oa Empower The Vle With Social Computing Tools: System Prototype

Some lecturers gave reports and showed instances of moving part or all of their electronic course support from the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to social networking systems like Youtube, MySpace and Facebook because of greater student engagement with these kinds of social networking tools. Recent student interviews in Aspire Academy in Qatar have revealed that students are not concerned with what they are taught (e.g. through lectures, seminars, distance learning sessions, or through a blended learning approach) so long as the instruction was good. The latter reason opens great opportunities for delivering courses through SC media over the VLE, but also raises the question: To what extent can VLE and Social Media be leveraged as a good practice in learning and teaching in different modalities? In this research, the new experience of enriching the VLE with SC tools in Aspire Academy is presented through developing a new system prototype as a more effective solution. The prototyping process included usability testing with Aspire student-athletes and lecturers, plus heuristic evaluation by Human Computer Interaction (HCI) experts. Implementing the prototype system in academic institutions is expected to develop better learning levels and consequently better educational outcomes.