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I’ve been following the OU’s SocialLearn project with great interest. To date the only glimpse I have been able to get are of the OU Facebook applications. My horizon has been expanded today by a presentation by Martin Weller on George Siemens elearnspace blog. The full presentation, SocialLearn: learning about new ways of learning, includes an introduction to the project followed by a live demonstration of the SocialLearn portal (as invariably happens in these situtations the technology stumbled, but ever the professional Martin was able to cope). If you are just interest in the live demo jump to 41min 50sec.

[Martin also outlines some of the additional applications in development at 15min 00sec (Microlearner - twitter for education, Cloudworks - course design tool, cohere - making connections between ideas)] 

In a recent post I mentioned the OU’s SocialLearn project, so what is it all about. Simply, SocialLearn is a framework which uses social networking, and other web 2.0 applications, for learning.

At the heart of SocialLearn is a central learner profile. This profile contains the usual user information, contacts, groups etc. By releasing an open API, the OU are hoping that any third party application will be able to add to that profile, using a suite of applications to pull information in from other sites, like OpenLearn, BBC (the web is you oyster), or potentially push out (to other profiles, applications and sites). Cue diagrams …

 
Taken from SocialLearn: Why/What/How?

SocialLearn is designed to go beyond the control of the institution allowing the integration of learning personal to the user, in effect allowing users to control the networks, resources or tools relevant to them (either through self-discovery or recommended to them by the network). The OU have already developed some applications which are demonstrated on the SocialLearn » Software page.

While the SocialLearn API won’t be beta released until later this month there is already a tantalising list of tools already supported. I was able to pick this list up from Open Content Online:

MicroLearner, Camtasia, 2Learner, Cohere, Twittearth, Cloudworks, Facebook, OpenLearn, 43 things, Remember the milk. Other applications to write to the API: YouTUbe, GoogleDocs, etc.

This brief interpretation of SocialLearn project is the tip of the iceberg. Once you start digging deeper there are implications for all aspects of being a student and the business model used to support that experience. Traditionally higher education institutions have brokered knowledge, controlled content, defining pathways towards accreditation. With SocialLearn students are in control, they can choose to receive content and support from third parties (including their peers), define their own pathways towards accreditation, blend informal and formal learning.

For more information on SocialLearn, Martin Weller has compiled a slideshare presentation there are also various other documents on the SocialLearn website.