Experience of using Social Software in Semester One: February - June 2008

These are some preliminary comments on what our students have reported about their experience of using social software.

Experience of the process of blogging, considering such things such things as: setting up an account organising 'Permissions and 'Settings', uploading images etc being able to blog regularly
None of the students found this difficult. Only a few (4.2%) experienced some difficulties. One quarter of the students found blogging easy. This is supported by student comments where few comments were made about difficulty.
The process of using the forum, considering such things as getting access to the forum and personalising account. Details were requested here about uploading the student’s image or avatar and adding their name, being able to visit the forum regularly finding their way around the forum creating posts and topics and editing posts.
Again none of the students found this very difficult and only 16% found that the encountered some difficulties or problems. ^8% of the students found the forum easy or very easy to use.
Most students noted some initial problems, ‘ I had some initial issues logging in and navigating the forum. After speaking with a couple of people I was soon on the right track. ‘ ‘ Again like the blog I found a few initial problems with finding my way around the site. At times it did feel a bit like the do things. However, it didn’t take too long – a couple of week’s maybe to get into the flow of things. Once the communication started to take off between fellow students everybody soon realised we were all in the same boat so to speak and everybody started to chip in and help each other wherever possible,’ and ‘ I think the only problem, if any, was the navigation of the different topics and finding where I should be. But after a day or so I got the hang of it. It is quite daunting at first, maybe a colour coding system for the different areas of the forum and/or groups would be good initially.’
There were some specific issues, ‘ I wasn't given access rights at first to the forum. I found navigating it difficult at first. Still not sure,’ and ‘ I had a minor problem at one stage where the forum kept telling me I wasn't logged in when I tried to reply to a post. This happened for a couple of weeks. Other than that I found it very easy to use. ‘ There was also some useful advice, ‘Saving the entry instead of submitting it sends the message to never never land and I couldn't figure out how to retrieve it! There must be a drafts section or similar! :o) .’ Finally there was a comment that many of the online tutor team would understand from a student who apprecitated the visual dimension of WebBoard, which had previously been used by any of the online courses at The Sheffield College, ‘ I would prefer if when logging onto my account I could see at a glance any new postings per topic area -unless I'm missing something, you don't get that option. Always found it useful on WebBoard .’ Another student took up this point, ‘ Although I found accessing the forum easy enough there were a couple of things that made using the forum frustrating: 1. If another user did not personalise their account details it was very difficult to know who made specific postings - it would be much clearer if instead of using Student ID's, the system used individual people's names. 2. It was frustrating every time you log in to have to navigate around the forum boards to locate the actual one you required - maybe a good feature to add would be one where you can click on a link that will show only new postings since the last visit? Or possibly an option to view the last topic you looked at when in the forum previously. ‘


The process of using the wiki, considering such things as getting access to the wiki uploading, images and videos, being able to visit the wiki regularly, students finding their way around the wiki, creating pages, editing content , creating links to pages and working with others in the wiki.
A large number of students (20%) found the process of using the wiki very difficult, 16% found this difficult. Only 20% found it easy or very easy. The comments demonstrate this. This comment is fairly typical, ‘18. I had quite a few problems when using the Wiki. Firstly, just the look of it is fairly bland and not very explanatory. Secondly, the old adage springs to mind, ‘being thrown in at the deep end,’ as this is exactly how I felt. I spend most of the week franticly trying to fathom out how and what to do. And thirdly, as this is an online course I feel more support and guidance should be given as I’m sure many students like myself will have never experienced Wikis before. ‘ One or two were quite forthright, ‘ The WIKI structure is unclear. When we designed the course handbook, it was difficult to navigate from one page to the next. Instructions on how to create a document on WIKI would have been welcomed. Another student was even more critical, ‘ The Wiki was probably the worst experience of the course so far for me. I found it really hard to get to grips with it as there was no real step-by-step guide to help navigate your way around it. I do feel more support is needed here from the tutors where they can see there is clearly a problem in how things are developing or not as was the case. One suggestion might be to perhaps a week or so advance warning of the first Wiki activity, this would have been helpful as it took the best part of the week for me to fathom out just how to access/create/post and edit various things. Unfortunately for me I appreciate this problem might have been magnified as the rest of the team I was supposed to have be working with were none existent until the last few days, by which time they had no real chance of reaching their potential. This of course had a knock on effect to the final ‘team’ grade we were awarded.’
This view was in the minority, though and others, though were more positive, ‘ The wiki took a little getting used to. Especially when creating a narrative. That took a bit more technical skill.’ ‘ I found publishing on th ewiki [sic] easy enough. The collaboration part was more of an issue.’
A few students had specific issues, ‘ I had access logging on to the WiKi as my password didn't work, or it allowed me to logon one time but then not the next When I did gain access, none of the content was available to me, and this resulted with me adding my work, but not being able to see anyone elses which proved a huge disadvantage as at that point I realised that my work was completely different to everyone elses and I had obviously missed the point somewhere! Even gaining access now is laborious and the listings on the left hand side have no logical structure or order.’ ‘ I did not have access to the wiki for days. When I got access I could not see the sandpit etc.’
A few students were more confident, ‘The overall use of the Wiki was easy. There were some areas that were extremely frustrating tho. Adding a table was a nightmare when you needed to edit columns and rows. Formatting often had a mind of it's own. Documents could be linked to pages, but as soon as someone edited that page the link would 'drop', and have to be readded EVERY time. This is a good idea for group collaboration, but only IF ALL members of a group engage. I dare not look how many hours I put into it due to others not contributing enough.’



The experience of Reflective Blogging , including comment on how useful the reflective techniques were that were used on the course and which of these techniques was found to be the most useful.
The overwhelming majority of students made favourable comment here. A typical comment was, ‘Reflective blogging I really enjoyed. I found the techniques given were very useful in particular the critical issue. I found by writing down how I felt and coped with certain activities not only helped me get through the critical issues at the time but also helped me in how I should approach and prepare for similar activities in the future. ‘ Only one student was less than enthusiastic, ‘ I hate blogging but the reflective techniques were fairly straightforward. I found the 'critical incident' example the most useful. ‘ Another had not been able to engage fully, ‘ Due to personal circumstances I didn't have time to complete all the study from the course, and used reflective techniques I already possessed. I will catch up with reading the course content over the summer. I found the blog easy to use, although features are limited.’ Another student commented, ‘ This is the first time I have used reflective blogging and it was good to be directed. However, having done this a couple of times I felt I had become repetitive, I have the same problems and trepedations [sic] for each new piece of work. It feels silly writing the same things. ‘ This comment, though, perhaps reveals more about the students not engaging with the reflective blogging techniques.
Overall, though, as has been stated, the majority of student stated that they had found reflective blogging useful and interesting. The techniques that were preferred ranged from the critical incident blogging technique to the questioning technique, to the open reflection technique. There was no favourite choice.
How appropriate is the forum as a tool for discussion
There were a range of replies here. Generally comments were favourable. There was only one comment that contained a negative aspect. ‘It was appropriate. I didn't see the point of assessing when the participants started to engage into discussions (ie: early, middle or end of a discussion) as it was not mentionned [sic] as part of the assessment criteria and a deadline was provided for each discussion activities. ‘ The student had obviously not properly read the assessment criteria that was made available as part of the online materials or the whole course emails that directed students to reat the assessment criteria before they began activities. The rest of the comments were typical of the following, ‘ Very appropriate. The forum once it got established was a great tool for discussion. Many view points differed but I feel they were all received and commented on tactfully. I personally learnt a massive through reading and posting on the forum and I considered it to be a fun and very easy way of learning hoe to communicate on the web. In my opinion the forum created a great atmosphere between fellow students, it was a great place to go get help, advice or just simply to receive a friendly encouraging comment and, wherever possible, give out help advice and friendly encouraging comments.’
How appropriate the wiki was as a tool for collaborative work
The following comment was representative of many comments , ‘The Wiki for me wasn’t a great experience. However, by the time it got towards the end of the semester I did start to get to be a bit more encouraged by it’s collaborative capabilities. The final team SW activity went quite well but still I’m not a big fan of the way the site has been constructed. ‘ Others were more enthusiastic, ‘It was perfect. it's the tool that should be used on all courses, even so-called "off-line" ones as computers are a vital part of communication for all studies these days. Intranet, email, message boards are no longer used just by tech students.’ and ‘ Great. I really enjoyed this. It was so easy to see how we could produce a collaborative piece of work this way and using the forum to guide us through the process and share ideas made it even easier. ‘ Some expressed anxieties, ‘ I found this quite difficult because there were no clear borders on who is responsible for what .’ Others, though saw the potential of this software, ‘ The wiki is great for collaborative work. I like the structure of having different pages. ‘
How blogs might be continued to be used on the course.
Some students thought that reflective blogs should not figure so prominently, ‘ I think there should be less time on reflective blogs, it would be more useful to have an area where students could discuss certain issues, such as problems, ideas and issues that may not be understood. In this particular area students could interact and share ideas. I know there is a forum for this, but certain student may find it easier to discuss with one another rather than a tutor. I think this would be more helpful to the students and tutors could also interact with this if necessary and help students if they are struggling. I think there shouldn't be quite so many blogs, alternativly [sic] there could be more questions given to help people to blog or maybe another solution to this is get people to write a blog diary in certain social networking groups such as face book. I think by doing this the students may not feel as pressurised when writing blogs. ‘ A typical answer, though, was ‘ The way Blogging is used on the course is suitable. Another Blog could be used separately (for privacy reasons)for collaborative work as it lets the participants add all sorts of media easily.’ and ‘ A record of your learning activity as it’s good to look back and see the ups and downs of the course as you progress. I feel more interaction might be a good idea between fellow students and tutors by way of encouragement like adding comments or leaving feedback.’

How the course forum might be continued to be used on the course.
Some students were happy with the forum, but had no further comment to make, ‘ Forum is an excellent environment for discussions and to ask and share questions about the course. I have no further ideas. ‘ Others made interesting suggestions, ‘Forum is a good social space for discussion and interaction, but for group collaboration work, it is not that helpful. ‘A hub of online learning. A place for interaction with tutors and other students. A social space for discussion and interaction A place to ask questions and seek help I think the forums could be used more often for support and not just for assessed interaction.’
How the course wiki might be continued to be used on the course.
Given some students’ problems with using the wiki, the comments here were interesting and have been presented fully:
1. A place for collaboration where groups can produce work is what the wiki will be most used for.
2. As a collaborative tool, I found it to be excellent. I'm not sure what else is possible.
3. I think the wiki could have a faq page and answers so people can reference this in the future.
4. I didn't see a big difference between GoogleDoc and the WIKI in terms of collaborative work and information sharing. the WIKI was unclear to use. I would like to see how businesses use WIKIs and understand why they use it instead of another tool. We might benefit from using different WIKI tools and let the participants evaluate and select the one that they feel most at ease with.
5. I feel the Wiki could be better constructed. It needs an easy-to-use guide and much clearer step-by-step instructions in how to create a profile/page/post etc. A couple of weeks notice before starting the first activity would have been better in order to give students a real chance of fulfilling their potential. Also I feel the first activity on the Wiki should be an independent one, as opposed to working in a team. This is because I feel it is unfair to deduct points from everybody in the team because various team members didn’t have the time to access the site early enough. Of course I appreciate working as a team is important to the Wiki collaboration process but as the first activity a just feel it would have given everybody a fair chance to find their way around it in their own time with out jeopardising other student’s grades.
6. It is a good area where group work can be used
7. it's perfect for collaboration on group work. I think myself and everyone else enjoyed the wiki experience and would like to continue with that in semester 2.
8. The wiki is ideal for collabaration excercises [sic], but found parts of it confusing.
9. I really liked the activity of producing the course handbook on the wiki, so I think other similar activities would be good.
10. I think that wiki's can be ok for collaborative tasks if boundaries are clearly defined...we could continue to use them maybe as a long term project, building up a record of the semester...each student being assigned a particular area to work on or rotating tasks. Fri, 7/4/08 2:21 AM
11. A place for collaboration where groups can produce work. A virtual classroom. Wikis are wonderful places for people to jointly produce information about different topics. I have thought about asking for a place to post reviews about interesting articles I have read in the paper about Social Web topics. I guess a wiki could be used for this purpose.
12. The Wiki is all of the points above(!)
13. A record of your learning journey - although some attention would have to be given to the accessibility of the Wiki and navigational issues I do not think this was an effective tool for the collaboration of groups to produce work - Google Docs was much better!
14. If given immediate access at the beginning of the project it could be used for most projects as was the Google docs document.
15. The Wiki could be useful in future collabaritive assignments. Now we have experienced the WIKI we could probably makea better job next time around.
16. A place to ask questions and seek help; a social space for discussion and interaction; A place for collaboration where groups (and individuals) can produce work
17. I have'nt [sic]yet had enough experience of 'wiki-ing to determine how it might continue to be used on the course - for it's [sic]sins, I prefered [sic]the google collaborative activity, because at least you found out if things had been changed (you got an email notification) - to learn if a wiki has changed, you need to log into the wiki and wade through it
18. As a place to present work so that it can be shared with other students - a bit like "How have you approached this" as you might do in the classroom
19. Please make sure the links are reliable, I think communication about the projects we did should be in one place. Using the wiki when it had many pages that were editable by anyone meant that it was quite easy to miss a message or instruction. Therefore it should be agreed at the beginning of the project where any planning should be done. When we did it messages were being left in the forum and the wiki. Just have one place, so people can both leave and see messages and know that they will be seen.
20. A place for collaboration where groups can produce work is the best reason for the using wiki`s [sic] , it can save people time and costs and is convenient to access at anytime.
21. A place for collaboration where groups can produce work.
22. A place for collaboration where groups can produce work A hub for online learning A reference point for future learning and future cohorts