Guardian reports on the Eddies…
The results are in for this year’s Edublog awards (“Eddies” for short), an online event that showcases the best use of blogs, podcasting and other social software in education.
A full list of winners and nominations can be found at edublogawards.com.
The TES have published (as part of a wide ICT supplement) an interesting article on how West Suffolk College with support from RSC Eastern are using social networking tools to support and enhance learning.
Are websites such as MySpace, Bebo and YouTube entertaining time wasters or can they be teaching tools? At West Suffolk College, students are encouraged to use online social networking sites.
Really interesting article.
I am at the Theme Speaker’s Summary Learning technology for the social network generation.
Marion Miller (JISC RSC YH) is talking through her background and is giving an overview of the RSCs.
She’s covering some interesting points, in the main learner control to start with, empowering learners and other issues.
At this point I moved over to large scale implementation session as I wanted to hear about that as well.
In the Tensions between personal space and social space in mobile learning symposium John Cook mentioned Google Street View and mentioned privacy issues.
I heckled from the back about how not only are you viewable on Google Street View but your image may then make the rounds on social news sites such as Digg. As you can see from here there are quite a few Digg front page stories that focus on Google Street View. Remember that a Digg story with two thousand odd diggs, will generally generate about fifty to a hundred thousand page views!
Personally I think it is a real issue and can only get worse.
It reminds me of a novel I once read in which privacy disappears (not through the internet but by wormholes).
The Light of Other Days
‘Space is what keeps everything from being in the same place. Right?’ With these words Hiram Patterson, head of the giant media corporation OurWorld, launches the greatest communications revolution in history. With OurWorld’s development of wormhole technology, any point in space can be connected to any other, faster than the speed of light. Realtime television coverage is here: earthquakes and wars, murders and disasters can be watched, exactly as they occur, anywhere on the planet. Then WormCams are made to work across time as well as space. Humanity encounters itself in the light of other days. We witness the life of Jesus, go to the premiere of Hamlet, solve the enigmas that have baffled generations. Blood spilled centuries ago flows vividly once more – and no personal treachery or shame can be concealed. But when the world and everything in it becomes as transparent as glass and there are no more secrets, people find new ways to gain vengeance and commit crime, and Hiram Patterson finds new ways to keep his Machiavellian schemes secret.’
In Friday’s Guardian there were a couple of articles of interest which you may have missed, as they were tucked away in the Back to School section which came with the paper.
Of course the beauty of the internet is that even if you have handed in the paper for recycling already (or months ago if you are reading this in December) you can still access the relevant articles online through Guardian Unlimited.
Or so I thought….
The articles from the Back to School supplement are not available online!
They might be on the pay per view edition, but doesn’t look like the supplement is available as text articles.
Well one article was on social networking and the other on mobile phones, no point in really talking about them as you can’t read them!
We are in the process of looking at Facebook because our learners are wanting to use it to engage and interact with the college. It is in the main for the social and sports side of college (which is why a lot of learners come to (and stay at a college)).
Gloucestershire College Facebook Group
(note you need to be a member of facebook to access this page)
It is in the main going to be used for marketing.
Whether we use it for teaching and learning… well this is a different question.
There is already a college Facebook network (set up by the students)
The learners are already engaging with Facebook, we as institution need to consider how we are going to engage with both Facebook and the students who are using Facebook.
As for blocking facebook, we don’t.
We do however (for some reason) block bebo, however students (and one or two staff) are using bebo on a daily basis in college…
Interesting Facebook links
Facebook: Engage with it or leave it alone?
12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally
Bluetooth helps Facebook friends
I personally think there is real potential to utilise social networking to support teaching and learning.
Our students network socially (in the offline world) already to support their learning, they meet for coffee, they create study groups, they share information and resources.
An online social network allows them to do this at a time and place to suit them, it also allows some students who would be discrimnated in a physical social network to engage.
An online social network will not replace an offline social network, it is not an “either or” situation, for me it is about supporting learners to learn.
Unlike other social networking websites (read MySpace and Bebo) the college does not block Facebook (nor does it block Virb either).
I signed up or Facebook but to be honest found it quite a challenge to interact with, Virb was a lot easier, though I am hearing a lot about Facebook at the moment specifically about Facebook applications.
Not sure if I will stick it out with Facebook, can’t really see the purpose of Facebook from an e-learning perspective, though from a social networking perspective I am sure it works really well.