[Air-L] Major/Major Report Plus: A Study on the Effective Use of Social Software by Further and Higher Education in the UK

Wed May 13 14:40:01 PDT 2009

Colleagues/

A Major/Major Report AND Case Studies ... 

/Gerry 

A Study on the Effective Use of Social Software by Further and Higher
Education in the UK 

Shailey Minocha / January 2009 / Department of Computing / The Open
University / Walton Hall / Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK

Executive Summary

The term 'social software' covers a range of software tools which allow
users to interact and share data with other users, primarily via the
web. Blogs, wikis, social networking websites, such as Facebook and
Flickr, and social bookmarking sites, such as Delicious, are examples of
some of the tools that are being used to share and collaborate in
educational, social, and business contexts. The key aspect of asocial
software tool is that it involves wider participation in the creation of
information which is shared.

This study examined the use of social software in the UK further and
higher education sectors to collect evidence of the effective use of
social software in enhancing student learning and engagement. In this
study, data from 26 initiatives, where social software tools have been
employed, has been collected, analysed and synthesised. The cases chosen
give a spread of tools, subject areas, contexts (parttime, full-time or
distance learning), levels of study, and institutions (higher and
further education). A case study methodology was followed and both
educators and students were interviewed to find out what they had done,
how well it had worked, and what they had learned from the experiences.

This study provides insights about the: educational goals of using
social software tools; enablers or drivers within the institution, or
from external sources which positively influence the adoption of social
software; benefits to the students, educators and institutions;
challenges that may influence a social software initiative; and issues
that need to be considered in a social software initiative. Our
investigations have shown that social software tools support a variety
of ways of learning: sharing of resources (eg bookmarks, photographs),
collaborative learning, problem-based and inquiry-based learning,
reflective learning, and peer-to-peer learning. Students gain
transferable skills of team working, online collaboration, negotiation,
and communication, individual and group reflection, and managingdigital
identities. 

[snip]

Effective Use of Social Software in UK Further and Higher Education:
Case Studies [125 pp.] 

Date uploaded > 02 February 2009 > Shailey Minocha

The case studies or initiatives investigated in this study are
consolidated in this document. The 26 initiatives or case studies
investigated in this study cover a broad range of social software tools
such as discussion forums, wikis, blogs, podcasts, microblogging or
Twitter, photo-sharing (Flickr), Google Earth, 3-D virtual worlds, web
conferencing, social networking sites such as Facebook, and others based
on Elgg and Ning. 

The case studies are from a wide range of disciplines, at different
levels of study (undergraduate, post-graduate, vocational courses) in
part-time and full-time courses in further and higher education. The
mode of delivery is diverse: face-to-face, blended learning
(face-to-face and online learning), and distance-education.

Select Case Studies

[snip]

2 Using Wikis to Support Small Group Work 17

3 Facebook as a Pre-induction Support Tool 22

4 Community at Brighton: Social Networking at University of Brighton 27

7 Social Networking through Ning on a Distance-learning Programme 40

8 Using a Wiki for Developing a Portfolio and for Communication 44

11 Collaborative Learning in a Wiki on a Software Engineering Course 59

15 Develop Me! Social Networking at University of Bradford 77

17 Blogs, Wikis and Social Bookmarking to Support Web-based Research 86

18 Social Networking and Community-building in Dentistry Courses 90

20 Social Networking: Connect-ing Students and Staff 99

24 Supporting a Group of Distance-learning Students on Skypecast 116

25 Using Twitter to Support Students and Their Projects 119

26 Using Facebook to Obtain Student Feedback 122 

All Appropriate Links Available From

[ http://tinyurl.com/q9r2sk ]

Thanks to The Caribbean Librarian for The HeadsUp ! 

Enjoy !

/Gerry 

Gerry McKiernan

Associate Professor

Science and Technology Librarian

Iowa State University Library

Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu         

There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor
Hugo 

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