Security and Collaborative Groupware Tools in Education A Case Study at the University of Bahrain Resala AlAdraj PhD candidate Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick Coventry, UK r.aladraj@warwick.ac.uk Mike Joy Associate Professor Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick Coventry, UK m.s.joy@warwick.ac.uk Abstract — This paper presents an evaluation of the security, safety, and privacy of selected Online Collaborative Groupware (OCG) tools such as Skype, Facebook, Wikis and Gmail (SWFG) used to support learning activities from the perception of the students, and with a particular focus on the impact of their usage on student trust. A case study was conducted with two groups of undergraduate students at the University of Bahrain to identify and develop an efficient model for using SWFG tools securely within learning. In doing so, questionnaires were distributed post case study among two different students groups A and B. The overall finding of this study is that there are differences between two groups in their usage with respect to security, privacy, and trust for SWFG tools. I. INTRODUCTION During the last decade, the web has changed from a simple hypertextual repository of documents to a powerful communication medium. This change has caused educational activities to be highly supported by web applications which often include collaborative sessions. A wide range of technologies has been prepared by educational institutions in order to support collaboration between learners and between learners and teachers. In recent years, web-based technologies have allowed people who are located in different places to interact with each other in synchronous and asynchronous ways, which can then support good collaborative learning activities. Collaborative groupware can broadly be defined as a process of learning in which two or more people learn something together. Discovery of the right tools to support groupware, and intensive use of technology which supports social activities such as chatting and messaging, should support student learning and hence ensure a successful educational outcome. The ubiquity of the Internet and online technologies provides a framework within which Online Collaborative Groupware (OCG) tools become widely available and provide benefits for student learning. However, there are challenges facing OCG tools, and student concerns about their usage, for example security. Hence, the researcher has chosen Skype, Facebook, Wikis and Gmail (SWFG) as a an example of the OCG tools to evaluate the security, safety, trust and privacy from the perceptions of the students .In doing so, a case study was conducted at the University of Bahrain (UOB) with two groups of undergraduate students A and B. Group A used SWFG without applying security mechanisms and group B used SWFG with security mechanisms. Hence, the aim of this paper is to answer the following research questions. 1) Do SWFG tools used by group B have higher levels of security when compared to the use of these tools by group A? 2) Do SWFG tools used by group B have higher levels of trust when compared to the use of these tools by group A? 3) Do SWFG tools used by group B have higher levels of privacy when compared to the use of these tools by group A? 4) Do SWFG tools used by group B have higher levels of safety when compared to the use of these tools by group A? In order to answer the research questions four hypotheses were formulated related to the groups A and B in the cases of security, safety, privacy, and trust. The hypotheses are as follows. A. Hypothesis 1 Ho: SWFG tools used by group B post- experiment do not give a higher level of security when compared to the use of these tools by group A post- experiment. Ha: SWFG tools used by group B post- experiment give a higher level of security when compared to the use of these tools by group A post- experiment. B. Hypothesis 2 2013 Fourth International Conference on e-Learning Best Practices in Management, Design and Development of e-Courses: Standards of Excellence and Creativity 978-0-7695-5036-7/13 $26.00 © 2013 IEEE DOI 10.1109/ECONF.2013.47 421 2013 Fourth International Conference on e-Learning "Best Practices in Management, Design and Development of e-Courses: Standards of Excellence and Creativity" 978-0-7695-5036-7/13 $26.00 © 2013 IEEE DOI 10.1109/ECONF.2013.56 421