(photo by Amazon)

Elgg has a new book!

We are currently using Elgg as the ePortfolio and social networking tool of our Personal Learning Environment. My plan is to review the book and highlight the sections in each chaper that are most useful for people using our integrated system.

Preface: 

I am writing a lot of marketing material these days as we launch our PLE product.  Thus I have a huge respect for how hard it is to describe these rich complicated systems simply.  Here is a quote:

Elgg provides each user with a personal weblog, file repository (with podcasting capabilities), an online profile, and an RSS reader.  Additionally, all of the user's content can be tagged with keywords - so they can connect with other users with similar interests and create their own personal learning network. However, where Elgg differs from regular weblog or commercial social network (such as MySpace) is the degree of control each user is given over who can access their content.  Each profile item, blog post, or uploaded file can be assigned its own access restrictions - from fully public to readable only by a praticular group or individual.

[Elgg] is especially useful in educaiton as it has many features making it suitable for e-learning, including groups, communities, and blogs that can be used for online classes...in a managed, protected environment, creating what authors ter a "personal learning landscape".

Nice!