Challenges with social software for collaboration: Two case studies from teacher training

Sammendrag

This paper provides an insight into challenges with collaborative learning using social software. It reports two case studies conducted in a teacher training department in a Finnish university. Although the case studies were concerned with providing teacher students with inspiring and motivating experiences of using ICT in pedagogically meaningful ways, the research design was set up so that challenges could be identified and investigated. Results reveal several factors that are related to challenges of learning collaboratively with social software. The main challenge concerns students’ understanding of what it means to learn collaboratively. It would seem that the added value of interaction and collaboration is poorly recognised. Furthermore, implications for teacher training are discussed.