Social Networking Site as a Tool for Collaborative Learning

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Collaborative Tools for Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Web 2.0 technologies are becoming ubiquitous in every part of our lives. One of the most popular Web 2.0 tools is social networking site (SNS). Although the primary purpose of SNSs is social interaction, it can be repurposed to be meaningfully used in educational context. This paper records and examines pre-service teachers’ and teacher-ed faculty’s current use of Facebook, and their attitudes toward using SNS for collaborative learning, and to identify their perceived barriers in educational use of Facebook. A preliminary analysis of the data collected revealed that pre-service teachers not only use Facebook with more intensity than their faculty but they are also more open to the idea of using SNSs such as Facebook for collaborative learning.

Authors

• Kamal Ahmed Soomro, West Virginia University

• Ugur Kale, West Virginia University

• Sajid Ali Yousuf Zai, University of Arkansas