Starting off...

So, for the last few months I've been a week or two away from launching my software, and starting to gather data. It's been rough - my ethics ride was a bumpy one (though from what I hear they mostly are, on your first drive through Ethicsland), and that left me feeling a bit disheartened. The changes that were required weren't that serious, but the emotional effort of going back in to change software that was in my mind "completed" was a bit draining. I took a look at my remaining task list last night, and decided that if I keep focussed, I can launch this coming Friday. So, here's hoping.

I guess since this is my first post to this blog, I should start with a bit of an introduction about what I'm trying to research, and why I'm blogging here. The first part, in case anyone comes along and reads this, and the second part, to try and give myself a picture of why I'm here on Blogger.

My research is on Social Networks in eLearning Systems. There is a lot of research out there on collaborative learning online (see the ijCSCL for a good starting point), and a lot of research out there about social networks and about social networking sites. there is some stuff about bringing the two together, but it seems to be in its infancy. I have a few issues with the way a lot of collaborative learning is done online. It's well known that online collaborative learning can be an excellent way to foster deep learning in a group of students, but it seems that it's really hard to get them to do it. In fact, the standard way to get students to engage in a discussion forum is to give them marks for participating. If you don't mark them on it, they don't do it. So clearly the students don't attach much value to the exercise. They don't (usually) get marked on lecture attendance, or tutorial attendance, but they turn up to those in droves.

Students also use social networking sites to a quite staggering extent (some of them spend several hours each day on them). In a lot of ways, it's just because this is what humans are about - we have a fundamental drive to socialise, to socially groom the members of our tribe. An awful lot of what we do as people comes down to the basic drives: eat, sleep, breed, socialize, work on our status. What they aren't doing (well, not to a large extent) is using these social networks for learning. That seems to be due to a number of reasons, but primarily:

1. Social networks are about socializing, which involves presenting a persona to others. The "studious type" isn't particularly fashionable, so students are presenting a different face to the social networks
2. Students understand that the social networks are very leaky, privacy-wise. Asking a dumb question, or stating something incorrect is risky when it's in writing for all to see. This part of what makes discussion forums daunting, but social networks are even riskier when it's potentially open to the entire world's Google searches (including those of future employers).
3. Facebook isn't "where you go" to study. It would be like studying in a pub or a nightclub - like in meatspace, there are places on the web you go to study, and places you go to hang out with friends.

The aim of my research is to see if the tools of social networking can be successfully embedded in a Virtual Learning Environment (aka. Learning Management System (there are semantic differences, but the one I'm using could be described as either (warning to potential readers: in times past I coded in LISP; my parentheticals nest deeply))). The development group I manage has developed a Curriculum Mapping VLE called Compass, to which I will be adding social networking style tools. Currently my plans are looking more like Tumblr or Flickr, with a twist of Twitter, then they look like Facebook, but it's a work in progress. The network will be embedded throughout, enmeshed with the curriculum. My claim is that the network stands a chance of being useful because it is:

1. Protected -  nothing they do in here will be visible to the wider web. It won't (at this stage) even be visible to staff. This means the risk of being embarrassed by displaying a lack of knowledge is reduced.
2. Embedded - if the social tools are available in the same place as the rest of their learning materials, the effort to engage is dramatically reduced - it's always there in their face. They don't have to make the effort to go to another part of the site to check if anyone has posted anything
3. A space for learning - this is the place they go to learn, so they don't have to switch gears to get into learning mode. The space encourages learning, so their interactions will be in that direction.

My research over the next few years will tell me whether I'm barking up the wrong tree or not.

The second part of what I planned to talk about in this post is why I'm here. Well, I guess I don't really know. I know I want to keep track of my research, and this is intended to be a part of that - so that when I come back in four years' time while writing up my thesis, I have something that tells me why I implemented certain things in certain ways. It's also to give me someone to talk to - my personal place to do some rubber duck problem solving. Let's see how it works.