Web 2.0 Teaching Circle

Social Networking

Who wants to be a millionaire?

How many social networking sites are

you part of?

None

One

Tw

o

Thre

e

Four o

r more

20%17%

34%

7%

22%

1. None

2. One

3. Two

4. Three

5. Four or more

How many people are you connected to

through social networking?

None

Under 2

5

25 to

100

100 to

500

More

than 5

00

11%13%

9%

47%

20%

1. None

2. Under 25

3. 25 to 100

4. 100 to 500

5. More than 500

What do you think is the main benefit

of social networking in a professional

context?

Separa

tes p

rivate

and p

...

Make

s it e

asier t

o share

...

Public

ity /

Prom

otion o

f...

Tim

e / effi

ciency

Benefit

not c

overed h

ere

12%

46%

15%

5%

22%

1. Separates private and

professional contacts

2. Makes it easier to share

information

3. Publicity / Promotion of

information

4. Time / efficiency

5. Benefit not covered here

Which Social Networking sites do

you use?

Face

book

LinkedIn

MyS

pace

Frie

nds Reunite

d

Anoth

er site

74%

3%

18%

5%0%

1. Facebook

2. LinkedIn

3. MySpace

4. Friends Reunited

5. Another site

Why are you here?

I don’t

use SN cu

rrently

...

I use

SN alre

ady but w

an...

I have u

sefu

l ideas a

bou...

I am

sceptic

al about S

N ...

Reaso

n not c

overed

7%

17%

21%

17%

38%1. I don’t use SN currently am

thinking about it

2. I use SN already but want

to learn more about it

3. I have useful ideas about

how SN can be used in the

University

4. I am sceptical about SN but

am willing to discuss it

5. Reason not covered

Why a Social Network?

Student-led

“Can we have a wiki please?”

Administration time in allocation of wikis

Moodle used as wiki hub

By making it easier, would we get more collaborative

working?*

* (visible)

Why not Facebook?

Students reported in other projects that they are

possessive of their personal space

Can be managed, but easier to have it done for you…

Group membership is as important to many

Potential to put staff in a position of conflict

A new system can have clearly defined rules and norms

All about Elgg

Open source social network software

In current form, available since August 2008

Dental School eLearning Team evaluated it for CPD

provision (and rejected it!)

Found to bridge the gap between MOLE, Moodle and

USpace

Launched as a beta September 2008

Credit to Arunangsu Chatterjee for this

What happened?

Students not pre-registered, not mandatory

Slow building up of profiles

Seemingly associated with social groups

Friends collection race

Staff collection race!

Initial groups were formal

Physical and/or geographic (e.g. a lab, research group)

Tutor groups

Seminar tutorials

Later used for creative assessment - collating and blogging

PDP reflection blogs

Fresher forums

Patterns of use

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Dental Connect Profile Creation (by week)