Key+Features

//GnT Connected// is a learning community that groups gifted and talented students from different schools and geographic locations, who participate in various local and regional meetings and activities. The aim of the community is to provide extended learning activities in reading, Logo, e-toy, software design and development, artificial intelligence and also coordinate local and regional meetings for its members.
 * The Concept - Key Features of GnT Connected**

The implementation of a social network that allows members to interact synchronously and asynchronously will allow participants to have closer relationships with peers and teachers. Participants will be able to communicate using instant messaging, blog posts, email, text and video chat for the interchange of ideas, knowledge, comments and feedback. Members will also be able to establish academic and social interactions with peers from diverse schools and localities, thus reducing the sense of isolation of those students that live in remote and rural areas.

This proposal suggests a pilot program using a private social network to create a learning community to facilitate a variety activities such for gifted and talented students who are isolated by their uncommon abilities, reduced size of their local cohort and by geographical distance. The community consists of the gifted and talented students already targeted by three schools and three co-operating teachers deploying different skills sets and activities in the form of three ‘clubs’. As the program includes more schools and co-operating teachers the number of activities would increase. The community members already meet regularly in their own schools for enrichment and morale building. They also meet once a Semester in a combined group activities day in a central location.

Being empowered by a monitored social networking site the community would; > 1. Prepare for their combined regional meetings, (even help organise them) > 2. Follow up from the friendships and activities from the regional meetings > 3. Integrate the regular meetings and activities into the site > 4. Expand and drive their activities self-directing. It wouldn't take long before the locus of control shifted into their capable hands. While the teachers can control their on-site activities it is inevitable that the social and educational likes established will not be confined by the official site and they will use a multimodal approach to communicate and investigate.


 * GnT Connected Structure**



The //GnT Connected// social network has a simple hierarchal structure. Every student and teacher belongs to the main community. Within this main community, every member has a means of contact with another. Within the community there are a range of sub-communities which we have named 'clubs'. These clubs are special interest groups targeted towards the students' various interests and areas for development. The main community exists to foster social connections, as well as to help organise regional meetings. The sub communities, or 'clubs' allow a method for maintaining a clear focus on particular projects. Students and teachers elect which clubs they wish to me a member of, and each club has the potential to offer slightly different collaboration tools and different ways of being administered.

For the purposes of demonstration, //GnT Connected// has been established using the Ning (www.ning.com) social network creation tool. This demonstration website can be viewed at http://gntconnected.ning.com - however, this will only be available until the end of May, 2011. Ning is a paid service that allows the user to create their own private social network. It is heavily customisable, particularly with an understanding of website development. Some screen shots have been included to highlight the most important features and tools of the website. //Ning// is a feature filled network creation tool, but does have its limitations. An important aspect of //Ning// is the ability to send private messages to other users. This is a feature we would want disabled in //GnT Connected//. It is important in creating a safe learning environment that the teachers have full access to all communication that takes place in the site. All live chats would maintain a log (which is also important for collaborative learning reasons) and all private communications would be disabled, or have the means of being monitored. Furthermore, //Ning// requires further customisation to offer features such as video-conferencing, wiki integration and the ability to maintain more than one blog per user. A more expensive subscription allows access to the Application Programming Interface (API) which would allow further customisation of the network. Furthermore, there are countless other tools on the market that allow the user to create a private social network if they have web-server to host it. //Ning// has been chosen simply as a proof of concept, or a demonstration. It offers a solution very close to the //GnT Connected// product we will describe in this report.
 * GnT Connected Features and Tools**

Main Site



> 1. Main navigation bar - allows access to all of the sites features > 2. Events - the events box has been included on the main page. This allows user to see all upcoming events, such as regional meetings. The events tool allows users to create events that require all invitees to RSVP. This is an invaluable organisational tool: it is a method of inviting/alerting all participants of upcoming events, but also a way of keeping track of expected attendees. > 3. Recent Activities - users can keep track of activity throughout the site > 4. Groups - ideally, we would rename this 'clubs'. Allows users to see all available clubs, as well as provides a link into the clubs they are members of. Further details of the groups feature of the site will be provided later in this report. > 5. Blogs - users can read other members blog posts, as well as maintain their own blog. This is a valuable collaborative learning tool, as well as a means of creating social network. There is also the ability to create club-specific blogs. > 6. Live chat - All online users will appear in this chat application. This remains in the status bar of the website, regardless of which section of the website you are in. This is a valuable social interaction tool, offering a synchronous form of communication. Ideally, this would also offer a means of video-conferencing.

Within the main community exist various sub-communities known as 'clubs'. As the network grows, so would the number and depth of each of these clubs. Each club has the potential to operate somewhat independently of the other groups, whilst still maintaining the wider //GnT Connected// community. Each club would be able to change the tools and features available for their group as their needs dictated. The following screen shot is an example of the Wide-Reading Club.
 * Sub-Communities: 'Clubs'**



> 1. Group Information and Communication - The user has the ability to send a message to each user in the club. This ensures that certain information only reaches the necessary audience. This is an advantage of having sub-communities within our wider community. > 2. Forum - Each club has an independent discussion forum. > 3. Comment Wall - This is on the main page of the group and allows users to post messages, files or links that will then be available to all members of the group and remain on the main page of the club. > (The following features are hypothetical inclusions, and require further customisation of the demonstration site) > 4. Library - A place for a moderator/administrator to keep a library of files and information for students to access. > 5. Group-specific Blog - a blog that is separate from the user's main blog, and only visible to members of the particular club.


 * Implementation - Key Features of GnT Connected**

The following pages of the report give examples of the various clubs that would be sub-communities of //GnT Connected//, as well as their practical application of the private social network. | Previous Page | Home | Next Page |
 * Examples of Clubs and Practical Application**