A complement to static web pages uses an “eLearning 2.0” approach which is designed to provide opportunities for social networking (what we used to call collaboration!). These specialised sites are driven by so-called 'social software' applications, themselves part of the Web 2.0 design philosophy of greater collaboration and interactivity.
One such online environment is Elgg - it supports the deployment of blogs, wikis, social bookmarking (folksonomies), podcasts, RSS and other collaborative technologies which provide educators with tools to create communities of learning. These are sometimes referred to as “social networking” systems.
The Flexible Learning Unit has provided an Elgg installation - a "personal learning landscape" - on our own servers. Teachers and students can create personal profiles and blogs and enable powerful connections to each other through a tagging system. Elgg can also be “powerlinked” to more traditional eLearning systems such as WebCT/Blackboard.
| Try the VU Social Networking Site - log in with your old Netscape (LDAP) user name and password and start participating ... ! |
| ... and then there's the new, on-brand, e-Learning Blog, from FLU. We encourage you to visit and comment! |
Teachers and students can also create community blogs and file-sharing spaces. These can be open to all, or limited to a specific, private community membership.
Podcasting
Before you can podcast, you have to record (or at least edit) audio files.
While there is much software available to record and edit audio files, a free program such as Audacity is quite adequate for this task. You might need to use a file conversion utility as well - your recorded material may be in ".wav" or "wmp" format, but for podcasting you will need to convert it to ".mp3".
Distinguish between:
- mere uploading of audio to a website or WebCT for students to listen to/download, and
- true podcasting - a publish & subscribe model which requires a student to have an mp3 player and 'podcatcher' software such as iTunes.
Check the links below for an overview of Podcasting:
Other Social Networking sites out there ...
A good Overview of Social Software is provided on the Learning Technologies Wiki - one of Anne Bartlett-Bragg's many Web 2.0 initiatives. Other topics there are Developing the Learning Landscape and some useful Resources.
The Learning Technologies Blog has some good material, including posts on The end of "e"-Learning, Virtual Worlds & 3D learning, and the forthcoming Learning Technologies 2007 Conference.
The underlying Elgg system used for eLearning applications is now known as EduSpaces. The community is open for anyone to join – most revolve around the use of Elgg in education and other elearning settings.
You can also explore a more mature Elgg system at the University of Brighton, UK. If you have problems logging in, contact antony.marsh@vu.edu.au or phone 9919 8414
