LMS, Social Networking in the Classroom

Tomorrow I will be offering information on Sakai, an open-source learning management system. It really is amazing to me how similar a lot of the LMS's are, and yet, each is really quite different. I definitely have a great deal more of respect for the people at universities who help to decide which system to adopt. There is a lot to consider, and even more to invest.

I think what has surprised me most in learning about Sakai is to learn about their new "Open Academic Environment" or "OAE" as they are calling it. This system has a feature which ties in social networking to the classroom environment. I think this has a lot of potential given the increased use of social networking in the classroom. However, I wonder how "legitimate" this type of social networking is. Meaning, is this true social networking, or is just kept from within those who can access the Sakai program at that specific university. I wish I had an answer to that, but this program is still being developed by Sakai, or perhaps I'll know in time for our tech talk Tuesday afternoon and you can be surprised by an answer.

I would have really liked to hear the talk last week on social networking in the classroom. I am highly tentative about communicating via social networking with my students. I feel almost like it's an invasion of my privacy, in addition to theirs. I guess I'll just explore the options and see who has done what with it.