This paper provided an overview of approaches reported in the
literature for designing social media-based learning spaces. Three
main categories were identified and discussed; to the best of our
knowledge, this classification and systematization of the area has
not been proposed before. While not attempting to supply an
exhaustive list (which would have been impossible due to the
breadth and dynamism of the field), a wide range of dedicated
educational platforms were inventoried for each category. We also
drew upon research conducted by our own team at the University
of Craiova, each category of systems featuring also an in-house
solution.
Despite the heterogeneous approaches and the distinctive features
outlined in the previous sections, several commonalities can be
found among these systems. They all provide support for
collaborative learning and most of them offer functionalities for
both students and teachers. Furthermore, the majority of listed
systems are at prototype stage, generally being used in small-scale
experimental studies, by the same research team who designed
them.