Social Software and Learning

Lyndsay Grant , Keri Facer , Martin Owen , Steve Sayers

01 January 2006

This paper is focused on exploring the inter-relationship between two key trends in the field of educational technologies.

In the educational arena, we are increasingly witnessing a change in the view of what education is for, with a growing emphasis on the need to support young people not only to acquire knowledge and information, but to develop the resources and skills necessary to engage with social and technical change, and to continue learning throughout the rest of their lives.

In the technological arena, we are witnessing the rapid proliferation of technologies which are less about 'narrowcasting' to individuals, than the creation of communities and resources in which individuals come together to learn, collaborate and build knowledge.

It is the intersection of these two trends which, we believe, offers significant potential for the development of new approaches to education.