Draft Version – Originally published in:

Computer-Assisted Teaching: New Developments;

Brayden A. Morris andGeorge M. Ferguson (Ed.); 2010; ISBN: 978-1-60876-855-4; p. 151-156

New Forms of and Tools for Cooperative Learning with SocialSoftware in Higher Education

Sandra Schaffertsandra.schaffert@salzburgresearch.at Information Society ResearchSalzburg ResearchSalzburg, AustriaMartin Ebner (Corresponding Author)martin.ebner@tugraz.at Social Learning DepartmentComputer and Information ServicesGraz University of TechnologyAustria

Abstract

Since the new generation of Internet technology, called Web 2.0, has been introduced, a change of how users are dealing with the World Wide Web has been get into going. If access to the web isavailable, today nearly anyone can actively participate and communicate online. Of course thisrecent evolution of the web influences also the field of education. Former e-learning was mainlycharacterized by the use of content offered within learning management systems. Nowadays socalled “Social Software” enables new possibilities and didactical approaches. In this paper we givea short overview of how Social Software can support cooperative learning and how newtechnologies can enhance higher education in a meaningful new way. After a short introduction tothe basics of cooperative learning different social software applications are classified and described.Practical examples are presented to show the general usage. In the end we conclude that thesetechnologies have great impact on teaching and learning, as it will help to enhance education atuniversities.

The concept of cooperative learning and its technological support

According to the currently dominating social constructivism theory, learning is not a passive,receptive process, but an active and constructive one, where “the others” play an important role.Among other aspects, the development of a learning environment should always include a possibility for learners to reflect and compare the ideas and experiences of others (cf. Gräsel, Bruhn,Mandl & Fischer, 1997). Cooperative and collaborative learning arrangement, e.g. project andgroup work as well as group discussion are therefore seen as adequate measures to supportknowledge and competence development. A review on 25 years of cooperative learning displaysthat the exchange of different experiences and concepts of peers helps to reflect on own (mis-)conceptions and therefore is seen as crucial from the perspective of developmental psychology(Slavin, 1997, 10). Nevertheless, in the early years of computer supported learning the social aspects of learning had been overseen or ignored. Research and practice concentrated on the possibilities of programmedlearning, implementation of instructional design and artificial intelligence. Since the beginning of the 1990ies, with Internet services such as electronic mail, Usenet and the World Wide Web, therole of peers and tutors in computer supported learning environments gained more and moreattention. First research on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) analyzed for

Draft Version – Originally published in:

Computer-Assisted Teaching: New Developments;

Brayden A. Morris andGeorge M. Ferguson (Ed.); 2010; ISBN: 978-1-60876-855-4; p. 151-156

example the collaboration of pupils in schools in different cities corresponded via Quickmail andtheir development of common project work (Campione, Brown & Jay, 1992).Current “Social Software” technologies and applications are characterised by their high potential of bringing people together through facilitating communication and collaboration. We use the term“Social Software” as the sum of all old and new forms of tools and applications that can be or areordinary used for communication and collaboration. Due to the success of the online encyclopaediaWikipedia, the Wiki technology (now) has become a famous example of an invention of a verysimple way to create and edit Webpages in a collaborative way.Social Software can be distinguished concerning their main purposes

Social presence and communicationincluding discussion forums, Web chats, (micro-) blogging, (micro-) podcasting, and livestreaming;

Collaborative developmentincluding tools that allow a collaborative work and development as the Wiki technology; or

Collaborative enrichment of contentsuch as social bookmarking, social tagging, and rating.There are currently a lot of platforms on the Web that combine all of these three aspects, or bringseveral applications due to development of mash-up standards and technologies together: For example, social networking platforms as LinkedIn

or Facebook

support a huge amount of different ways for social interaction using the Web. Social software is potentially usable incooperative learning settings. Nevertheless, this requires certain equipment and competencies of learners and teachers as well as the experiences and research on their usage and usability for learning and teaching is often hardly elaborated.In this chapter we describe how current social software can be used and already is in use in higher education within different forms of cooperative learning arrangements. For this, we have includednew tools that seems especially usable in cooperative learning settings. Some of them were takenfrom some Web’s “best of”-lists of tools

for learning and teaching or were found reading current publications about social software for learning. Especially for European projects, which have beenco-financed by the European Commission, the Prolearn

and the I-Camp

projects are to be named inthis context.

Prototypical settings of cooperative learning with social software

Before we go on with a description of new tools and their usage for cooperative learning we want toclarify that nowadays there is no uniform or single standardized setting of cooperative learning andteaching in higher education; the possibilities are multiple and diverse. From a practical anddidactical perspective there are four different prototypical settings for computer supportedcooperative learning that can currently be distinguished for formally organised learning:(i)

Distance learning settingThe learners are distributed and do not meet in reality before and while learning and

http://www.linkedin.com(last view: August 2009)

http://facebook.com/(last view: August 2009)

http://www.prolearn-project.org/(last view: August 2009)

http://www.icamp-project.org/(last view: August 2009)

Draft Version – Originally published in:

Computer-Assisted Teaching: New Developments;

Brayden A. Morris andGeorge M. Ferguson (Ed.); 2010; ISBN: 978-1-60876-855-4; p. 151-156

working together. The online communication is not always, but often asynchronous;(ii)

Blended learning settingThe learners meet in reality and additionally online but normally not parallel. The onlinecommunication usually is asynchronous;(iii)

Classroom group work setting - with 10 to 25 learnersEvery learner additionally and parallel to “real” communication participates throughnetworked computers or mobile phones on the group interaction(iv)

Lecture hall learning settingThe learners use networked computers or mobile phones to facilitate interaction andfeedback loops in big groups of more than 40 people parallel to a (interactive) lecture.Besides these settings, which are institutionally organised and known as “formal” learning settings,cooperative learning also occurs in informal, self organised or incidental learning while beingonline. Learning can be initiated and supported by being actively involved in a community of learners or interests; it can also be the result of (or reflection on) things seen or done incollaboration with others, more loosely connected persons in the Web, such as unknown or anonymous editors of a Wikipedia page. (Informal) online learning communities and groups areusing different tools or platforms in the Web. Nevertheless, there are some Websites that areexplicitly developed for cooperative learning: Grockit

develops a learning game; Livemocha

andBusuu.com

are language learning platforms where every learner serves as a teacher in her/hisnative language.In the following, we concentrate on formally arranged cooperative learning settings in the field of higher education. In general, the following examples and descriptions cannot be seen as usual practice in higher education nor for current students’ abilities and experiences within the Web (cf.Ebner Schiefner & Nagler, 2008a; Jadin & Zöserl, 2009; Nagler & Ebner, 2009). The majority of these examples are innovative and not common experiences in current higher education. In thefollowing, we introduce typical applications and (first) experiences in higher education according tothe above mentioned three types of characteristics of Social Software, which are communication,collaboration and collaborative enrichment. The focus of this contribution is not to describe thesetools in detail, but to give some examples how they can be used for different settings of cooperativelearning in higher education.

Social presence and communication

The first sort of applications, which can be used for cooperative learning settings, allows tocommunicate or (at least) to indicate presence, for example a current status or mood. In 1968Licklider (Licklider & Taylor, 1968) pointed out that “men will be able to communicate moreeffectively through a machine than face to face” and without having any idea of today’s WorldWide Web, he noticed the growing importance of communication through a large network of connected devices. With regard to learning it can be stated that learning is an active process on the part of the learner, where knowledge and understanding is constructed by the learner (Soloway &Bielaczyc, 1996; Holzinger, 2002) and moreover it must strongly be considered as social process:learning proceeds by and through communication (Preece, 2000). Vygotsky (Vygotsky, 1978)mentioned in his theory about interaction and learning that problem solving and similar approachesoccur under guidance or in collaboration with capable peers. With other words it can besummarized that education must be seen as collaborative process, which is proceeded through

http://grockit.com/(last view: August 2009)

http://www.livemocha.com/(last view: August 2009)

http://www.busuu.com/de(last view: August 2009)