It has been reported that WhatsApp, a social media application, had approximately 1.6 billion active users globally as of July 2019, almost one-fifth of the
total world’s population. Thus, research about WhatsApp’s influence in general
and especially its influence in education was relevant and significant. While
there was much research involving WhatsApp and learning, it was not conclusive about the effects of WhatsApp on student learning. Specifically, research
focusing on collaborative learning using WhatsApp was lacking, including research instruments for measuring collaboration on WhatsApp. Consequently,
the paper’s research problem was the lack of research instruments for measuring collaboration on WhatsApp in relation to academic achievement. To address
the research problem, the study followed the important initial and conceptual
steps of the instrument development process to develop a research instrument to
measure collaboration on WhatsApp in relation to academic achievement. The
result of the paper was a developed instrument that provides researchers with a
basis to measure the explanatory constructs involved in mobile collaborative
learning (MCL) processes on WhatsApp and potentially other social media platforms. Therefore, the paper made an appropriately theoretical contribution,
which was grounded in the scientific literature. The study facilitated positivistic
research and epistemology for acquiring objective and precise scientific
knowledge. Such deductive research promotes theory testing and development
and presents educators and students with scientific evidence about learning with
MCL applications such as WhatsApp from which both curriculum and learning
design can be informed and benefited. In the age of connected mobility this is a
necessity.
Citation:Nyembe B.Z.M., & Howard G.R. (2020). Development of a Quantitative Instrument to Measure Mobile Collaborative Learning (MCL) Using WhatsApp: The Conceptual Steps. In M. Hattingh, M. Matthee, H. Smuts, I. Pappas, Y. Dwivedi, & M. Mäntymäki (Eds.), Responsible Design, Implementation and Use of Information and Communication Technology. I3E 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) vol 12066 (pp. 507-519). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. ISSN 0302-9743. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44999-5_42
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