E-learning comprise of delivery of contents and interaction between learners and instructors. Current e-Learning services have advanced enough to enable learners to pursue individual learning without constraints (i.e., time and distance to classroom)....
E-learning comprise of delivery of contents and interaction between learners and instructors. Current e-Learning services have advanced enough to enable learners to pursue individual learning without constraints (i.e., time and distance to classroom). Despites significant advancements in the field of e-learning, however, there exist a number of disadvantages and challenges. E-Learning fails to provide authentic and interactive learning environment to learners so that learners experience ‘lack of social interaction’ and ‘lack of human presence’ between learners and instructors. Thus, our study aimed to investigate whether Social Network Service (SNS) can be utilized to design authentic learning environment to overcome challenges that e-Learning community is facing (lack of social interaction and presence). Specifically, we aimed to design and develop a learning platform that facilitates social learning by utilizing Facebook, one of the most popular SNS. This study had three Specific Aims.
Specific Aim 1: To summarize existing literature on e-Learning and discuss whether Facebook can be a optimal platform for e-learning.
Specific Aim 2: To investigate whether Facebook can be utilized to design and develop appropriate social learning environment leading to enhanced ‘social or human interaction’ between learners and instructors or among learners
Specific Aim 3: To investigate whether open-source application program interface (Open API) of Facebook can be utilized to enhance learning activities additionally and to provide flexibilities of activities
To accomplish our study aims, first we conducted literature review on concepts and history of e-Learning and social learning. Based on concepts of social constructivism learning theory, it was possible to summarize current changes in pedagogy from ‘one-way transfer of knowledge’ by instructors in a context of traditional teaching and learning theory to ‘self-directed learning’ by learners. Thus, we tried to conceptualize the social learning in conjunction with the development of communication and web technology such as social media.
There are a number of disadvantages of e-Learning on online. For example, a learner may feel isolated from instructors or from fellow learners due to lack of human interaction. We examined exemplary cases whether SNS can be used to provide interactive and direct learning environment. We hypothesized that it is possible to provide an interactive and effective learning platform on Facebook or SNS by connecting learners to social networking, which is similar to social relationships in real world. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that social interaction among learners or between learners and extended instructors can be enhanced through prompt, and immediate response mechanisms available in SNS.
Additionally, we reviewed advantages and disadvantages that choosing Facebook, one of popular SNS, can provide us the possibility of a learning platform for e-Learning. Finally, we designed and developed a learning platform on Facebook to test the possibility.
Based on literature review and our design of a learning platform on Facebook, we conclude followings:
First, Facebook can be an optimal learning platform for e-Learning environment to fulfill the requirements of social learning. Facebook is not just a simple social networking tool, but a tool that enable learners to establish social networks similar to existing human relationships in a real world. Thus, it is possible for learners to engage social interaction that is important in traditional learning environment. In addition, it is possible for learners to additionally connect themselves with experts in their fields, so that learners can receive experts’ social mentoring in particular topics of interest within a context of social learning environment. Furthermore, various Facebook’s functions such as “like”, “reply” or “share” can provide immediate and real-time responses to both educators/instructors, which make learners feel the enhanced ‘presence’ of learners within environment.
Second, we found that it was possible to design and develop a learning platform in Facebook, suitable to social learning with advantages of social interaction. Facebook provided flexibilities to expand necessary functions beyond basic functions for a leaning platform based on needs of instructors. The flexibility or connectedness between Facebook and Web 2.0 application that facilitate openness, sharing, participation, and collaboration provided necessary learning functions or activities, which were easily constructed via Open API.
Our primary study aim was to design and develop a learning platform based on Facebook. As a result, it is likely that our study did not address a number of important requirements in social learning. Those are follows:
First, we did not assess the effectiveness of our learning platform designed on Facebook. Future studies aiming to investigate the learners’ achievements through ‘real’ learning platform based on SNS are much warranted. The studies on effectiveness of social learning will provide the practical foundation for social learning.
Second, the contents and technology related to Facebook is constantly changing. Our study was based on the developmental and service tools on Facebook, which were available to us on May, 2011. Thus, it is likely that new technology or changes in services are not incorporated into present study. The new, available technology or service applications may change the design of social learning platform that we constructed. For example, research on how to use Learning Management System (LMS) in relation to social learning online site can provide more realistic and applicable learning platform.
Third, Facebook, as one of most popular SNS, was developed Mark Zuckerberg and his colleagues in the USA. Thus, our study based on Facebook, which may subject ourselves to depend on foreign technology. However, we believe that a SNS tailored to Korean society will become available in near future and the study to design and launch social learning platforms based on Korean SNS will help our understanding on how to use SNS for social learning in our Korean society.
Fourth, our study is limited in that we did not examine what kind of contents will be appropriate for social learning platforms. Future studies are much needed to examine whether there are any significant differences between the concepts of informal learning and formal learning on e-Learning sites, and to investigate whether there are any differences in effectiveness among various learning topics. These studies will help us to popularize social learning based on SNS.
Despites a few limitation, it is believed that our study may provide some insights on how to solve existing limitations associated with e-Learning, such as difficulties in human interaction and lack of presence between learners and instructors. Compared to other types of social media services, we found that Facebook or other SNS may provide various learning activities in various pedagogical environments. For example, there exist approximately 70,000 dropouts every year in our traditional school system. By integrating approaches to encourage ‘human interaction’ between instructors and learners, we believe that social learning based on SNS may provide pedagogical learning environments to those minorities who are in need of learning but removed from traditional school system.