Social software offers a variety of tools to engage students and promote higher order learning, whether in blended or online courses. What is social software, and how does it differ from earlier internet tools? What are the tools of social software, and how can they be used productively for teaching and learning? This website will explore such issues, providing practical examples from three years of experimentation in courses ranging from first year to senior-level seminars.

This website is designed to be an introduction and a resource for instructors who wish to explore the use of social software tools to enhance learning in their economics courses. The website is split into multiple modules and can be traversed in several ways.  (As a result, you can expect to encounter some duplication of material.)  It was originally constructed for use as a presentation tool at the Developments in Economics Education conference at Cambridge University, September 2007. You can view the presentation by starting at the tab labeled ‘Presentation’ and then following the links on that page. The presentation offers an outline of talking points, some examples, and further links to more detailed discussion of each topic. The presentation pathway is designed to be a quick way to surveying the range of content offered by the website.  You can always go directly to any module by clicking on the appropriate tab on the right sidebar.

The material behind the website started life as a paper, which can be reached via the link near the bottom of the page labeled ‘Blogs’. Sections of the paper provide the detailed information for each tool under their respective presentation pages. The tab labeled ‘Courses’ lists all the courses in which I’ve used social software and briefly discusses how the tools were used in each course. Of course, your mileage may vary. Finally, the tab labeled ‘References’ provides citation information for all studies on which this website was based. I plan to add to the website as time permits and my understanding of social software grow.