Facebook is a popular social network which allows people to connect to long lost friends. In Shakesbook, students are asked to take on the persona of one of Shakespeare's characters and create an imaginary profile for them. Using contextual clues and a dash of creativity, this exercise is a wonderful way to assess students' literary comprehension and analysis.

Can the University of the People, a new online institution, add teaching components to the growing body of free online materials and social-networking tools so that students get college credits? Read the story from the Chronicle of Higher Education and the discussion posts that follow.

A short introduction to the concepts behind social networking websites.

This on-line textbook introduces many of the basics of formal approaches to the analysis of social networks. The text relies heavily on the work of Freeman, Borgatti, and Everett (the authors of the UCINET software package). The materials here, and their organization, were also very strongly influenced by the text of Wasserman and Faust, and by a graduate seminar conducted by Professor Phillip Bonacich at UCLA. Many other users have also made very helpful comments and suggestions based on the first version.

This presentation was delivered to visual art students about Online Portfolio Social Networks.

Elgg is an open source social networking platform based around choice, flexibility and openness: a system that firmly places individuals at the centre of their activities.

Your users have the freedom to incorporate all their favorite tools within one environment and showcase their content with as many or as few people as they choose, all within a social networking site that you control.

Einstein University is a free online university/academic social network where students and professors from around the world can share ideas, read each others papers and collaborate on research. You can upload your photo, curriculum vitae and up to four research papers. Instead of charging students tuition the university funds itself through ad revenue and uses volunteer professors.

Project-based learning in a technology rich environment can be effective in K-12 classrooms allowing students to negotiate understanding and construct knowledge in social situations. Benefits include connecting students in communities in and outside of their cultures, and meeting learning goals in non-institutional fashion, while educators share practices and resources using technology tools. When projects endure over time, characteristics of communities of practice begin to emerge in which shared content grows and is amended by participants, generating historical artifacts. Once instantiated, the project philosophy provides an ongoing basis for immersive learning, using wikis, blogs, and other social networking applications. A project-based classroom philosophy sets an engaging, attractive environment for students by meeting their needs to be socially involved, as opposed to being passive receivers. An example long term Internet learning event called the Monster Project is examined in this paper. Widespread use of project-based learning has been curtailed by a strong focus on traditional instruction to meet testing goals. Research shows that active participation in project-based education results in students being more intrinsically motivated, more likely to show conceptual understanding, and more well adjusted than students in traditional education modes. These characteristics are those of a community of practice, where members are informally connected by their accomplishments and by what they learn together. The range of academic content that can be integrated into project-based learning as the main approach in a classroom is bounded only by a teacher’s energy and creativity.

Teacher Erik Odom from The East Bronx Academy incorporates real-world learning through the use of technology. Students consider ideas to promote their school using social networking and web design. They learn how to produce, publish, and update writing products based on research and feedback that parallels activities in the work place. Decision making and understanding the importance of how information is presented are two key ideas as Mr. Odom prepares his students for college and career readiness.

The Economics of Information provides an analysis of the underlying economics of information with management implications. It studies the effects of digitization and technology on industry, organizational structure, and business strategy, and examines pricing, bundling, and versioning of digital goods, including music, video, software, and communication services. In addition, the course considers the managerial implications of social networks, search, targeted advertising, personalization, privacy, network externalities, open source, and alliances.

Networks are a ubiquitous way to represent complex systems, including those in the social and economic sciences. The goal of the course is to equip students with conceptual tools that can help them understand complex systems that emerge in both nature and social systems. This is a course intended for a general audience and will discuss applications of networks and complexity to diverse systems, including epidemic spreading, social networks and the evolution of economic development.

Get ahead of the game by making optimal use of the internet and its tools. Become more effective, more efficient and work smarter: become an internet superuser. The Internet Super-User Textbook empowers you to make maximum use of the resources available on the internet, including the advanced use of search engines, how to research online, different ways of online communication (from online forums, instant messaging to VOIP), personal information management, online safety and security, mobile internet, social networking, and publishing your own online content.

SI 508 has been taught in various forms from 2006 to 2008 to masterŐs students at the University of Michigan School of Information. The course covers topics in network analysis, from social networks to applications in information networks such as the Internet. I will introduce basic concepts in network theory, discuss metrics and models, use software analysis tools to experiment with a wide variety of real-world network data, and study applications to areas such as information retrieval.As a network scientist I think networks are fun to talk about, but they are even more fun to play with. Therefore, labs are an integral part of this course. In addition to providing background material, the labs and the demos offer ample opportunity for learners to get hands-on with interactive demonstrations, real-world data sets, and a dizzying array of tools (Pajek, Guess, NetLogo, and others). Experimenting in the labs will enable learners to get much more out of this course than simply reading the lectures and other materials. The labs are also designed to bring you up to speed with the skills you need to do the assignments.Another important part of the course is the final group project, in which students take the concepts they learned and apply them to networks that they select. Although I can offer little guidance on anyone's individual project through this open format, I hope that the assignments will expose people to different techniques one can apply and various questions to explore. This showcase of student projects from past years should provide some inspiration.

Introduction to Martin Weller and his post on the Open University’s attempt to create an open API-based social networking system for learning.

Summary of Martin Weller and his post on the Open University’s attempt to create an open API-based social networking system for learning.

This lecture explores the risks and prevention opportunities presented by the emergence of social networking and internet dating sites. Presented by the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health.

This prompt asks students to write about their experience with Instant Messaging, including how long they spend online each day. The student should also include whether they think IM'ing affects their schoolwork or not.

Martin Weller's contribution to the OSS and OER in Education Series. In this post, he discusses the Open University’s attempt to create an open API-based social networking system for learning.

Using Internet Communication enhances students' theoretical understanding of electronic communication and their ability to communicate as professionals, scholars, and citizens using the Internet. Participants learn core communication theoretical models and principles, and apply them to electronic communication methods that enhance interpersonal, small group, and public interactions. These methods include electronic meetings, discussion forums, co-authoring tools, audio, and video.