Wikipedia defines a collaborative tool as “web-based applications that offer basic services such as instant messaging for groups, mechanisms for file sharing and collaborative search engines (CSE) to find information distributed within the system of the organization, community or team. Additionally, the functionality is sometimes further expanded by providing for example integrated online calendars, shared online-whiteboards to organize tasks and ideas or internet teleconferencing integrations. The focus of online collaboration tools ranges from simple to complex, inexpensive to expensive, locally installed to remotely hosted and from commercial to open source.”

There are a variety of different tools and platforms that can be used to facilitate social learning. From free or open source services that can be cobbled together to create an experience, to custom built learning management systems. They all offer different amounts and types of features that can facilitate social learning in different ways. These features can be analyzed across two dimensions. Synchronous, and Asynchronous.

Syncrhonous – These are tools which allow users to interact remotely in real time.

• Web Conferencing – Video Chat is a synchronous tool which allows users to talk and see each other in real time. They can often share screens to show presentations. Web Conferencing is most often used as a way for a facilitator to present a lecture. Some platforms allow attendees to be divided into break out groups, which allows for distributed learning to occur. Multiple topics can be worked on simultaneously and then represented back to the larger group. This experience provides both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, as attendees want to perform well alongside hteir peers in the breakout session, but also must present on the topic and be rewarded as part of the structure of the learning experience. Examples of such software include Zoom, WebEx, Skype, Google Hangouts.

• Instant Messaging –Facebook Messanger, WhatsApp, WeChat. These text only apps are more limited in that they don’t allow for visual interaction, however they are more accessible for users using mobile devices, or deaf learners.
• Collaborative Workspaces – For more detailed real-time collaborative work, there is software that allows users to simultaeneously edit the same document, such as Google Docs

Asynchronous – These tools provide an ondemand experience, where users remotely interact at different times

• Forums – Forums allow users to define topics by threads and have focused conversations. These allow many users to interact with an idea and for each contribution to be saved and time-stamped. An example of this functionaly would be the app Slack.
• Badges – Badging is less about users learning collaboratively, and is more about sharing their achievements with exgernal audiences. This is a type of of Extrinsic motivation provided for achieving the learning objectives of the course.
• Timeline – Unlike badges which is a primarily extrinsic reward system, a user’s timeine creates an Intrinsic reward system. Here a user can post their own updates and thoughts as they progress through a course. Other users in their network can like or comment on each update, which provides opportunities for feedback and to build networks. Facebook is the most well known platform with a timeline, but some learning management systems such as lifterlms also include a timeline functionality.

What functionality, and which collaborative tool, an instructor chooses may vary based on many factors, including the course topic, the intended audience, and the financial resources available to the instructor. Of course the option to leverage existing platforms to create a learning environment is one way to create a social, online learning community, without financial investment. This approach was studied in the study "The Effects of Integrating Social Learning Environment with Online Learning" in which facebook was integrated into an existing online learning platform. Researchers found that while students felt the tool allowed for easier communication between students and with teachers, they had low interest in integrating their coursework into their existing Facebook profile. The faculty assumed this is because the student's viewed their personal Facebook wall as private.