development. Using content and thematic analyses, this review addressed four research questions related to study characteristics, theoretical and methodological approaches, and the type of professional development activities engaged. The results show that Twitter has been studied from several perspectives using various methodological approaches. The review revealed several limitations, including the paucity of research addressing gender, cultural and geographic differences. Limited use of theory is also observed. Five themes emerged identifying the ways Twitter was used for professional development: 1) academic backchannel, 2) networking, 3) information and resource sharing, 4) keeping updated, 5) public engagement and social commentary. Overall, the literature review suggests Twitter supports some aspects of professional development. However, several issues remain outstanding and in need of further research, including ethical approaches and practices of researchers related to data collection and use.

Design Thinking is an innovative approach that solves concrete problems and develops new products. Its constant spreading in industry, business, and non-profit organizations raises the question to which extent this approach may be of importance for German vocational schools. There is an increasing debate among scientists about design thinking in educational contexts, in which different authors regard it as useful for curriculum and school development as well as for coping with everyday school life. To assess the importance of design thinking for German vocational schools, pre-service teachers have tackled vocational school issues with design thinking. The paper concludes that design thinking is indeed of interest to vocational schools and that further work is recommended.

This paper discusses to what extent synchronous communication via Skype by Argentine university students of History and Danish university studentsof Spanish contributed to fostering intercultural competence in the twogroups of participants. Intercultural gains are considered both as part of theplanned tasks to be solved by the participants (intentional learning) and in thespontaneous communication that arose in the course of the Skype conversations (incidental learning). The overall objective of this telecollaboration project has been the promotion of intercultural competence, with particular focus on thelearning and teaching of Argentine regional history. Several tools, synchronousand asynchronous, were used for this purpose. The focus of the present paperwill be the analysis of instances of intercultural awareness observed in Skypeconversations, and of the affordances and obstacles that this modality of communication seems to pose for the native and non-native participants. Fil: Fernández, Susana Silvia. University Aarhus; Dinamarca Fil: Pozzo, María Isabel Rita. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto Rosario de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Educación. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto Rosario de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Educacion; Argentina

Since the millennium, immersive theatre has developed and emerged into the mainstream, with companies like Punchdrunk enjoying immense popular success. This shift in the theatre world has corresponded to significant changes in technology. Alongside the advent of Google and the entrance of video gaming into public consciousness, the popularity of social networking has proved such that it has quickly become an intrinsic part of many people’s everyday lives. Currently almost a billion people, one-seventh of the world’s population, log into Facebook daily, and that figure is rising. As the time spent on social media escalates, it inevitably impacts on how we think, behave and communicate, with effects reaching far beyond the self to every corner of our lives, theatre included. Building on theories recently presented by neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, this paper considers the relationship between social networking and mind change in theatre audiences. In particular, it focuses on how changing patterns in our communication and relationships with others, and in our construction of identity and sense of self, have brought about corresponding changes in what we want as audience members, and in the context of supply and demand, have responded to and shaped immersive theatre.

In this paper I will pose a challenge to digital heritage visualisation that takes as its starting point the weirdness of the digital world in comparison to everyday experience. Related to this is the apparent inability for digital objects to benefit from or acquire aura from their originals. I contend that, unless mitigated, these properties will cause a continuing lack of engagement with digital heritage visualisation beyond the professional and academic circles in which they are created. Contrary to expectations, I will argue digital objects can indeed manifest an auratic quality and that this is in fact fundamental to how they are received by various audiences. I contend that both aura and the intimate relationship between digital representation, aesthetics and the creative imagination need to be understood and embraced in practice. Finally, I will suggest some ways of addressing the challenge by looking at modes of co-production, physical replication and aesthetic quality.

Archaeology is a visually rich discipline with a long history of utilising images across a variety of contexts within its practice. However, due to the often unavoidably subjective nature of visual interpretation, fundamental issues with its application remain problematic and largely unresolved. Furthermore, in recent years the rising dominance of digital techniques for archaeological threedimensional surveys and interpretive visualisation has resulted in a rapid uptake of emerging technologies without adequate assessment of their impact on the interpretive process and practitioner engagement. Using an example from experimental work in Orkney as a springboard for discussion this paper outlines the need for the field to develop a more practical approach to addressing some of these recurring issues by developing methodologies which more accurately reflect the multi-layered, interpretive and ambiguous processes involved in archaeological interpretation.

Since Mezirow, there has been considerable research into transformative learning. However the research methods generally used have been of the same kind that are drawn on to inquire into any area of interest. A key aim of this journal is to explore the transformative possibilities of research, and in the process to investigate creative methods which are expanding and transforming our understanding of what constitutes valid research in a postmodern world. In this context, where the assumptions and worldview of classical Newtonian science are being fundamentally challenged, the idea of the ‘transpersonal’ is receiving increasing attention, particularly within the field of psychology. This paper explains the origins of interest in the transpersonal, and provides an introduction to some emerging research methods which accept the idea of the transpersonal as valid. It concludes with the recognition that for many it will require a transformative shift in thinking and beliefs to accept a transpersonal worldview. However recent findings suggest that engaging in research which is accepting of this worldview can be truly transformative in its outcomes for the researcher, the research participants, and for the reader.