Hello all,
I have come across another helpful description of Elgg, in the form of a checklist, which adds to and clarifies the information that we already have about it.
Features:
Blogging Social networking
File repositories for individuals and communities Podcast support
Full access controls Supports tagging
User profiles Full RSS support
RSS aggregator Create communities
Collaborative community blogs Create 'friends' networks
Import content Publish to blog
Multilingual Branding/customisation
OpenID support
Along with this checklist, this link contains a statement written by a university that is using Elgg in a big way. Within two weeks of the university's implementation of Elgg they had a very active and interesting blogging community. There are currently 36,000 students and staff registered for Elgg. The format of Elgg has made it simple to intigrate with the colleg's existing programs for registration and courses. As well as its informal use as a social networking tool, it is being used more formally within courses at the university.
http://elgg.org/features.php
I'm thinking more and more about how to use it in a k-12 setting. It has a reputation of being very difficult to get set up and register, so that appears to be a significant hurtle to get over. Once set up, however, it is a highly thought-of program. This week I'm going to try to get through the registration hurtle, and see if I can get something going.
Brooke
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3 comments:
Brooke,
The information about the Elgg at the University of Brighton was interesting. I'm not sure of how well it would work for elementary students but middle and high school kids might have some useful applications. We'll see what else you discover. Thanks for the info.
Jennifer
My impression is (correct me if I'm wrong) that Elgg is a self-contained learning environment. I can see how it would be useful in a k-12 educational setting, since you don't need to be concerned about potentially exposing students to unwanted elements.
However, it seems like a great deal for just one person to manage, I'd be interested in learning how schools are "managing it." Does one person set it up and do in-service sessions to educate teachers on how to use it? And then each each teacher, monitors their students' usage?
I agree with Jennifer that this seems to be more appropriate for middle and high schoolers. I would be interested in learning about how elgg could be used in elementary schools.
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