Professor Norah Jones Dr. Esyin Chew Social Software for Learning – The Institutional Policy of the University of Glamorgan ICHL 2012, China

Where we come from…

Content 1.History & Introduction 2.Social Software for Learning, Teaching and Assessment at Glamorgan –Institutional wide policy –Opportunities of Social Software at Glamorgan –Good Practice Guidance and Considerations 3.Conclusion 4.Q&A 3

Online assessment / e-assessment Introduction to Social Software CAA Online submission

Introduction There is increasing usage of social software among students and academics for learning, teaching and assessment in the UK. The use of Social Software is recommended for learner participation and progression in the curriculum. (Murugesan, 2007; Dawson, 2006; 2008)

Introduction Social Software create learning community and community of inquiry that motivates learning experience, promotes peer and independent learning experience for better employability (Jones et al., 2009). However, there are some issues with Social Software in L&T: –privacy and data protection issues

Introduction At Glamorgan, we discovered that: 1.The separation of life and studying (social software is for personal social life and friends, not meant for learning); 2.Originality and copyright issues; 3.Sense of information overload; 4.Time constraint and 5.Lecturers are not up-to-date and may not know how to integrate and fully make use of social software Source: Jones, N., Blackey, H., Fitzgibbon, F., Chew, E., (2009) ‘Get out of MySpace!’, Elsevier Journal of Computers and Education, 54 (3),

Introduction There is a lack of guidance and research available in order to explore and suggest some good practice guidance.

Social Software Tools and Application (JISC, 2007)

Social Software for Learning, Teaching and Assessment at Glamorgan Social Software as a potential tool for supportive online learning and facilitating an engaging social environment for students Embedding Social Software in learning, teaching and assessment can lead to many new learning opportunities.

Centre for Learning and Teaching is committed to support academics as follows: Promote social software for student motivation and engagement in the learning process, both academically and socially. Provide information and guidance for staff and students in the effective and appropriate use of social software Provide good case studies and qualitative evidence from different disciplines. Provide good practice examples of the use of social software. Provide support for academics at all stage of social software usage for learning, teaching and assessment.

Institutional wide policy (1)to improve students’ learning experiences by raising the academics’ awareness of social software; (2)to encourage and to support the embedding of social software across all aspects of the curriculum in the University; and (3)to highlight the key issues and considerations for using social software in learning, teaching and assessment.

The University is NOT…. committed to any particular social software or approach to using social software. We provide social software tools (Campus Pack) as part of its VLE, Blackboard. We also encourage the use of externally provided social software when that is deemed to be more appropriate for the student group.

Opportunities of Social Software at Glamorgan

Good Practices for using Social Software for Learning, Teaching and Assessment The Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team in CELT have experience and expertise in the use of a wide variety of Social Software tools including those within Blackboard and external tools. CELT’s research addresses the use of social software tools in a pedagogic context (Jones et al., 2009; Woodward and Blackey, 2009; Chew et al., 2011). Academics who have little or no experience of using such tools are recommended to contact the TEL team to explore the pedagogical uses of social software.

1. Accessibility and Reliability Good Practice Guidance 1: Academics using external social software in their learning, teaching and assessment are expected to make students aware of the need for multiple logins and the fact that the University’s SSAA (Self Service Account Administration) system does not extend to external sites. Thus, it is first recommended to use the social software within the institutional Blackboard, followed by social software hosted externally.

Good Practice Guidance and Considerations Since there many controversial issues with the use of Social Software in learning and teaching, academics and students should be aware of the following key issues and good practice guidance:

1. Accessibility and Reliability Good Practice Guidance 2: Students are expected to be informed of the possible risk (although the risk is considered low) to the security during any submission or contribution to the social software. Good Practice Guidance 3: Academics using external social software need to ensure it is effectively backed-up. In addressing Good Practice Guidance 3, staff are recommended to use the backup/restore functions available in many external wikis or use ScrapBook (Firefox extension) which allows easy capture of websites and files into local computers. ScrapBook (Firefox extension)

2. Support for Social Software Performance, Development and Interoperability Good Practice Guidance 4: Staff should be aware of the potential performance and technical support issues for external social software and consider how they will deal with these if an issue occurs during the course delivery. Usually there are FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) or Help page available on their sites. It is also recommended to investigate the public review and evaluation of other users upon particular social software to be used.

3. Privacy and Data Protection Act Good Practice Guidance 5: Academics should inform students that any use of social software means a direct link between the student and the service provider and not with the University. It should be made clear in the learning material or assignment that the social software used is an external site provided by external service providers. For example, a brief statement on Blackboard: “This is an activity which involves an external social software provider, pbwiki – you will leave the University’s Blackboard after clicking the link below…”

3. Privacy and Data Protection Act Good Practice Guidance 6: Before making use of social software, staff are strongly advised to explore the site’s Terms and Conditions of Use (usually found at the bottom of the website’s homepage) to determine who will own the content and what use will be made of it. Further advice is available from the University’s Information Compliance Officer and Information Governance page (LCSS, 2012).

4. Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights Good Practice Guidance 7: Academics are advised to consider the copyright issues before posting University materials to an external site. Further advice is available from the University’s rights officer or on the copy rights and intellectual property page (Copyright, 2012)

Conclusion  We set out the University’s Policy for the use of Social Software to response to some key issues.  We highlighted the university’s commitment to using social software as a key means to enhance learning, teaching and assessment.  Seven good practices have been suggested related to (1) accessibility and reliability; (2) support for social software performance, development and interoperability; (3) privacy and data protection act; and (4) copyright and intellectual property rights.

Conclusion In line with the University’s Learning, Teaching and Assessment strategy and its ‘Assessment for Learning’ policy, this Social Software policy encourages staff to develop the use of social networking software to support students in learning, teaching and assessment.

Conclusion However, in different institutions different contextual factors need to be considered in developing individuals’ guidance for learning and teaching with web 2.0. E.g. In China, some web 2.0 sites such as Youtube, Blogger and Facebook are not accessible. Hence, a wide range of contextual factors need to be thoughtfully considered before introducing any web 2.0 in learning and teaching in a globalisation era.

Links Professor Norah Jones Dr. Esyin Chew Thank you Discussions and Q&A