Stephen Downes

Interesting idea. Christy Tucker writes, "I've seen a lot of research about the value of creating a learning community, and I think using social networking could help create that community." Well and good. But are you going to manage learning in such an environment? And the main benefit, to Tucker, is that learning in Facebook would be collaborative. "Heck, it's even an improvement if we make sure that all our discussion board assignments actually encourage discussion and/or debate and aren't just used as galleries or bulletin boards where everyone posts a variation on the same ideas and talks past each other." Is this the benefit Facebook offers? Would this improve learning? No, I think that the answers are more subtle than that. Related: RSS feeds on Facebook, and has Facebook abandoned privacy?, both from Steve O'Hear.