Abstract
<p>This study uses Facebook as a platform and arranges certain learning tasks to identify the feasibility of mobile collaborative learning for pre-service teachers. The pre-service teachers’ sense of community and perceptions of collaborative learning are investigated. A total of 153 pre-service teachers volunteered to participate in an Intern Mobile Collaborative Learning Facebook Group from July 2015 to October 2015. During participating in the Facebook Group, pre-service teachers were required to achieve various tasks regarding collaborative learning. A questionnaire, consisting of three sections, frequency, sense of community, and perceptions of learning and perceptions of collaborative learning, was developed and validated. All participants were required to fill in the questionnaire at the last week of the project’s schedule. This study concludes that high browsing frequency on Facebook Group could positively facilitate the sense of community and perceptions of collaborative learning among pre-service teachers; while high frequency of posting and responding to messages on Facebook Group merely promotes perceptions of collaborative learning. The conclusion identifies that assigned tasks like posting and responding to messages regarding school field-based experiences are necessary in mobile collaborative learning among pre-service teachers.</p>
Highlights
Collaborative learning is defined as a learning strategy in which learners are encouraged to be interdependent and be accountable for one’s own and one another’s learning process (Dillenbourg, 1999)
This study concludes that high browsing frequency on Facebook Group could positively facilitate the sense of community and perceptions of collaborative learning among pre-service teachers; while high frequency of posting and responding to messages on Facebook Group merely promotes perceptions of collaborative learning
The conclusion identifies that assigned tasks like posting and responding to messages regarding school field-based experiences are necessary in mobile collaborative learning among pre-service teachers
Summary
Collaborative learning is defined as a learning strategy in which learners are encouraged to be interdependent and be accountable for one’s own and one another’s learning process (Dillenbourg, 1999). Collaborative learning strategies provide learners with opportunities to receive numerous perspectives of other learners, and enhance individual critical thinking skills by comparing with, evaluating, and opposing different viewpoints (So & Brush, 2008). Because collaborative learning strategy involves the exchange and contrast of various perspectives, the strategy specially suits the pre-service teachers who participate in the school field-based experiences in different areas. Pre-service teachers only acquire the educational practice experiences from their practicum school. If the pre-service teachers coming from various practicum schools could mutually share individual experiences, and further discuss on the educational practices of the sharing experiences through mobile technological device, they would be able to learn more educational knowledge by reflecting their own and others’ experiences. As Ke and Hsu (2015) mentioned, pre-service teachers can engage in active knowledge construction through mobile-supported collaborative learning environment
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