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=POD group project for ITC213/ITC510 (Weeks 4-10)=

__Problem scenario__
Our group has decided to base this problem around a school scenario.
 * Stakeholders are:**
 * Principal (funds professional development)
 * IT manager or person in charge of IT in school (the person who ensures that the infrastructure of the network will support online social networking and may also have input into policy creation)
 * School staff (would also include staff that are linked within regional clusters who are expected to collaborate )

You and your POD group have been asked by the CIO of a multinational company to work with the IT manager to report on the use of social networks in providing professional development experiences for staff.

The IT manager has used Linked-In but has heard other staff talking about using video courses via YouTube, Google Video and iTunes, as well as events in Second Life, Facebook groups and Twitter. The IT manager needs your help to understand the issues involved. The key stakeholders are the CIO who will fund the professional development; the IT manager who will implement the programme and staff located in offices all over the world.

Your POD findings should be understood by all stakeholders.

__Keywords to define__
social network, professional development, Web 2.0, blog, micro-blog, wiki, mashup.

__Research questions__
A. What are the issues involved with using social networks for professional development in the workplace?

B. How do Web 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, podcasts and video lectures) complement such social networks?

C. How is a work-related social network developed and sustained?

__What to do__
Point of departure

Begin by setting up our whole class presence as a social network at Second Life, Facebook and Twitter.

At each site use the three research questions as the focus for discussion and collaboration in building your social network with others.

Your online experience with this 'social network' represents the 'baseline study' upon which further action is opened up by you and your POD group and all reporting and evaluation is done by blogging.

1. Set up a personal blog to record your define your keywords, ideas, observations and findings. Post its address to the forum for sharing.

2. Include an entry introduction about yourself and another about this project and your plan (timeline).

3. Design a set of categories (tags or labels) to structure your blog entries around each topic to discuss.

4. Your blog can become a 'mashup' of embedded examples to support your argument.

5. The second last (penultimate) blog entry discusses your findings for the CIO as notes for merging/editing in the final step.

6. This is the final step. The final blog entry for all POD members is made under a new category (tag or label) of CIO recommendations.

a. This will require an online meeting to discuss all findings and merge all personal blog final entries of POD group members in to a final set of POD group findings for the project.

b. This can be a link to a set of recommendations upon which the final report will be edited.

//Note: you don't write that report at this stage. It is beyond the scope of this exercise. Just conclude with the list of 'CIO Recommendations'.//