AFTER UPDATING DOPPLR with my intention to travel to Cork in early March 2008 for BlogTalk 2008, I saw some other names whose presentations I always enjoy. If a joint presentation about Jaiku wins approval, we will explain to our audience how third level creative multimedia students in Tipperary Institute used the Jaiku microblogging platform as a lightweight channel for co-ordination, peer review, and continuous assessment credit. Through five months of increasing activity, both student contribution and community cross-talk increased, leading to a higher level of learning than typically associated with online social networking. Three different lecturers participated in this development, setting "skunkworks" projects in motion and assessing the flow of student microblogging as set pieces in the curriculum. The end results suggest that microblogging in public can significantly enhance active learning while fostering online conversation skills considered essential in a knowledge economy.
John Breslin -- "Premier Blogtalk Social Software Event Comes to Cork in March 2008"
