2013 Joint International Conference on Rural Information & Communication Technology and Electric-Vehicle Technology (rICT & ICeV-T)

November 26-28, 2013, Bandung-Bali, Indonesia

978-1-4799-3365-5/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE

Development of E-Learning with Social Network Haryus Aminul Akbar1, Ayu Purwarianti2 and Henny Yusnita Zubir3

Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia 1if17016@students.if.itb.ac.id

2ayu@informatika.org 3henny@stei.itb.ac.id

Abstract — Network social integration in E-learning application has benefit of improving student motivation in using E-learning. This research built such function based on three similar platforms such as Students Circle Network, Edmodo and ResearchGate. Social network features provided in this research include Newsfeed, Wall and photo album. E-learning features include making course and adding course material, discussion, and exercise. The application was tested to 30 students which 15 among them had experience in using E-learning. The questionnaire has two main points: user experience and user engagement. The experimental result showed that social network feature can add fun element in the E-learning without disturbing the learning function. Keywords— E-learning, social network

I. INTRODUCTION Since the beginning, the social network site has attracted

million users from many countries. Other than social communication and entertainment, social network has other advantage to be used in pedagogical way. In the future, E-learning will have strength in social learning[1]. Different with traditional approach of E-learning, in social learning, the interactions among students or student and teacher are very important.

A. E-Learning Definition There are several definitions of E-learning[2]. According to

Cambridge Dictionaries Online (www.dictionary.cambridge. org), E-learning is “an attempt to provide course in internet for students so they can study at home”[3]. While in Collins English Dictionary (www.dictionary.reference.com), E-learning is “an internet-based teaching system”[4].

Amaral and Leal[5] made a strong definition of E-learning. They built a mathematical model of E-learning and compared it with traditional of classroom learning. In general, they defined E-learning as “the act of learning through computer”. In detail, they defined E-learning as “a process where student can learn a course content placed in internet with or without a CD-Rom. If there is a tutor, then he/she from distance, can use internet to communication synchronous or asynchronous with student, and it can also be equipped with classroom meeting.

We concluded that the most important element in E-learning concept is the electronic media or computer. Then a

course without electronic media is not an E-learning. Here, the student and the teacher should interact using electronic media.

B. Social Network Definition According to Boyd dan Ellison[6], social network is a web

based service that provide functions for a person to: 1. Build public or semi-public profile in a bounded

system, 2. Build the list of other user having conneted, 3. See the friend list of other user in the system. The rule and characteristics of this connection are different

among the social network websites.

C. Social Network for E-Learning According to Dalsgaard[7], the main characteristics of

social network is the combination of personalization and socialization. Dalsgaard said that in a social network, communication, dialogue or collaboration are not necessary. The dominant feature of social network is transparency.

Transparency means that the interesting aspect of social interaction in social network is the starting point of an individu. This is different with discussion forum where communication is the main thing in an open forum. In a social network, each user has its own personal page and its own profile that the user builds and modifies on his/her own. Other users can see the page and follow the activity of their friend. This communication type and this passive sharing is the transparency characteristics of social network.

The transparency characteristics in social network can be employed for pedagogical function. Transparency means that each student has its own knowledge on work, thought and product of other students. In social network, personalization and sosialization are the combination to facilitate this transparency.

II. ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF E-LEARNING WITH SOCIAL NETWORK FEATURE

The design of E-learning platform with social network feature should have the characteristics of social network and can also fulfil its function as a E-learning system. There are several available social network platforms for E-learning but there are several drawbacks on the system, which can be the limited function of the social network characteristics or the limited function of E-learning system.

To make our final design, there are several things will be

analysed for three available platforms: Students Circle Network (SCN)[8], Research Gate (RG)[9], Edmodo[10]. Among these three platforms, only Edmodo that has function of an E-learning system, while others are the social network application. In the social network applications of Students Circle Network and ResearchGate, there are several E-learning features, so they can be categorized as the combination of E-learning and social network.

A. The Comparison of SCN, Research Gate, and Edmodo We compared these three applications based on the social

network characteristics and E-learning characteristics. The point of social network function includes:

1. User target User is not the people that can use the application feature, but user means the people that can employ the social network function of the application.

2. Content characteristics It includes the shared content in the user social circle, whether it is formal (only related to teaching and learning function) or non formal (can share content outside a course).

3. Connectivity model It can be one way connection such as “follow” in twitter or two way connection such as “friend” in facebook.

The comparison result of these three platforms are shown in Table 1. From the table, we can see that SCN and Edmodo have a wider social network function by allowing users to share their content including the academic content or the non-academic content.

TABLE I

COMPARISON BETWEEN SCN, RG AND EDMODO BASED ON SOCIAL NETWORK FUNCTION

Function Application SCN RG Edmodo

User target

Student Researcher Teacher/tutor

Content characteristics

Formal and non-formal

Formal Formal and non formal

Connectivity Model

Two way One way Two way

We also compared these three applications based on their

E-learning function: 1. Course material type 2. Resource of the course material 3. Moderator of learning process 4. Records of learning result

The comparison result is shown in Table 2. From the table, we can see that Edmodo has the most complete E-learning function by providing teacher and student role for user, and also providing exercise and the record of exercise result.

TABLE 2 COMPARISON BETWEEN SCN, RG AND EDMODO BASED ON THE E-LEARNING

FUNCTION

Function Applications SCN RG Edmodo

Course material type

Multimedia file Dialogue with expert

Multimedia file, exercise/quiz

The source of course material

OpenCourseWare User generated content

User generated content

Moderator of teaching learning process

None Other user (expert)

Teacher

Record of teaching/ learning result

None None Exist

B. Design of E-learning with Social Network Feature We use the definition of E-learning as the availability of

teacher or tutor that can evaluate student learning result. From the comparison result, we found that the best application with E-learning feature is Edmodo. In Edmodo, user with teacher/tutor role can give exercise and the exercise result is recorded so the teacher/tutor can evaluate the learning progress of a student.

By reason above, we adopted the E-learning feature from Edmodo where there are two main roles for user: teacher/tutor and student. Teacher/tutor can provide the course material and can also make exercise that can record the result of student exercise.

We implemented several social network function in the E-learning such as follow:

1. User target The application facilitates teacher/tutor in giving course material and in evaluating student progress. By this, there are two user roles: as teacher/tutor and as student. The student can be high school or university student by assumption that this type of student is already familiar to social network.

2. Content type The shared content can be formal content (related with course material) or non formal content. The non formal content is allowed to give accentuation to the social network.

3. Connectivity model Since there are two user roles, then we used one way connectivity model. This is because student tends to follow teacher. If we use two way connectivity models then the teacher will accept many unimportant information from the student. It is possible that teacher would only need information flow from certain student, not all students.

We implemented E-learning function in the application

such as follow: 1. Course material type

There are shared multimedia file and exercise that can be made by teacher.

2. Course material resource The course material resource is from the user.

3. Evaluator of teaching and learning process The evaluator is teacher/tutor role.

4. Record of learning result The exercise result of a student group will be recorded by the system and can be viewed as the student learning progress.

C. Software Design The software architecture is a web based client server

application. The client is run from web browser connected to internet. All data and interface processing are done on server side.

Based on the analysis described in previous section, we defined the software requirement specification for the application on the E-learning side, such as follow:

1. System provides teacher/tutor and student role, 2. User can create course, 3. User can create topic in a course, 4. User can create exercise in a course, 5. User can register to any course, 6. User can access course material after registered, 7. User can do exercise of a certain course after

registered, 8. System can record user exercise result, 9. User can view the exercise result

And below are the software requirement specification for the social network side:

1. User has wall page that receive comments, 2. User can follow other users, 3. User can create personal profile page, 4. User can see social circle of certain user, 5. User can create photo album, 6. User searching feature, 7. System can give notification to user, 8. User can send personal message to other user, 9. System can give user activity update information to

the follower. Based on the software requirement above, we defined use case for four actors (member, guest, teacher/tutor, student) such as follow:

1. Do registration 2. Access user profile page 3. See user information 4. Access wall page 5. Access photo album 6. Check course list 7. Profile management 8. Follow other user 9. Stop following other user

10. Writing wall page 11. Comment wall page 12. Managing photo album 13. Comment photo album 14. Managing private message 15. Managing course 16. Managing course topic 17. Writing discussion in topic 18. Managing exercise 19. Follow course 20. Do exercise 21. View report of exercise result 22. See notification 23. Do searching 24. See newsfeed

III. EVALUATION The evaluation aims to know the differences between

ordinary E-learning and the E-learning with social network feature. The evaluation was done based on the questioner made to check user experience and user engagement. The application was installed on web. One user was asked to be a teacher/tutor on a certain course. After a course was created and filled by course material, other users were asked to be the student. After several interactions, all users were asked to fill the questionnaire. The questionnaire was filled by 30 students where 50% among them had experience in using other E-learning system. The questionnaire result for respondents having E-learning experience is shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3 QUESTIONNAIRE RESULT FOR RESPONDENT HAVING EXPERIENCE ON OTHER

E-LEARNING SYSTEM

No. Question Response Yes Equal No

1. Is this application more interesting compared to other E-learning application that has been accessed?

47% 40% 13%

2. Does the social network feature employed in this E- learning application give fun side in learning process?

86% 7% 7%

3. If this application provide courses such as provided in previous E-learning application, will user use this application rather the previous one?

87% 13%

Evaluation result on user experience and user engagement

to all respondents is showed in Table 4 and Table 5. TABLE 4

EVALUATION RESULT ON USER EXPERIENCE FOR ALL RESPONDENTS

(1 = VERY POOR, 2 = POOR, 3 = FAIR, 4 = GOOD, 5 = VERY GOOD)

No. Question Response

1 2 3 4 5

1. User opinion on the user interface of the application

0% 20% 33% 37% 10%

2. User first image on using the application

0% 10% 44% 23% 23%

3. User opinion on system feedback

0% 10% 17% 57% 17%

TABLE 5

EVALUATION RESULT ON USER ENGAGEMENT FOR ALL RESPONDENTS

No. Question Response Yes No

1. Does user try all features in the application?

83% 17%

2. Does user try to visit and search other user profile?

83% 17%

3. Does user get interested in making friend and communicate with other user?

70% 30%

4. Does social network feature obstruct the learning process?

10% 90%

5. Does user want to employ the application in the future?

87% 13%

Based on the evaluation of user that had experience in

using other E-learning application, majority of respondents thought that the E-learning with social network feature is not better compared to the other E-learning application that they had tried before. There were only 47% of the respondents said that this application is better than other E-learning that they had tried before. Two respondents said that the interface design on this proposed application is worse than other E-learning system. Based on user free input, it can be concluded that the main weaknesses of this application are the interface design and application color.

On the social network feature, most respondents agreed that the social network feature adds fun value in E-learning application. 90% of respondents thought that the social network feature doesn’t obstruct the learning process.

IV. CONCLUSION From the comparison among three platforms of Students

Circle Network, Edmodo, and ResearchGate, it can be concluded that the Students Circle Network has a better social network feature and Edmodo has a better E-learning feature.

Based on the features in Students Circle Network and Edmodo, we analyzed the requirement of E-learning with social network feature. The aims of the application is to give a better user experience than the ordinary E-learning without obstructing the learning process of a certain user. The implemented social network feature in the application includes: Wall, Newsfeed, Photo Album, Private Message. The implemented E-learning feature in the application include: user role as teacher and student, course creation, course material, exercise creation and exercise result report.

Based on questionnaire of 30 respondents, 53% of the respondent said that from user interface view, this application is not much better the available E-learning system that they had experienced before. But from the social network feature, most respondents agree that the social network feature added fun value to a learning process and the social network feature doesn’t obstruct the learning process.

REFERENCES

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