e-learning Now » Facebook

Closer to Open Social Networks? Google and Facebook Join the DataPortability Work Group

drandyoliver — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:11:59 +0000

From Catherine Howell via Educause. The possible future of the internet?

Ben Metcalfe, the DataPortability founder, has just announced that Facebook along with Google have now joined the DataPortability Workgroup.

Given that Google and Facebook are two of the biggest holders of social and personal information on the internet (Amazon are probably 3rd) this means we could see a kick start towards users being able to share content freely across social networking sites. If a standard does emerge it is likely that future PLE/MLEs will also accommodate them. So we could be looking at students arriving at university and being able to port elements of existing personal data into the MLE (say from a social network site) and then at the end of their degree export the data into another network (possibly even to another institution MLE). So the user may have a single personal dataset throughout their career / life to which they add / remove elements as they continue to learn. the data will be continually modified to reflect their life long learning. Of course a pessimistic view is that such rich data will be heaven for targeted online advertising.

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F2F Event & Social Networks LEading to Richer Connections?

drandyoliver — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:09:54 +0000

Via Stephen Downes blog. Should we consider using social networks to support or even facilitate training events / sessions / conferences? How many conferences or external meetings have you attended where you meet like minded individuals, take their details together with promises of future collaboration only to lose sight of them as day to day work and events take over? The posts suggests that social networks, particularly Facebook can help here as your contacts are always there in front of you when you log in. So there exists the possibility of continuing relationships with conference contacts and building up a group of highly connected experts for a particular field. Could be a goods way of providing continual support to one off training events / seminars.

I might raise this with the BLU conference organisers as an idea…

View initial post form Janet Clary’s blog (Web Link) and Stephen Downes comments (Web Link).

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Studying in Facebook

drandyoliver — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:08:30 +0000

From the blog of Jane Hart (Web Link). I’ve mentioned in earlier posts about my on/off quest concerning student learning in Facebook. I’ve been aware of students using it for course based discussion and as a means of keeping into contact with each other. Lately I’ve heard about specifically designed Facebook applications to help with course management.

Study Groups is an example. Apparently it is a social project management tool created to enable student collaboration. Features include: a discussion board, file and note sharing, task and responsibilities assignments, meeting schedules and the like.

If you have a Facebook account you can add the Study Groups facility by clicking on the link here. I’ve added it to my account and will be playing with it over the next few days.

Facebook As a Learning Platform

drandyoliver — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 11:28:49 +0000

Increasingly there has been a lot of speculation with regards to using Facebook as a learning platform and the article below is typical. Many people cite its social network aspect, allowing for groups of people interested in the same sort of ’stuff’ to converse and for ideas to spread on a viral basis. Indeed it’s very social, allowing to to notify your friends of what you are up to etc. So there’s the element of a social based learning community of users.

But at the moment I’m not convinced as to how Facebook can move further in terms of learning. It’s creaky, has vague policies with regards to user privacy and there is no responsibility on their part with regards to storage and archiving activity. All of which will prevent it from becoming a fully fledged learning platform.

It is still worth having a look if you’re curious. Currently there’s around 7000 UH members ion the site and there is a lot of connecting and commenting. And as Stephen Downes mentions it may not become a learning platform but its worth a look as the social features it uses may find there way into feature learning platforms.

And there are some educational users and I’m going to be looking at these as well. On the surface it seems to be colleges and schools who use it because they don’t have access to a managed learning environment. So hopefully (because I’m an optimist) I may change my view.

Facebook as learning platform article