The Move from Course Management to Course Networking

A Q&A with Ali Jafari

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/08/18/the-move-from-course-management-to-course-networking.aspx

We need now to have a totally new type of learning environment, both conceptually and technically, and it will also need to be different from a business perspective.

You might think of CN (Course Networking) as a complete social learning suite combined with comprehensive learning management tools, along with associated elements like ePortfolio, data mining, globalization and collaboration tools, and much more.

Every student on the CN has a “social portfolio”, which will be there for the student to access, life long. This social portfolio is different from a “typical” ePortfolio in several ways, but importantly, it can be created dynamically — for example, a teacher might check a box indicating that each student in the top ten percent of her class will receive a badge. Beyond that checkbox, everything happens automatically, without a need for the student to locate and upload the badge for display, and no need for the teacher to monitor or be further involved with the awarding of badges. As a student I can manage my social portfolio, and determine who will see or not see certain elements of it.

we are building and maintaining really one big network — instead of necessarily supporting many, many independent institutional client implementations.