Social Learning Networks and Social Bookmarking

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SOCIAL (LEARNING) NETWORKS AND SOCIAL
BOOKMARKING
Steve Mackenzie and Heather Conboy: May 16th 2008

Welcome
Workshop Agenda
0-5 mins:
5-15 mins:
15-20 mins:
20-30 mins:
30-35 mins:
35-45 mins:
45-55 Mins:
50-60 Mins:

Workshop Admin, Introductions and Objectives
Setting the Scene and Context for this workshop (SM)
Questions and Discussion
Social Bookmarking (HC)
Social and Learning Networks (SM)
Summary Workshop Admin and Farewell

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Introductions

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

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

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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


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Your Experience
•

Social Bookmarking
– None
– A little
– A fair bit
– Quite a lot

•

Social Networking
– None
– A little
– A fair bit
– Quite a lot


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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


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Web 2.0 and the Power of Connected Learning
If you believe that interacting and communicating with others
i.e. being social is conducive to learning then Web 2.0 is useful:

•
•
•

Web 2.0 allows you to participate and share
Web 2.0 connects people and resources
Web 2.0 technology is easy to use


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Web 2.0: Facilitator of Social (Networked) Learning
Students can learn by:

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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 feedback on a blog, as opposed to a written sheet of paper)
• 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

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The Impact of Social Software on Learning

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http://youtube.com/watch?v=grI_h88vs3g

George Siemens: proponent of a new learning theory Connectivism

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Social software (Web 2.0) can facilitate networked learning
Any Questions

Micro-Blogging

Wikis

Social Networking

Media
Social Bookmarking
Blogs

• 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 answer your
question then post a message in
the web2learning network and
myself, heather and others can
respond.
• http://web2learning.ning.com

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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)

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Tagging

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& Citeulike, Connotea,

Source: www.modulussystems.com/blog/2007/09/anyone-fo...


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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.

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The Del.icio.us website (Interface)

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

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Ideas for social bookmarking
Researcher
networks

Projects

Scaleable
build resource for class
or subject

Informal and
independent learning

Staff resources

Possible integration
with other networking

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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/

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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

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Case Study: Web2learning
•

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

•

Features Include:
–
–
–
–

–

–
–

•
•

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

–
–

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


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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
Example Social Networks with a learning focus
– College 2.0
http://www.realmentalhealth.com/
– Classroom 2.0
http://dailystrength.org/
– 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

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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

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Additional Case Study: Why we use Ning?
Edge Hill University: Their Story as explained at http://ltd-edgehill.blogspot.com/2007/11/using-socialnetwork-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

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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

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The floor is yours – Ideas and Questions

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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

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Social Learning Networks and Social Bookmarking

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