Providing collaborative learning support with social media in an integrated environment

During the last few years, social media technologies have started to be used for collaborative learning. While most of the case studies reported so far involve a single social media tool or several individual, separate tools, in this paper we advocate the use of an integrated social learning environment, which aggregates several Web 2.0 tools (wiki, blog, microblogging tool, social bookmarking tool, media sharing tools). The platform, called eMUSE, occupies a well defined niche in the landscape of Web 2.0-enhanced learning spaces, providing value-added services for both students and teachers: learner tracking functionality, monitoring and visualization features, grading and evaluation support. A comprehensive rationale underlying eMUSE, a description of the platform architecture and functionalities, as well as an experimental validation in a project-based learning context are provided in the paper.