StudyScape: A Development of a Simple Collaborative Learning Environment Using a Cloud Application Platform

Web-based collaborative learning has gained popularity as a learning approach in higher education including the development of various web-based environments. Effective use of web-based collaborative learning can facilitate students' learning. Prior to the COVID pandemic, a web-based learning approach was mainly utilized in life-long learning, distance learning, and informal learning. During the global pandemic, web-based learning was almost the only way. This paper presents the development of a web application, called StudyScape, that could be used as a platform in a collaborative learning environment. As a small-scale low-cost proof-of-concept, StudyScape utilizes a free platform as a service that facilitates building, running, and operating the implemented application entirely in the cloud together with another free cloud-hosted database. The StudyScape has many features that provide users with essential social web application functionalities such as posting files, commenting and bookmarking posts, adding like, prompting notifications, launching a real-time chat, and searching. As a result, this web application exhibited satisfactory functionalities to be used as a learning ecosystem.