Social Learning Networks and Social Bookmarking

Steve Mackenzie and Heather Conboy: May 16 th 2008 SOCIAL (LEARNING) NETWORKS AND SOCIAL BOOKMARKING 1. Workshop Admin, Introductions and Objectives 2. Setting the Scene and Context for this workshop (SM) 3. Social Bookmarking (HC) 4. Social and Learning Networks (SM) 5. Summary and Final Thoughts Workshop Agenda Welcome

Introductions DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008

Heather Conboy (E-learning co-ordinator, Faculty of Humanities)

Worked with lecturers on the PgCertHE to raise awareness of Web 2.0 technologies and the benefits of working with the two most well known web 2.0 technologies Blogs and Wikis

Steve Mackenzie (Distance Learning Developer, Faculty of HLS)

Has developed and delivered a ‘Web 2.0: the basics: An introduction to learning and teaching’ online course which gives teachers practical experience of Social Bookmarking, Social Networking and other Web 2.0 technology.

Currently Studying for MA Independent Study: The impact of interactive and collaborative technology

Workshop Objectives The application of Web 2.0 technologies for educational purposes is gaining ground in many academic quarters. In this workshop we will highlight the features of two popular web 2.0 technologies Social Bookmarking and Social Networking and explore ideas of how they can be used for teaching, learning and professional development. In this workshop we will 1. Explore the meaning of social bookmarking/ Social Networking as part of the Web2.0 environment 2. Demonstrate the use of social bookmarking and networking (including del.icio.us, Ning) 3. Ask participants to share their thoughts and ideas for using these tools 4. Share how we have tried to use these tools as part of the pathfinder 5. Explore ways in which they can be useful for both students and staff DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008

Your Experience

Social Bookmarking

None

A little

A fair bit

Quite a lot

Social Networking

None

A little

A fair bit

Quite a lot

DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008

Before We Start: Some Simple Definitions

Social Bookmarking is a web-based service to share Internet bookmarks. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social bookmarking

Social Networking is a phenomena defined by linking people to each other in some way. www.topicguru.net/

Networked Learning is a process of developing and maintaining connections with people and information, and communicating in such a way so as to support one another's learning. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Networked learning

Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2

Web 2.0 (Social Software) and the Power of Network Learning

Web 2.0 allows you to participate (conversations, contributions) and share (ideas and resources)

Web 2.0 connects people and resources

Web 2.0 technology is easy to use

If you believe that interacting and communicating with others i.e. being social is conducive to learning then Web 2.0 is useful: DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008

Web 2.0: Facilitator of Social (Networked) Learning

It could be argued that students can do this anyway. Web 2.0 technologies can build on and extend face to face interactions . They can facilitate for example:

Ease of access (e.g 24/7 internet access, electronic written tutor feedback always available)

More immediate or quicker Feedback

A voice for quieter, less dominant students

Connection to a wider audience permanently

Capture ideas for further reflection, discussion and debate

DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008 Students can learn by:

The Impact of Social Software on Learning http://youtube.com/watch?v=grI_h88vs3g George Siemens: proponent of a new learning theory Connectivism DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008

Social software (Web 2.0) can facilitate networked learning Blogs Micro-Blogging Media Wikis Social Bookmarking Social Networking Any Questions

Make a note of any questions you may have from what you have seen in the video clip, about web 2.0 and/or Social software

If not enough time to ask your

question then post a message in

the web2learning network and

myself, heather and others can

respond.

http://web2learning.ning.com

Social Bookmarking

The real-time Web, organized by you.“ (Technorati.com)

A way of storing, classifying, sharing and searching links through the practice of folksonomy techniques on the internet. In a social bookmarking system (eg del.icio.us ), users store lists of internet resources that they find useful, and other people with similar interests can view the links by category, tags, or randomly. (Futurelab)

Tagging & Citeulike, Connotea, Source: www.modulussystems.com/blog/2007/09/anyone-fo... DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008

Nuts ‘n bolts: how-to

Allows you to save Web pages as bookmarks and access them online

Allows you to ‘ tag ’ (categorise) as you please

Enables you to share your bookmarks with other users and to search other people’s bookmarks

Enables you to form networks with other users (people who are searching for relevant sites for you)

Allows both Personalising & Sharing : Reading your network’s bookmarks, e.g. Del.icio.us provides convenient RSS feeds.

http://del.icio.us/dmupathfinder/socialnetworking The Del.icio.us website (Interface) DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008

Ideas for social bookmarking Projects Informal and independent learning Scaleable build resource for class or subject Researcher networks Staff resources Possible integration with other networking DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008

Social Networks: Commonly Known Sites

Facebook, Myspace, Bebo

Primary purpose is social

Educational uses have/ are being explored

Personally I have no interest in Facebook as a learning tool, as in my opinion

it is a distraction from learning and an

invasion of students social space.

Note: It may have a role to play for some tutors

Owen Kelly currently teaches digital interactive media at Arcada, a university of applied sciences in Helsinki, Finland. He advocates the use of facebook (but not myspace and bebo) educationally. You can read his views here: http://www.owenkelly.net/393/social-software-as-a-front-end/

Create Your own Learning Network: Ning

Very popular way of creating your own learning network

Why?

A more co-ordinated purposeful approach

Easily created

Easily organised and administered

Easily customisable

Inviting, easy to use online environment

Private

Network organiser can easily broadcast messages

Network Activity: email notification for participants

Powerful use of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Note: A working network can be setup in 15-30 minutes

Note: Useful way to embark on informal professional development

http://Web2learning.ning.com

Case Study: Web2learning

Features Include:

Links from latest activity to people or resources

Sharing/uploading of video, audio, pictures

Imported RSS Feeds that link to web2learning del.icio.us tags

Imported RSS Feed to interesting and highly relevant blogs from George Siemens – elearnspace and ‘Connectivism’

Imported RSS Feeds to Slideshare application that delivers world wide PowerPoint presentations – subject matter is ‘Connectivism’

Creation of Sub Groups within the network

Ability for individuals to make blog posts within the network

Forum discussions

Imported RSS Feed to interesting and highly relevant blog - TechCrunch

Set up as part of research into teaching and learning using web 2.0 tools

Professional development approach for teachers. Part of the approach was to use this personalised Learning Network

Fits into a teaching model that uses the network to foster informal learning to supplement formal teaching and learning

What to know more about Social Networks and/or Web 2.0?

Professional Development – Ning Networks

Join one of these informal learning networks to participate in a learning network and learn about web 2.0 and its application to education

College 2.0

Classroom 2.0

Ning in Education

Professional Development 2.0

Web 2.0 Learning

Professional Development – The student experience

Sign up for the Web 2.0 the basics: An introduction Course

Distance learning online course over 6 weeks

Based on the SCORE 2.0 Model of learning

Groups of 12 max either DMU Staff or invited Global Educators

Contact Steve Mackenzie if interested for a September/October start (dates to be finalised)

Reading and Del.icio.us Bookmark tags

http://www.johnseelybrown.com/mindsonfire.pdf Excerpt: “The most profound impact of the Internet is its ability to support and expand the various aspects of social learning.”

http://del.icio.us/dmupathfinder/socialnetworking

http://del.icio.us/tag/socialnetworking

http://del.icio.us/Web2Learning/socialnetworking

Example Social Networks with a learning focus http://www.realmentalhealth.com/ http://dailystrength.org/ DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008

Issues to Consider for Non-institutional use of web 2.0 Technology

Web 2.0 and the use of Social (learning) networks has some fantastic attributes to facilitate learning.

However Institutions do need to be aware of important issues such as

Personal safety of staff and students when engaging in activities on the Internet

Privacy – it might be necessary and appropriate to ensure that students contribute in a secure private environment

Security of data and ability to deliver a service

Legal issues – e.g. plagiarism, copyright and libel

Additional Case Study: Why we use Ning? Edge Hill University: Their Story as explained at http://ltd-edgehill.blogspot.com/2007/11/using-social-network-instead-of-vle.html There are many different social networking sites, and they are all different. This means the interaction of people in each of them is different. We’ve chosen the Ning social networking site to test at Edge Hill because:

We wanted people to be able to join the private group without accepting the module leader as a friend . This seemed to be the case with Facebook (let us know if there are any settings to change this). We thought that students might not want to accept their tutors as a Facebook Friend as this gives them access to your updates about what you are doing and photos. Using Ning feels a lot less intrusive into students private lives .

The groups can be set so that the module leader (or whoever set the group up) accepts requests for membership of the group. This means that they can keep control of access , but students can still take the responsibility to join themselves.

Once students are members they can use the Video tool to share videos, the Music tool to share audio, the Photos tool to share images, the Forum to share ideas and attach documents. The module leader can send out notices via the Blog tool. This covers everything that they might want to share.

Note: Also not mentioned is a new feature about to be introduced within a ning network- wikis

Additional Case Study (con) : Social Network or VLE?

Our first decision was whether to focus the students on using the VLE or a Social Network area. The main differences are:

In our VLE (WebCT/Blackboard CE) there are limited options for students to add content easily. Many Social Network Services make this simple, and empower the students to share, create and communicate more.

Students have to be invited to the area, and then set up their own accounts. This is an added level of complexity for them over having an institutional account to log into everything, but none of the students who started using the area today had a problem and it only took them half a minute.

You can subscribe to RSS feeds detailing activity on the site. Although not everyone uses feeds, if you follow a lot of sites there's no good reason not to! If the VLE that we use had RSS feeds of updates, it would make it much easier to follow what is going on in each area.

http://ltd-edgehill.blogspot.com/2007/11/using-social-network-instead-of-vle.html

The floor is yours – Ideas and Questions DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008

Final Thoughts On Networking “ As this article states , the ability to form networks is vital for achieving personal and career goals. When I suggest how important personal learning networks are, I often encounter the statement "I don't have time". As this author states: "If you want to succeed you need to make the time". She then goes on to suggest that we need to schedule time for forming networks so that it becomes habitual. I wonder how many educators regularly set aside time to consider the quality and diversity of their networks.” (George Siemens – elearnspace e-mail newsletter 11/05/2008) Anticipate problems and don’t be afraid to seek constructive help. No matter how carefully you plan, some things will invariably go wrong. Don’t despair: numerous educators have emphasized the value of risk-taking to professional growth. The point is not to give up (“Oh, I tried online group work and it didn’t work at all”). Seek help from knowledgeable colleagues and from faculty development centers where you will find books, articles, and professionals who can offer indirect advice or who can observe your online classes. Remember that the research on deep learning is unequivocal. To reach your intended educational outcomes, you must provide students with opportunities for interactions and for active learning. These should occur in carefully structured, sequenced activities that are frequently assessed. The technology is merely a tool to help implement these techniques. Barbara Millis Managing—and Motivating!—Distance Learning Group Activities Thank You for attending. Please fill in and hand back your post it notes DMU 2008 Symposium : Social (learning) networks and social bookmarking – Steve Mackenzie & Heather Conboy May 16th 2008