Student engagement with digital learning resources and online social networking are strong forces in education today. How can these resources best be utilized by educators and course designers in higher education? This book aims to provide the reader with enough background information to appreciate the value of social networking, especially for distributed education. Through highlighting the most relevant, interesting, and challenging aspects of e-learning the book provides practical advice for using social networking tools in course design. This volume covers the following issues of course design using social networking:

• key issues of social networking as an educational technique
• designing for a distributed environment
• strengths and weaknesses of delivering content in various formats: text, audio and video
• specific media: blogging, wikis, podcasting, webcasting
• constraints on course design
• implementation, evaluation, induction and training

Illustrated by short descriptive case studies, it also highlights contact addresses, websites, and further reading to help readers find resources and enhance their design. This practical guide will help all those involved in the design and delivery of online learning in higher education make the best choices when preparing courses for distributed learning.

Robin Mason is Professor of Educational Technology at the Open University where she is a specialist in the design and practice of online teaching and learning.

Frank Rennie is Professor of Sustainable Rural Development at the UHI Millennium Institute in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Please visit the authors’ wiki at: www.socialnetworking.wetpaint.com