I-Collaboration 3.0: A Model to Support the Creation of Virtual Learning Spaces

Abstract

The growth of Web 2.0 and the effective technological convergence of mobile devices, social networks and blogs increased the potential for collective work of global nomads in digital environments. In modern digital society, nomadism changes significantly the way that users, relate, organize themselves and communicate in many different digital environments. With respect to technology-enhanced learning, the consequences of this state of affairs are that students are much more comfortable using their own social tools, and thus are not happy to spend time and effort using particular virtual learning environment (VLE). Thus, one way of keeping students motivated and exploiting their online time is to take advantage of the social tools they already use. In this direction, this article presents i-collaboration 3.0, a system that aims to create distributed and personalized virtual learning spaces on web-based tools (e.g. Twitter, Facebook). The system supports learning in distributed environments that students already know and considers their needs and preferences to provide contents.