Developing Social Communication Skills in Saudi Arabian Female University Students using Forum Software for Collaborative E-Learning

Many female students use social communications as a part of their digital literacy. There is no doubt that social communication skills, along with mental abilities - represent efficiency and effectiveness among university youth. Any defect in these communication skills may lead to an inability to adapt to the university environment. Consequently, students may lose many opportunities, and suffer academic progress. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of collaborative E-learning in developing social communication skills in the "Research Seminars" course among students of the seventh level of the College of Education at King Khalid University-Abha city - Saudi Arabia. The study followed the semi-experimental approach, which is the design of pre-measurement and post-measurement for two groups: the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group uses the collaborative learning method of network through the course forums to activate social communication with the pre and post application of the search tool on the two research groups. The researchers applied the tool (social communication scale) on a sample consisting of (25) students from the College of Education. The result confirmed the effectiveness of collaborative E-learning in developing the social communication skills of the experimental group. The study recommends, based on its results, to take advantage of the collaborative-networked learning method to develop innovative thinking skills among university students. as well, it is necessary to hold training courses for university faculty members to develop their skills in the use of online collaborative learning tools such as blogs and discussion forums in the educational process. Moreover, there is a necessity to educate faculty members about the importance of collaborative -networked learning method in developing social communication among university students.