In this era of Internet and information, communication, technology (ICT) advancement, most novice and expert researchers share their intellectual output virtually. In the beginning, this was done as part of their personal page on departmental websites or blogs. Now, asynchronous tools, which perform as idea management or argumentation channels such as, blogs, wikis, chats, forums, Q&A or FAQ sites, and social networks provide unprecedented opportunities for online engaged communities or organizations to express a discourse and act at a wide scale. This indicates the researchers’ aspiration for informal learning circles as well as expanding their work cost-effectively. By creating informal online learning through collective intelligence, it means organizing the random posting of these scholarly communications and interactions into well structured, secured and attractive virtual spaces. The expected benefit of this informal online learning is included as a supplement to the consultation and supervisory process, provides institutional visibility and prestige and also to serve as a basis for a new model of consultation and supervisory communication. Understanding how and why researchers engage in these kinds of activities is important for developing better new tools for the research going forward. Based on the findings of an online pilot survey with 39 respondents (i.e. postgraduate students), this study endeavours (1) to ascertain the validity and reliability of the questions in the full study questionnaire; (2) to identify preliminary understanding of the use of asynchronous informal learning tools among the postgraduate students.

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Tarmuchi, R. N., Mohamed, H., & Ismail, A. S. (2015). Asynchronous learning tools use in graduate study: A preliminary survey. International Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, 1(1), 13-18.