Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What do you think of the idea – the social network for education

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 29 posts

Ask HN: What do you think of the idea – the social network for education

#1

Post by kuvkir »

Hello!

I'm thinking of an idea of a social networking education website. Many online educational projects such as Youtube EDU, iTunes U or Academic Earth have great content but lack social networking features. I believe the "social" part is very important in the process of learning things when you can interact with classmates and instructors, ask questions and get answers. So that not only you can browse and watch education materials, but also the community will play an important role in the learning process.

Do you know any websites that already offer these features?

There are good examples of the execution of this idea for particular areas like italki.com for english learning or www.jamplay.com for guitar playing. But I'm thinking bigger, so it'd be for fundamental university disciplines like computer science or mathematics.

I don't want to build another useless social network, I'm more on the way to research what is already available, how existent solutions can be enhanced.

Re: Ask HN: What do you think of the idea – the social network for education

#4

Post by JeanPierre »

Do you think of learning management systems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_learning_management_sys...), or do you think about it being open to all?

I know some of those systems has the option for fora, and my experiences with those has just been good. If you're looking for good ways to work with an open-for-all system, I suggest looking at the most used fora in e.g. mathematics and physics, and then take some ideas from there.

A problem I suppose you might encounter is that most schoolkids use this networking site just to solve their homework: At least that's what they do now. If you could somehow change that problem into a way of making them interested in learning how one solve those problems (instead of making other solve them), then you've got a great idea.

Re: Ask HN: What do you think of the idea – the social network for education

#5

Post by benwerd »

It's worth looking at what OpenCourseWare are doing, as well as university-centric networks like the British Open University's OpenLearn.

I co-founded an educational social network called Elgg.net in 2004 (which later became Eduspaces.net when Elgg's scope grew from education into an open source social networking platform for all), and I've been watching this space carefully. There have been quite a few services which have been and gone that have followed the model you've outlined, but that doesn't mean you won't be able to build something that works.

The biggest deal, in my opinion, is always this: find a way to make it work for the first user. Build it around existing educational resources, or tools for an individual to learn, and then let the community enhance that initial offering. Otherwise you've got one hell of an uphill battle ahead of you. (Pertinent examples include Flickr and Delicious which both allow you to store and share resources, but are so much more when millions of people are also participating.)

Re: Ask HN: What do you think of the idea – the social network for education

#6

Post by benwerd »

benwerd wrote: post #5

It's worth looking at what OpenCourseWare are doing, as well as university-centric networks like the British Open University's OpenLearn. I co-founded an educational social network called Elgg.net in 2004 (which later became Eduspaces.net when Elgg's scope grew from education into an open source social networking platform for all), and I've been watching this space carefully. There have been quite a few services whic…

NB: I should have mentioned that I've moved on from Elgg and EduSpaces, and am not able to speak for either project.

Re: Ask HN: What do you think of the idea – the social network for education

#7

Post by benwerd »

JeanPierre wrote: post #4

Do you think of learning management systems ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_learning_management_sys... ), or do you think about it being open to all? I know some of those systems has the option for fora, and my experiences with those has just been good. If you're looking for good ways to work with an open-for-all system, I suggest looking at the most used fora in e.g. mathematics and physics, and then take som…

Perhaps build in some kind of game dynamic that encourages discussion and analytical thinking rather than straightforward solutions?

Re: Ask HN: What do you think of the idea – the social network for education

#10

Post by kuvkir »

JeanPierre wrote: post #4

Do you think of learning management systems ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_learning_management_sys... ), or do you think about it being open to all? I know some of those systems has the option for fora, and my experiences with those has just been good. If you're looking for good ways to work with an open-for-all system, I suggest looking at the most used fora in e.g. mathematics and physics, and then take som…

I think of it as a open-for-all online university, in the beginning at least for Russian speaking students as I have access to many Russian universities and professors who might like to participate.

Regarding the problem of schoolkids misusing the community to solve their homework, if the project is targeted for people who really want to learn something, doing so is cheating themselves. Also, for university students I believe the effect of this problem is not so evident as in middle schools.

Post reply on HN