Action Research in Virtual Communities: How Can this Complement Successful Social Networking?

Contextually, all tertiary institutions have four major responsibilities – teaching, research, publication, and community service. The adage “publish or perish†has become a thorn in the flesh of many university academic staff who rest on their laurels and do nothing about research, publication, and community engagement. Practising university academic staff are required by the nature of their profession to engage in regular research be it in their daily lecturing and supervision of students’ research thesis or writing for publication. Currently, research has become the buzz-word in all tertiary institutions but not all of them take the pains to school academic staff in the practice of research in terms of the virtual communities where the institution is located. In the context of this paper, the author looks at action research through the eyes of teachers of all categories in virtual communities and how their involvement can complement successful social networking. The approaches used in this discussion are purely from empirical and exploratory perspectives and provide detailed discussion with emphasis on the application of action research for effective and efficient social networking considering the social, cultural, organizational and human cognitive perspectives.