SINs are Special Interest Networks and, in case you are not aware of it, that is what edna Groups is all about. Pre-social networking we would probably have talked about SIGs (Special Interest Groups) but they often used only one vehicle of communication such as a bulletin board or an email discussion list.
edna Groups provides a venue for networking using a number of different interactive (web 2.0 if you like) tools. The most commonly used activity is actually a rather old-fashioned one, the threaded forum, followed closely by file upload. But more are venturing into Scorms, wikis, journals, blogs, blog tags, and RSS feeds.
These SINs are bringing together education practitioners from all over Australia, and from all education sectors. Many of the SINs are private, in that they require both edna registration and the use of an ‘invitation key’. These SINs are often linked to specific projects or catering for educators within a targetted group of people in a particular state or deployment.
There are however a growing number of public SINs for educators who looking to learn and share. Many of them require new members to be registered with edna.
Here are some to check that do not require registration
- edna’s Training Space - see the features available in edna Groups
- 2007 Networks Community Forum - a very active group in the VET sector
- Early Childhood Educators
- Middle Primary Years - for teachers and pre-service teachers
- Middle Schooling
- Teacher Librarians Meeting Space
- Libre Software and Library Knowledge in Education
This year we have created 450 new edna Groups, 4,500 more people have joined at least one Group, there are 250 new owners, and there are 58 new groups in the edna Sandpit, the place where you can play with new tools.
edna Groups is a free service for communication and collaboration between members of the Australian education and training community.
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