Synchronising Informal and Formal Learning Spaces to Facilitate Collaborative Online Learning

Abstract While online learning is increasingly used to provide continuation and facilitate interaction between students, institutions are challenged by low participation rates on their learning management systems and high drop-out rates. At the same time, students engage in extensive, needs-driven informal collaborations on a spectrum of offline and online platforms in support of their learning. It seems pertinent to understand the process though which students self-direct their learning across different learning spaces. A combination of focus groups and personal interviews was used during a qualitative study to gain in-depth feedback from a variety of online students in an online course at the University of South Africa (Unisa). Unisa is a large open distance learning (ODL) institution in South Africa and hosts students from diverse social backgrounds. Insights about student collaborations emerged after a thematic analysis, grounding the results in a social capital theoretical framework. The results indicate that students engage in social networking across various learning platforms, establishing a variety of social ties with perceived learning benefits, deriving value from the social capital fund in the respective social ties. Online educators can gain useful insight from understanding the process and value of students’ self-initiated participation in informal learning spaces to find ways for improved student participation in online learning. Practical ideas are offered as to how student collaborative learning can be facilitated by integrating formal and informal learning spaces in a seamless learning environment.