ICT are transforming Cuban higher education towards the adoption of blended-learning and distance learning. This dissertation focuses on investigating the effectiveness of using social software to support collaborative learning in a Cuban university. Five studies were conducted within three phases that included diagnostic, integration and validation of the social software that was used to support collaborative learning. A didactic model was created to integrate social software within Cuban teaching and learning in higher education. Social Network Analysis and content analysis were used to evaluate the effectiveness of social software to support students' learning through their collaborative learning relationships and through their posts in wiki pages and online discussions. Statistical analysis was used to evaluate students' self-efficacy as a measure of their achievements in social software-supported collaborative learning. The findings confirmed social software’s suitability to support collaborative learning, as it increased collaborative learning's effectiveness, compared to face-to-face collaborative learning. Specific findings were revealed for the use of wikis and online discussions within teaching and learning, which are extendable to other social software tools. A didactic model to integrate social software in Cuban teaching and learning, as well as a framework to analyse students' interactions, were used for first time and validated to extend its use among Cuban university stakeholders.

1. Supporting collaborative learning
among Cuban university students
through the use of social software
Dissertation for the academic degree of Doctor in Educational Sciences
Roberto Carlos Rodríguez Hidalgo
Promotors: Prof. dr. Chang Zhu
Prof. dr. Aida María Torres Alfonso
June 17, 2014

2. Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de
Las Villas
Problem statement
UCLV

3. Overview
Introduction
• Problem
statement
• Scope
Research
design
• 5 empirical
studies
Results
• Diagnostic
• Didactic Model
• Integration
• Validation
Conclusions
• Limitations
• Future
Research

4. Current teaching & learning problems in UCLV
Some teachers
support many
students
Many teachers
don’t like ICT
Students don’t have
effective ways to
collaborate
4
Problem statement

5. Cuban HE situation
D
…
Blended-learning
Collaborative learning
ICT use
…
Red
Univ
Problem statement

6. Benefits of collaborative learning
• Both facilitators and learners become active
participants in the educational process (Brookfield,
1986).
• The hierarchy between facilitators and learners is
eliminated (Bruffle, 1999).
• A sense of community is created (Kaplan, 2002).
• Knowledge is created, not transferred (Sheridan,
1989).
• Knowledge is considered to be located in the
community rather than in the individual (Whipple,
1987).
6
Problem statement

7. Benefits of collaborative learning
• Both facilitators and learners become active
participants in the 1986).
Process
educational process (Brookfield,
• The hierarchy between facilitators and learners is
eliminated (Bruffle, 1999).
• A sense of community is created (Kaplan, 2002).
• Knowledge is created, not transferred (Sheridan,
1989).
• Knowledge is considered to be located in the
community rather than in the individual (Product
Whipple,
1987).
7
Problem statement

8. Benefits of social software use in
education
• can be individualized in design and use
• can represent problems more realistically
• can display each step of a difficult problem
solving task
• can afford group discussion and
collaboration across distances
• can provide immediate feedback for
monitoring and evaluating student
progress
Social
Software:
Baker E. L., O’Neil HF. Measuring problem solving in computer environments: Current
and future states. Computers in Human Behavior. 2002;18:609-622
8
Problem statement

9. Scope
CL
SS
CSCL
Scope

10. Web 2.0 Scope
Publish
Social
software
Share
Discuss
Social
networks
Microblogs
Livestream
Livecast
Social
games
Virtual
worlds
MMO

12. General research question
To what extent do collaborative learning activities
supported by social software improve the effectiveness of
the teaching and learning process in Cuban higher
education?

13. Research design overview

14. 5 studies within 3 phases
Phase Diagnostic Integration-Validation Validation
Study 1 2 3 4 5
Focus
Current use and
perceptions of
social software
Wiki-supported
collaborative
learning
Using SNA to
analyse OTD
SS-supported
scaffolding in
CL
Wikis/online
discussions
effectiveness &
perceived
importance to
support CL
Participants
28 teachers
+
79 students
20 students 21 students 60 students 60 students
Methodology QUAL+quan QUANqual QUAN+QUAL QUAN+qual Quantitative

15. Main instruments and methods
Instruments
Diagnostic
Focus groups &
interviews
Collaborative
preferences
Survey on Social
software use,
importance &
acceptance
Interventions
Sociometry
Queries to social
software’s DBs
Self-efficacy on
courses’ topics
Social software
content
Students’ score
sheets
Validation
Self-efficacy on
using social
software
Social software
effectiveness
Social software
importance
Mixed methodology
Quantitative
data
Qualitative
data

16. Diagnostic-main RQs (1st study)
• What are teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the use of
collaborative approaches in teaching and learning?
• What are their views about using social software?
• What are the requirements to effectively integrate social
software?

17. Collaboration perceptions
Open question: Student's perceptions of collaborative learning
communication
cognitive elaboration
perspective
9%
community
9%
feedback
5%
motivational perspective
comfort
1%
3%
11%
developmental
perspective
14%
facilitation
11%
social cohesion
perspective
18%
knowledge sharing
19%
Other
62%

18. Recommended requirements to
integrate social software
Recommended requirement supported by data
from
Motivate teachers and students to integrate social software to support collaborative learning.
Focus groups
CP questionnaire
Well-planned integration of social software, aligned with teaching and learning
characteristics. Focus groups
Ensure students’/teachers’ workload is reasonable when integrating social software. Focus groups
Limitations concerning the Cuban Internet gap should be reduced. Focus groups
Social software environments should be monitored by teachers to prevent undesired
behaviours. Focus groups
Provide support for students to ask about questions for their academic performance. Focus groups
Use online social software as a tool to encourage shy students to engage in collaboration and
communication. Focus groups
Offering alternative ways (online) to share resources among teachers and students. Focus groups
Prioritising the integration of social software for courses taught by more than one teacher. Focus groups
Defining the ideal number of students for group collaboration. CP questionnaire
Encouraging the use of various social software tools in order to benefit more from the
potential of social software for teaching and learning. SS.U.I.A questionnaire

19. Didactic model
Foundations
Theoretical
framework
• Social spaces
• Didactics
• ZPD
• Stigmergic
collaboration
Characteristics
• Classroom  social
space
• ZDP  Scaffolding
• Scaffolding + SS
SS integration (phases)
Teaching strategy
Promotion
Introduction
Intensification
Innovation
Recommended
requirements
Motivation
Well-planned integration
Internet limitations
SS monitoring
Soft- scaffolding
Student engagement
Resource sharing
Use of various SS
Support collab. teaching
Ideal membership
Encouraging mashups

20. Integration phases
Promotion
Social tags (5.65)
Videocast (5.28)
Microblogs (5.08)
Introduction
Wikis (7.09)
Social networks (6.68)
Blogs (6.18)
Online discussions (5.98)
Syndication (5.86)
Intensive use Innovation
௙
ௌௌ.௎ ௌௌ.ூ ௌௌ.஺
௡ଵ

21. Intervention-main RQs (2nd to 4th
studies)
• How do student peer relationships differ during social
software learning context from the relationships before
starting the social software learning activities?
• How do students interact with each other at the content
level when learning through social software?
• How does social software-supported scaffolding influence
student relationships in collaborative learning?
• Does social software-supported scaffolding influence the
effectiveness of student collaborative learning?

22. Social Network Analysis-Gephi Studies 2, 3 & 4

23. Case A-relationships
before after
Study 4

24. Case B-relationships
before after
Study 4

25. Case C-relationships
before after
Study 4

26. SNA-metrics (before-after) Study 4
Before After Before After Before After
A B C
Average degree Graph density Number of communities

27. Content analysis Study 3
Task oriented
35%
Irrelevant
3%
Technical
6%
Planning
19%
Sharing and comparing
information
Social
13%
12%
Assessment
9%
Comments coded
Peer-assessment
3%

28. Study Self-efficacy 4
on courses’ topics Mean
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
F2F Social soft. F2F Social soft. F2F Social soft. F2F Social soft.
A B C All

29. Validation-main RQs (5th study)
• Does students’ self-efficacy on using social software
increase when using it to support collaborative learning
activities?
• What is the students’ perceived effectiveness of wikis and
online discussions when used to support collaborative
learning?
• What is the students’ perceived importance of wikis and
online discussions when these are used to support
collaborative learning?

30. Self-efficacy on social software use
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
pre-test post-test pre-test post-test pre-test post-test
online discussions wikis social software

31. Effectivenes & importance of social
software to support CL
effectiveness of social
software
importance of social
software
3.7
3.6
3.5
3.4
3.3
3.2
3.1
3
2.9
social software effectiveness
Online discussions wikis both
3.7
3.6
3.5
3.4
3.3
3.2
3.1
3
2.9
social software importance
Online discussions wikis both

32. General Conclusions
social software-supported
collaborative learning
Positively
influences
on SN
dynamics
Positively
influences
SE
• On courses’
topics
• On SS use
Positively
influences
scaffolding
Positively
influences
learning
effectiveness

33. General Conclusions
Didactic model
Supported by
Diagnostic
• Recommended
requirements
Theorethically
supported
• Social spaces
• Didactics
• Socio-cultural
development theory
• Stigmergy
collaboration
Intervention
studies
+
Supported by
validation phase

34. Limitations
Sample
• Cuban higher
education
No control groups
• Pre-test + post-test
• Triangulation
Possible
researcher/teacher
bias
Hawthorne effect

35. Future research
Generalise in
Cuban HE
• Blogs
• Syndication
• Microblogs
• Videocast
CL + SS+
Gephi + SNA
+ content
analysis
• Learning
analytics on SS
• Machine
learning

36. Thank you very much…
Name Roberto Carlos Rodríguez Hidalgo
email robec@uclv.edu.cu
Position Assistant Teacher
Company
Department of Educational Technology
Centre of Informatics' Studies
Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas
Carretera a Camajuaní Km. 5 ½ Santa Clara,
Cuba