Rate My Professor Elaine Tay

Dr Elaine Tay serves as a Lecturer in Digital and Social Media within the School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, part of the Faculty of Humanities at Curtin University. Her research specializations include Internet Studies, media and communication, race and gender dynamics, intersectionality, and identity formation in online environments. Previously associated with the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin, she explores the intersections of digital technologies, social media, and cultural phenomena. Dr Tay investigates how Web 2.0 tools and new media shape learning, collaboration, power structures, and resistance on the internet. Her work addresses the role of online platforms in gathering dispersed communities during crises and the discursive practices in digital spaces.

Dr Tay has authored several influential publications in her field. Key papers include 'Designing social media into university learning: technology of collaboration or collaboration for technology?' (2011, Educational Media International), which examines the integration of social media in higher education pedagogy. Other significant works are 'Wikis as individual student learning tools: The limitations of technology' (2012, International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education), highlighting constraints of collaborative tools in student learning; 'Global Chinese fraternity and the Indonesian riots of May 1998: The online gathering of dispersed Chinese' (2000), analyzing virtual community formation amid real-world violence; 'Discursive violence on the Internet and the May 1998 riots' (2006, in Violent Conflicts in Indonesia); and 'Unpicking the semes: power, resistance, and the Internet' (2002). Additional contributions encompass 'The social side of social media: technology or collaboration?' (2010), 'The pragmatic portfolio: an assessment approach for distributed learning' (2010, co-authored with M Allen), and 'Refiguring the Net Generation: Beyond Users' (co-authored with Susan Leong). Her scholarship has accumulated over 115 citations, underscoring her contributions to understanding digital media's societal impacts. Dr Tay has also engaged in educational discussions, such as the benefits of Universal Design for Learning in higher education.