DEPLOYMENT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES AS AN EDUCATONAL PLATFORM FOR TEACHING AT UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The study addresses the necessity to design and deploy collaborative e-assessment via a social networking site (SNS) into teaching for academic writing at university. The aim of the research is to investigate students’ perceptions and experiences of using a SNS-based learning community which was designed and deployed for collaborative teacher-peer assessment. The design-based research employs a mixed methods approach to explore students’ experiences and perceptions of their learning outcomes. The analysis enables the researchers to present schematically the process and the model that highlight the key elements of the process of learning via SNS. Special attention is paid to learning outcomes and the factors, which are pointed out by the students as the most important for successful implementation of the technology into teaching and learning. The findings contribute to better understanding of students’ experiences of collaborative e-assessment via SNS and support further theoretical investigations to refine the specific design of such virtual learning communities and conceptualize learning via SNS.