A Primer on Educational Social Software

Workshop Description:

This hands-on workshop exposes participants to the definitions, pedagogical rationale, current tools and applications and the opportunities and challenges of implementing social software into online programming. Social software is a new genre of net based software designed to support meeting and social interaction (both online and F2F) among participants. Is there a need for these types of tools in a course in which LMS environments already create opportunity for social interaction? Will social software move us forward to lifelong education that operates ‘beyond the course’?

Presenter: Terry Anderson Ph.D., Athabasca University

Terry Anderson is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Distance Education at Athabasca University – Canada’s Open University. He has published widely in the area of distance education and educational technology and has co-authored or edited five books and numerous papers. Terry is active in provincial, national, and international distance education associations and a regular presenter at professional conferences. He teaches educational technology courses in Athabasca’s Masters of Distance Education program.

Terry is also the director of CIDER – the Canadian Institute for Distance Education Research (cider.athabascau.ca ) and the editor of the International Review of Research on Distance and Open Learning (IRRODL www.irrodl.org). His complete text of his most recent edited book The Theory and Practice of Online Learning is available as an Open Access resource at cde.athabascau.ca/online_book More information is available on his website at http://cider.athabascau.ca/Members/terrya/