1. Social Media for Online
Collaboration
University of Warwick
24th April, 2014

2. Online collaboration for design
Learning through design has two essential
features:
• learners construct meaning through the act of
design – constructivism
• collaborative learning - meaning is
constructed jointly by a community – social
constructivism
• Combined in constructionism – Papert –
blends cognitivist and situative strategies

3. The learning we’re looking for
• Design as a trigger for a set of learning
opportunities as the learner interacts with the
object.
• Learning events happen as the learners
interact with each other in the creation of
artefacts.
• Also – learning the techniques of collaboration

4. Three projects
• Streaming Theatre in a Virtual Classroom
Warwick and Amsterdam, 2006 –
2007, Jisc/SURF
• A Better Built Environment/BIM
Hub, Coventry, Loughborough, Ryerson, 2010
to present, HP/HEA
• AMORES, Coventry, CARNet, etc, 2013 to
present, EU

5. Streaming Theatre
• Identify effective techniques for telematic
teaching
• Create assessment tasks and criteria that
employ use of video materials (the pictorial
essay)
• Identify effective online techniques for
student collaboration
• Provide students with exposure to
technology, but make cultural exchange the
focus of the interaction, not the technology.

8. The ‘telematic environment’

14. Obervations
• Set clear tasks for blog/forum/etc
• Schedule time for online collaboration outside of formal
sessions
• Have offline debriefing
• Start with more ice-breaking sessions
• Provide time at start of module for sharing cultures
• Pair up students earlier??
• Let them use the tool they want
• Observe, moderate and evaluate constantly

15. BIM-Hub project
• Based on a project funded by HP Catalyst 2011 –
2012, funded by HEA, runs 2013 to 2014
• Loughborough University, Coventry
University, Ryerson University (Canada)
• Teams of architects, construction engineers and
project managers
• Design a building and submit report
• Use GoToMeeting for synchronous and students’
choice for asynchronous

16. Transactional Distance/ I O model
Soetanto, R., Childs, M., Poh, P., Austin, S. and Hao, J. (2012) Global multidisciplinary learning in construction education: Lessons from
virtual collaboration of building design teams. Civil Engineering Dimension, 14(3), 173-181. ISSN 1410-9530 print / ISSN 1979-
570X online
Soetanto, R., Childs, M., Poh, P., Austin, S. and Hao, J. (2014) Virtual collaborative learning for building design. Proceedings of the
Institution of Civil Engineers - Management, Procurement and Law, 167, MP1, 25-34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/mpal.13.00002

17. Professional
ethos
Completion
of tasks to
time
Greater
trust
Reliance on
other
alignments
diminishes
Greater co-
operation

18. Lack of
professional
ethos
Failure to
complete
tasks to time
Diminishing
trust
Greater
reliance on
other
alignments
Reduced
commitment
to
collaboration

19. Trust in online interactions
Only difference was when trust broke down, online found it
difficult to re-establish it.
Rourke et al, 1999 gives examples of studies in establishing trust
in online interactions:
• 27% of the total message content consisted of expressions of
feeling, self introductions, jokes, compliments, greetings, and
closures.
• the more one discloses personal information, the more others
will reciprocate, and the more individuals know about each
other the more likely they are to establish trust, seek support,
and thus find satisfaction

20. Use of technology in collaboration
Students showed high degrees of digital literacy
• Selecting specific platforms to achieve specific
tasks
• Moving fluidly between them to achieve the
desired results.
• For quick communication all of the students used
Facebook
• used Dropbox for sharing documents.
• All used GoToMeeting.

21. Lack of socialising online
• Opinion held by about half the students in the
class was “SCREENS ARE NOT ENGAGING” and
“I still believe face to face meetings are key to
success”
Yet:
• No small talk in GoToMeetings.
• No sharing of images.
• Maintaining a professional distance.

22. Example of presence in GoToMeeting

24. AMORES project
• 5 Schools across Europe
• CARNet, Coventry, Staffordshire, 36.6
Competency Centre
• Discovering a love for literature through creation
of digital artefacts
• Technology chosen mainly video
• Plus videoconferencing
• Use of Edmodo to facilitate sharing and social
aspects, avoiding security issues.

25. Conclusion
• Online collaboration effective for learning
• But needs an online social aspect to maintain
trust and facilitate communication
• Students tend to pursue online social
relationships only with people they know offline.
Solely online connections need scaffolding.
• Therefore despite learners’ digital
literacies, social activity does not spontaneously
occur
• Need to devise specific activities to facilitate.

26. Streaming Theatre Team
• Amsterdam: Dr. Peter Eversmann and Dr. Erik
Lint at the Universiteit van Amsterdam
• Warwick: Mark Childs, Jonathan Stevens, Tim
White

27. BIM-Hub team
• Coventry: Stephen Austin
• Loughborough: Robby Soetanto (PI),
Jacqui Glass, Zulfikar Adamu,
Chinwe Isiadinso
• Ryerson : Paul Poh, Dmitri Knyazev
• Project evaluation: Harry Tolley,
Helen MacKenzie

28. References
• Rourke, L, Anderson, T, Garrison, D R & Archer, W. (1999) Assessing social
presence in asynchronous text-based computer conferencing. Journal of
Distance Education 14 (2) pp. 50–71
• Soetanto, R., Childs, M., Poh, P., Austin, S. and Hao, J. (2012) Global
multidisciplinary learning in construction education: Lessons from virtual
collaboration of building design teams. Civil Engineering Dimension, 14(3),
173-181. ISSN 1410-9530 print / ISSN 1979-570X online
• Soetanto, R., Childs, M., Poh, P., Austin, S. and Hao, J. (2014) Virtual
collaborative learning for building design. Proceedings of the Institution of
Civil Engineers - Management, Procurement and Law, 167, MP1, 25-34.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/mpal.13.00002
• Stevens, J. Childs, M., Lint, F. and Eversmann, P. (2007) Streaming Theatres
in a Virtual Classroom, 7th International DIVERSE Conference, Lillehammer
University College, Norway, 27th to 29th June, 2007