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The social life of e-learning : personalization, communities, and exchanges
Author
Nichani, Maish R.
Supervisor
Hung, David
Abstract
In recent months there has been a lot of activity on the e-learning front. From newspapers and magazines to presentations and conferences, suddenly e-learning seems to be on everyone's lips - or to be more specific, on every businessman's lips. E-learning is poised to become the private enterprise's next Internet enabled stranglehold. But there is nothing wrong with this, in fact, if we compare e-learning with the growth of e-commerce, e-learning too stands to benefit from the involvement of the private enterprise.
But, like the early days of e-commerce, which concentrated more on the technology than on customer services and business strategies, e-learning too might fall prey to the instinctive act of concentrating more on the technology than on learning itself. This book, along with presenting the probable reasons behind this sudden hype surrounding e-learning, cautions the reader on the need to take a blended perspective of the technological and the pedagogical aspects into consideration.
This book is titled "The Social Life of E-learning" because it builds on the social learning fundamentals described in the book "The Social Life of Information" (2000) by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. These learning fundamentals are brought into the practical realm by analyzing strategies that are in use in some e-commerce websites. This book concludes by outlining a model through which these strategies can be blended together and implemented. The model uses the notions of demand, community and identity as espoused by Brown and Duguid, and proposes a wrapper that blends and extends into an e-learning solution. Lastly, as e-learning is an emerging field, the need for further research and experimentation is stressed.
But, like the early days of e-commerce, which concentrated more on the technology than on customer services and business strategies, e-learning too might fall prey to the instinctive act of concentrating more on the technology than on learning itself. This book, along with presenting the probable reasons behind this sudden hype surrounding e-learning, cautions the reader on the need to take a blended perspective of the technological and the pedagogical aspects into consideration.
This book is titled "The Social Life of E-learning" because it builds on the social learning fundamentals described in the book "The Social Life of Information" (2000) by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. These learning fundamentals are brought into the practical realm by analyzing strategies that are in use in some e-commerce websites. This book concludes by outlining a model through which these strategies can be blended together and implemented. The model uses the notions of demand, community and identity as espoused by Brown and Duguid, and proposes a wrapper that blends and extends into an e-learning solution. Lastly, as e-learning is an emerging field, the need for further research and experimentation is stressed.
Date Issued
2000
Call Number
LB1044.87 Nic
Date Submitted
2000