TEL-lingit like IT is

Well, this IS awkward. After almost ten years using my ePortfolio based on Mahara , I've made the switch to LinkedIn . The awkward part is, I proposed and chaired the development of Mahara in 2006-2007. So, why the big switcheroo? Here's how I've been operating up to now. I realised early on in my e-learning career that my best means of maintaining an online presence would be to ensure I have some sort of central profile that I could easily keep up to date and link others to. A customised tinyurl ( http://tinyurl.com/mnichols ) made this very simple, and I would use that URL for a whole host of profiles I would normally have to maintain separately. Think about it: my public blog profile , Student Hub Live profile , EDENprofile and user account profiles for the likes of Faithlife.com , Mendeley and ResearchGate … all are potential online sources for someone seeking information about me, and, without some sort of central coordination, each of them becomes rather dated ra...

Open Learning has released an early online article, " The use of Facebook to build a community for distance learning students: a case study from the Open University ". I've long wrestled with the concept of using social media in formal HE for a variety of reasons - but the format proposed by Callaghan and Fribbance works. I suspect their successful use of Facebook is based on three main characteristics: It's purposeful, and facilitated.  It's optional.  It's cross-programme, rather than intra-module (adding variety and scale).  The authors concludes that "Using everyday technology to connect with students, remind them of sources of informal learning and nudge them to think about contemporary social science issues in a critical way, the Faculty Page would appear to make a contribution to overcoming isolation and creating an academic community". Their work is certainly proof-of-concept; as the authors add, however, more research as to the bene...