Friday, June 30, 2006

ELGG at NECC??

Can someone tell me if there are any sessions at NECC06 about ELGG? I an on a mission here as I what I have read and seen so far about this Learning Landscape created by David Tosh and Ben Werdmuller is very exciting! Searching through the NECC program I can find nothing with ELGG or other key words that looks like what I need. There are the usual and worthy presentations about moving into authentic assessment etc and adopting eportfolios, digital portfolios, electronic portfolios but nothing cutting edge about use of platforms and Web2.0 tools for portfolios.

At International School Dhaka we implemented a digital portfolio program 3 years ago that interfaces with our ubiquitous learning objectives and the IBO objectives for authentic assessment. However, as technology has moved on I am searching for an alternative to the basic weblog software. Thanks to Peter Ford who has held our hand all the way through this project and maintained our isdweblogs. It is time to expand and offer teachers and students a better method that incorporates Web2.0 ideals.

ELGG may be the answer. I read Aaron Campbell's post this morning ELGG and International Education who claims:


"Students will now be able to incorporate photos, podcasts, and vidcasts into their portfolios much more easily than ever before. This will be a big change from the bound paper-based portfolios that have been the staple for portfolios until now. For online courses and focused discussions, we’ll use
WebCT or Moodle, both of which integrate with Elgg."

Also, I have been viewing the ELGG site of Miles Berry from the UK, another astute educator who forges ahead.

Also, Tosh and Werdmuller have an online paper, "Creation of a Learning Landscape: weblogging and social networking in the context of e-portfolios" which details the aims and ideals of ELGG in terms of providing technology to enhance student engagement, reflection, communication and sharing!

Back to my original question....who can I talk to at NECC about ELGG???

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will be doing a session called "Creating Communities with Open Source Tools" in the Sails Pavillion, Open Source Lab on Friday, 7/7/06 from 10-11am. It will be entirely about Elgg.

--
Jim Klein
Director Information Services & Technology
LPIC1, CNA/CNE 4-6, RHCT/RHCE
Saugus Union School District
http://www.saugus.k12.ca.us

"Finis Origine Pendet"

Julie Lindsay said...

Hi Jim
Thanks for leaving this message! I have another committment at this time.....NECC offers so much. Will see what I can do, otherwise, will keep in touch with you next week.
Julie