Anderson, T. (2008). Social Software to Support Distance Education Learners. In T. Anderson. T. (Ed.), Theory and practice of online learning (pp. 221-241). Retrieved June 5, 2009, from: http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120146
This paper provides an interesting and up-to-date overview of the use of social software in educational settings. There were a number of terms in it that were new to me. I will endeavor to include those here. The first is Educational Social Software (ESS).
I found it interesting that he mentions that DE that is set up as cohorts is not cost effective compared to programs that are self-paced (p. 222). He does go on to say that this is based on comparing the DE classes to FTF classes. I am not sure that I buy the argument that cohort based DE is not cost effective, or everybody doing it would be out of business. Even if DE does cost more, that may be OK. If an institution is only running DE courses to save money, they are probably not doing it for the right reasons anyway and I can't imagine that the quality would be very high. The high cost is associated with instructor interaction, compared to a basically self-guided course of study. Again, you are comparing apples to oranges here.
He discusses the term "social software" a bit (pp. 225-228). The basic idea he presents is that it is hard to precisely define what social software is, but you know if when you see it (kind of like pornography I guess). He presents Stutzman's distinction between object-centric and ego-centric social software suites ( p. 226). Object-centric sites being those that only share objects such as pictures or videos and ego-centric being those that allow personal interaction. I think that many sites, such as Facebook, are becoming a hybrid of these two models. Even photo and video sharing sites allow for user commenting and somewhat of a community to develop.
He finally defines Educational Social Software (ESS) "as networked tools that support and encourage individuals to learn together while retaining individual control over their time, space, presence, activity, identity, and relationship." (p. 227). Wow--I am glad that we have that settled. Stay tuned for the next post when we will finish this article...
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I found his comments about the cost effective aspect of DE a little disturbing as well. I believe that the cost is just one of initial start up cost, putting the product into play. Once you have a system up and running the technology pays for itself in the amount of students you are able to reach.
ReplyDeleteI read another persons perspective on this, Peters, and he believes that the cost is worth it because DE should be used to make education accessable to a greater number of students in remote locations who wouldn't normally get the opportunity to attend classes.