Application of Social Software in College Education

Pan Qiang College of Humanistic and Social Sciences, Wuhan Textile University Wuhan, 430079, China paniqang997@163.com

Abstract-Social software is a newborn thing in the process of network socialization, it makes learners and software feature set in one body, provides good support for learning, and it makes learning and the transformation of knowledge complement with each other. This article describes the concept of social software and its classification, and expound5 its application in high school education, in the hope that learners can effectively use social software to achieve optimum learning outcomest. Index Terms-social software, college education,blog,wiki
1. INTRODUCTION

builds a social network, this social network, including the weak link and middle links and strong links, software is a personal and social unity. people and machine operation. social A person when people use

using other software, feel it is only a tool, it is between However, social software in the process, feeling, or concerned about social relations, that is using the machine to achieve a dialogue between people. the social human The birth of social software actually breaks dialogue, another with the spread copy and the popularity reality of of

interpersonal isolation which caused by man-machine With the rapid development of Internet and information technology, it produces great impact on people' s work, study and life; especially it brings great changes on our learning styles. Information society brings the concept of lifelong learning it for people; education information socialize technology and makes provides the opportunities for people to learn anytime and anywhere, makes learning ordinary. The development of Social software which based on the network accelerates the conversion of learning style from traditional ways to new ways. This paper gives several social software for example, discusses the application of social software in high school education. Through the application research, to strengthen the
3. THE CLASSIFICATION OF SOCIAL SOFTWARE 1.1. 3.1 Information collection classes: RSS reader,

software ,in the virtual space of network, we create community, communication to the network --- the virtual space, which drive the interaction between people in turn, from another perspective, the use of communication and interaction of the social software, can enhance the interaction and understanding between people, and completely smash the theory that the Internet may lead to the isolation of person. Social software is bound to every corner of the social community and of become a the new focus of development times.

communications between teachers and students, students and students; to cultivate the students' cooperation ability with each other, to strengthen teaching, the openness of undergraduate course so as to improve the

social bookmarks

students' learning effects.

The del.icio.us social bookmarking application, for example, after the learner collect a Web site, the social bookmarking tells you the people which collect the same Web site, and then makes these learners which concerns the same topic come together, these learners to connect together to form a learners social networks, and will generate social cohesion effect, that learners access Web site through the collection of interconnected, collaboration, and constantly build a complete system of knowledge. This will exist in different media and the integration of knowledge, but also easy to search.

2. AN OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL SOFTWARE

Social software reflects the people's social existence and social relations, and it also reflects the establishment of the exchange of information on these features. It helps people build social and self-organizing groups in the network. Social software is a kind of individual software at first, and it is a tool for personal networking, social software

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can either publish their own blog, you can read other
3.2 Information storage, sorting and release classes: blog, podcast, Flickr

people's blogs, therefore, can be understood as a personal Blog thoughts, ideas, knowledge sharing on the Internet, with knowledge, autonomy, share basic characteristics. As the Blog possess these characteristics, in the field of educational practice, with the practice of in-depth education information, basic education, higher education and the work environment will adopt Blog for learning and personal knowledge management tools.

Learners learn according to your own needs and characteristics, the choice of personal knowledge learning tool to manage with words, if you express your ideas, you can choose blog content arrangement and release, if you are good at using audio video express oneself, can choose to use podcasts, for example, Tudou or YouTube etc. Call it Flickr release some pictures of the content, Good looking book issued by some of the theme of the story.
3.3 Coordination and communication classes: 1M,

Blog of the open use of interactive, building staff and student exchange environment: Whether in the
4.1.1.

classroom teaching or as a link in a network of virtual classroom, Blog are to communicate with teachers and students to provide a good form, teachers can also progress of their students, related teaching resources are the link record In Blog on. For the teacher or the textbook point of view, students can publish his way through the Blog for the understanding of the issues. Blog of the model are equal, Blog more attention to the participatory process, not results. Therefore, understanding the views
TABLE 1.
COMPARISONS OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME

Wiki

For example, Wiki is a more cooperative writing hypertext system to provide a platform for learners, due to its characteristic of collaboration and openness, Wiki provides convenience for learners to participate in the construction and perfection of knowledge.

put forward by the students, does not require uniform, but requested the views of the relevance and independence.
4.1.2.

TYPICAL SOCIAL SOFTWARE

Software Direction E-mail One way

Infonnation Reservation pennanent

Real-time Not time real-

Interactive mode Point-tomultipoint Point-tomultipoint, point to point

Use Blog to promote collaborative learning:

common of a learning goals, model the incentive In

Collaborative learning is that students participate in teams to the achieve results mechanism in certain individuals and others to maximize learning acqUlsItlon. collaborative learning, students can help others to help achieve the two-way exchange interaction between the students, emphasizing student initiative, creativity and interactivity. With the shared feature of Blog, it enables more learners to participate in group learning. Of course, the learner can also expand the scope of Blog exchange, so that communication is not limited to groups or classes can also be extended to the whole school and even with a network of different industries in different fields to exchange blog. Such exchanges and cooperation not only helps expand the horizons of learners, but also help cultivate and improve the learners deal with complex

QQ

Tow way

permanent

real-time

BBS

Tow way

permanent

Rca-time

Point-tomultipoint

Blog

Tow way

pennanent

(Not)realtime

Multipointto-multipoint Multipointto-multipoint

Wiki

Tow way

permanent

(Not) real-time

In addition, application of the Web2.0 technology, the network switch from the information-centric to the person which is the core behind information, people use social software to become a key factor in the vast ocean of the Internet, learners how to be a problem confronting find like-minded partners in learning. Therefore the Internet provides such a class of social software; I called the social interaction category of social software, including the SNS and so on.

ideas and complex problems. In short, Blog is a personal and social integration, for teaching, According "is to a the knowledge management of Blog, process." from the characteristics

perspective of knowledge management's vision to design teaching, to improve their cognitive level, to provide a new way of thinking of research and teaching reform for teachers.
4.2 WIKI

Wiki is a hypertext system that supports collaborative

4. APPLICATION OF SOCIAL SOFTWARE IN

writing for the group. Wiki technical support Web site is a

COLLEGE EDUCATION 4.1 Blog

j oint

creation of the website based on, everyone can use

Wiki text on the website to view, create, change, or to express their views on common themes and explore

Blog, simply is the web logs, usually translate for the blog in domestic. The content is usually open, participants

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expansion. Wiki site generally has a strict set the theme of common interest, so the contents are highly relevant.
4.2.1.

REFERENCES

Collaborative learning:

for example, learners can

be a Wiki on the issue of depth, or to a common theme to complete their task.

4.2.2.

Resource collection and management:

resource organization platform;

Wiki is a and

good

teachers

students can usually collect a variety of learning resources to different categories, according to the entries recorded in the Wiki. In the content organization, Wiki and Blog are different. Usually, Wiki entries according to information, level and order to organize information, Blog is based on timing and categories to organize information and collaboration for more than the content, Wiki is a content centric, Blog personal as the centre , thus involving more than the application of collaborative learning, Wiki has irreplaceable advantages.
4.3 Instant communication tools

[1]Mejias, U. (2006). Teaching social software with social software. Innovate. 2 (5). [2]O'Reilly, T. (2005). What is web 2.0: Design patterns and business models fill' the next generation of software. Retrieved March, 2006. ./i'om http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/3O/what-is web-20.html [3]Bryant. T. (2006). Social software in academia. Educause Quarterly, 2, 61-64. [4]Allen, C. (2004). Tracing the evolution of social software: Life with alacrity. Retrieved February 2005. ./Yom http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/1O/tracing_the_ evo.html [5]Levin. A. (2004). Social software: What's new. Many 2 Many. Retrieved February 2005 from, http://www.corante.com/many/archives/2004/I0/ I8/social_software_ wh ats_newphp [6] Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice. Learning as a social system. Systems Thinker, retrieved June 7, 2007 ./i'om http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-gardenlcop/lss.shttnl.

Instant messaging software (Instant Messenger, 1M) is a kind of dialogue tool on the Internet to provide real time functional dialogue, such a dialogue can be in text form, and it can be voice and visual forms. Representative of the instant messaging software are as follows, with domestic QQ, foreign popular ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo links, etc. Instant learning. It messaging tools in allows tools are and good interpersonal in and online other communication study, especially students

teachers

collaborators and students even if not in the same place can also be synchronized communication, discussion, get instant feedback. It can also be used to help students' timely access to online support for teachers or other learners. As both real-time in instant messaging and asynchronous mode, has great communication, making it in teaching, especially informal learning play an important role.

5. CONCLUSIONS

Social socialization

software process,

IS

software combines

product

of

the and

it

technology

communications between people, attracts the concern of educators. The development of social software provides a very friendly support for learners to learn; it promotes knowledge sharing, stimulate knowledge innovation, and develop people's information processing capacity and collaboration. Social software not only widens the space for individual and organizational learning, and brings more channels of access to learning resources for the learner. I hope that through more research on social software, the effective application of social software in learning activities, to provide a new way and means of learning in lifelong learning society.

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