All things Elgg

Elgg is one of ZDNet's 10 open source tools worth trying

Jack Wallen in the Enterprise Open Source Toolkit (23rd December 2009) names Elgg as one of the 10 open source tools worth trying, saying

"Of the thousands of open-source projects, you may be wondering how many are worth tracking. If you remove the usual suspects, you can pare down the list to a number that really merit closer inspection."

The tools that Jack recommends range from Openbravo (an ERP application) to Magento (an ecommerce tool).  Of Elgg he writes:

"If you are looking for a means to improve your company morale but do not want users logging on to Facebook or MySpace, try this open-source social- networking platform."

For more information, read the article: Ten open source tools worth trying

Featured Elgg site #8: Wiley Faculty Network

About the Wiley Faculty Network

"The Wiley Faculty Network (WFN) is a global community of faculty, connected by a passion for teaching and a drive to learn, share, and collaborate. Our mission is to promote the effective use of technology and enrich the teaching experience. Whether you're seeking guidance, training, and resources or simply looking to reenergize your course you'll find what you need with the WFN. Connect with the Wiley Faculty Network to collaborate with your colleagues, find a mentor, attend virtual and live events, and view a wealth of resources all designed to help you grow as an educator. Embrace the art of teaching - great things happen where faculty connect."

Wiley Faculty Network

The Network was created using Elgg by Arck Interactive,  Find out what they think of Elgg and how they created WFN here

Get featured!

Would you like us to feature your Elgg site? If so, please find out how on the Get featured! page.

Would you like help setting up and customising Elgg for your organisation?

Then find out more about our Social Learning in Box Services

Featured Elgg site #7: RIBA Knowledge Communities

Clare Sinclair wrote to tell me about the Elgg-powered site she has been developing at RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects):

"The RIBA Knowledge Communities project provides both online and face-to-face support for architects and other professionals in the industry. The groups feature support specialist subject areas and each has a chartered architect as a Champion, volunteer/staff Facilitators, and named subject Expert Peer Groups. Some 'communities' are new collaborations, others are a new model for established committees. The site has required significant customisation and plugin work, such as improving the user interface, and developing the calendar plugin."

RIBA Kowledge Communities is a closed site, but here are a few screenshots.

Get featured!

Would you like us to feature your Elgg site? If so, please find out how on the Get featured! page.

Would you like help setting up and customising Elgg for your organisation?

Then find out more about ou Social Learning in Box Services

Connectivism, social learning and Elgg

Just came across this presentation about Elgg created by Ishmael Burdeau - which discusses George Siemens' Connectivism, social learning and Elgg.

I was pleased to see it makes use of screenshots of slides I've shared in presentations about Elgg's use in education and in the workplace.  But this presentation is also a good example of what you can do with the Prezi presentation tool:

Building a Social Learning Environment - using Elgg

On Tuesday 17th November I am going to be speaking at the Learn Trends Online Conference.  My presentation is entitled Building a Social Learning Environment.  Here's a sneak preview of what I'll be saying ...

• I am going to talk about organisational concerns of using public social media tools for their social learning initiatives
• I am going to describe a solution to address these concerns: the open source social engine, Elgg
• I am going to explain how I've implemented my own social learning environment at SoLEARN
• I am going to feature two case studies of organisations I have worked with to implement an Elgg-powered social learning environment
• I am then going to finish by mentioning some of the lessons learned along the way
• Finally, there will be plenty of time for discussion around building a social learning environment

If you want to hear the presentation and be part of the discussion, you will need to sign up for Learn Trends

Elgg in a weekend

Nicola Avery has a great posting on learn4kicks where she describes how she helped a Computing Department implement an Elgg-powered network for a leadership programme.  She writes

"Elgg is without a doubt one of the most rewarding, quickest and easiest projects I have been involved with in the last few years."

Read more about it here: Elgg in a weekend.

If you'd like any help with getting Elgg up and running, find out how we can help here: Social Learning in a Box

LMS or SNS?

George Siemens has an interesting posting on his Connectivism blog, where he discusses the future of learning: LMS or SNS.  As part of the dicussion, he writes

"Most organizations currently use a learning management system (LMS) such as Moodle or Desire2Learn. These systems are content-centric. Their objective is to organize and manage content, just as Google did in early 2000. Because higher education is particularly enamored with content, an LMS is a critical service. It’s completely the wrong model, however, and this will become increasingly apparent in the next several years.

To survive, LMS vendors will need to transform their offerings on the social network model of Facebook. ELGG is an excellent alternative to an LMS, but most organizations are not yet willing to accept a network-centric tool as an alternative to Moodle (disclaimer or bragging – you choose: I was on ELGG’s initial advisory board that never fully materialized, and used the software for several pilot programs in 2005 with Red River College and with Duke Corporate Education). ELGG is a better model of what learning will/should look like than any of the current contenders in the space."

Of course, I agree with George - do you?

Read the full posting here and of course the comments from others. 

Elgg at Harvard

The Fall Newsletter of the iste SIGilt newsletter, innovative learning, includes an article:

Transitioning from an LMS to an Open Source Social Network to Support Graduate Students

Here Stacie Cassat Green of the Harvard Extension School explains

"Last year, after ten years of teaching in the Technology in Education program at Harvard Extension School, Harvard University’s school for continuing education, my co-teacher and I switched our courses from a learning management system (LMS) to a social network and ended up transforming our teaching practice to better match our learning goals for our students."

They used Elgg to build The Yard, named after the famous Harvard Yard that serves as a
center for the learning community of traditional students.

You can read more about their use of The Yard on page 12 of the PDF: innovative learnng

Using Elgg for a Social Learning programme

Yesterday I ran a kick-off workshop for a 5-week social learning programme for an organisation.  The programme will introduce a range of social media tools and how they can be used in both formal learning as well as to support informal learning approaches within the organisation. 

I set up a closed group in my own Social Learning Environment - SoLearn - powered by Elgg, and used this as a place for the group to begin to explore social technology concepts and tools. 

Mark Berthelemy, a Senior Learning Consultant, was also present in the workshop, and he has written up his thoughts on using Elgg in a posting today at his blog,  Learning Conversations.

If you are interested in finding our more about this programme - which is available for learning professional to access in an informal, on demand way or for organisations to organise their own scheduled social course - you can do so here: An introduction to social learning environments

Featured Elgg site: #6 Primary School Teaching

John McClear tweeted me about this Elgg site:

Primary School Teaching is a social networking and resource sharing site made exclusively for Primary School Teachers using the Elgg platform.  They also welcome other members of staff working in Primary Schools who may also find Primary School Teaching a valuable resource.

Primary School Teaching is a platform for sharing and ranking teaching resources and ideas. It allows teachers to communicate effectively in a collaborative environment, working to create exciting and engaging teaching.

Primary School Teaching

Get featured!

Would you like us to feature your Elgg site? If so, please find out how on the Get featured! page.

Would you like help setting up and customising Elgg for your organisation?

Then find out more about our Elgg consultancy (technological, business and pedagogical) services