Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

27 – Social Media for Adult Online Learners and Educators
A social network blog offers several possibilities for
adult language learners. This technology offers the possibility
to set up a blog within a network, without the
learner being ‘overcome’ by the social networking in the
initial stages. Many working adult learners want to find
what they need in one place, and quickly. By setting up a
group (private or public), learners can access all they
need within one space rather than in many spaces. This
is reassuring for adult learners who do not desire information
overload, and in particular for those new to online
learning. With time, reassurance, and increased
confidence, they can create their own networks outside
the learning network at their own discretion and for
their own purposes. These networked multimedia computer
technologies lend themselves to the active engagement
of learners, empowering the learners in their
own learning, leading to pro-active and self-directed
learning, and the eventual creation of their own personal
learning environment.
content on the Multiply social network. Within a Multiply
blog site, documents can be uploaded as attachments
to a post. Five files can be attached per blog post with a
maximum 100 megabytes per post. This is beneficial to
the learners who are uncomfortable reading from the
screen, as they can download the document, change the
font, review, then print it. Before finally saving and publishing
a post, saving as a draft is optional and the blog
has a preview and spell-check feature, together with a
rich text editor and an HTML editor.
EXAMPLE: MULTIPLY
Among the multitude of social media technologies available
today, one example of a social network blog is
“Multiply” (http://multiply.com) which claims to be a
social network with a difference. It is described as a social
media aggregator with a privacy-centric multimedia
sharing social networking service, enabling granular
control. For some adult learners, the idea of social networking
in Facebook (www.facebook.com), MySpace
(www.myspace.com), and many others is daunting and
not precisely what they want in purpose-led learning.
Multiply is one among many technologies that attempts
to provide many features within one space. By creating a
private group within a network, the learners have a safe
area to learn and can venture into the network when
they are ready. Each user has a personal blog, in addition
to and separate from the group blogs.
For language learners and educators, Multiply offers
many features within one space, thereby eliminating
unnecessary time and effort spent logging in to different
spaces for access to different tools. A toolbar installed in
the browser enables instant access to the blog and the
ability to post content directly, and it has a new Message
Alert button that updates automatically. The inbox
shows all recent updates and can be customized using
the custom filter according to user preferences. The
Search button enables users to quickly search public
Videos can be uploaded without using a third party
to host them, or imported from third-party hosts to the
video category, or embedded directly within a post using
the embedding code. Audio files can also be uploaded.
Other features include the ability to upload photos and
photo albums, enabling all users to share content. In
addition to text replies, replies to posts can be made
directly in the blog using the integrated audio or video
features. For language coaching and instruction, this is
extremely useful as learners can record, play back, and
fine tune their own oral message before posting replies.
The direct video recording feature is effective for language
communication as it raises awareness of linguistic
and paralinguistic information, and it is a very useful
tool for rehearsing teleconferencing, presentations, and
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