If you are like me, you get random emails, IMs, Jaiku/Twitter notices, etc from random people about random cool Ed Tech stuff. You try to pass them on to as many people as possible, but you inevitably leave someone out. Then, you remember the people you forgot and can’t find the original message anymore. Wouldn’t it be great to have a central spot for every one to gather together and share stuff? One that can be searched, tagged, and easy to navigate?
Well, I decided to do something about that, at least with my small circle of friends. Thanks to Ning, I start a social network specifically for Ed Tech people. Of course, there is a discussion board for sharing new ideas and discussing stuff (attachments allowed). But you can also stream photos from a Flickr account into the site (or upload straight to the site). You can add a YouTube (or any other online video service) video – or upload one straight to the site. All of this can be tagged and commented on. Plus all of the other features of social networking. RSS feeds are everywhere, including the latest updates list – so you don’t have to constantly hit the site to see if there is anything new.
Click here to go to the EduGeek Journal social network.
If you want to join the site, I recommend first going to the main Ning site and getting a Ning ID. Doing this will let you join other Ning social networks, too.
You’ll also notice that there is an EduGeek Journal Jaiku Channel. Anyone with a Jaiku account can join the channel and send micro-blogs to the channel. Jaiku isn’t currently accepting new accounts, unfortunately, as they were just bought by Google. I wanted to put off announcing the channel until new accounts were allowed, but that is taking a while. But for those of you that like to micro-blog but not social network, this is another avenue to add ideas to the EduGeek Journal network.
Matt is currently an Instructional Designer II at Orbis Education and a Part-Time Instructor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Previously he worked as a Learning Innovation Researcher with the UT Arlington LINK Research Lab. His work focuses on learning theory, Heutagogy, and learner agency. Matt holds a Ph.D. in Learning Technologies from the University of North Texas, a Master of Education in Educational Technology from UT Brownsville, and a Bachelors of Science in Education from Baylor University. His research interests include instructional design, learning pathways, sociocultural theory, heutagogy, virtual reality, and open networked learning. He has a background in instructional design and teaching at both the secondary and university levels and has been an active blogger and conference presenter. He also enjoys networking and collaborative efforts involving faculty, students, administration, and anyone involved in the education process.