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OurChatSpace OR What Mastodon could do for #HigherEd

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What mastodon, and its probable #OurChatSpace spinoffs, could do for #highered

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Our disclaimer runs thusly – even if mastodon is not long for this world, something with similar affordances will/should play into #NGDLE. As a GNU variant, we hope that more platforms and DIY solutions emerge. Our optics are around building competencies for users in environments that (hopefully) add value to people looking to engage and build meaning with others. These pursuits are wrought with challenges, but we need to try and we need to find ways to keep the hate out. So here’s to hoping that there are some venues to rock out to in #highered. We have thrown out the #OurChatSpace idea to create dialogue.

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With the recent release of the code and guts (see what we did there Thanksgivingers?) of Mastodon into the open, we could be looking at a shift in some communication ecosystems in highered. As policy makers across the globe (*waves to #codesign16*) try to decipher what a NGDLE could look like, this is a timely release of what could shape out to be a robust communication and collaboration tool. Of the main elements that have and will make up a learning environment, Mastodon (or variant builds thereof) seems well suited for handling cross-community collaboration.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, what exactly is Mastodon and why might it have such a huge effect?  Well, Mastodon “is a free, open-source social network server. A decentralized alternative to commercial platforms…mastodon.social is an instance of mastodon.” [https://mastodon.social/about] The Terms on the Mastodon site are from 2013 and speak to making users aware of how their data is being used. Looking at the open source code on Github, looks like it is an “alternative implementation of the GNU social project.” [https://gnu.io/social/about/] The man behind it is Eugen @Gargron from Germany (using this handle on Github, Twitter, and, Mastodon). A humble 691 followers on Twitter, his tweets do speak for themselves [https://twitter.com/Gargron]. It seems that a lot of the new action on Mastodon was sparked by this article http://www.dailydot.com/debug/mastodon-open-source-social-media/?tw=dd. And all of this is owed to that mythical oddball/free-thinker/open-advocate Richard Stallman.

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With our backgrounds as Instructional Designers/Technologists/Project Managers, we look at the following uses as potentially tremendously fruitful. These uses are based on the precepts that we can/will pull LDAP data from our college system. Pulling from this data daily (or several times daily), would help with consistency and integrity of the system. Assuming we can do this, the following uses are speculative, but very alluring if we can execute them in a manner similar to Tweetdeck to Hootsuite. Effectively what we are looking at is how to use columns in their most awesome ways. This would be an example of “low input, high impact” principle.

In course/cohort

Every current class a student is enrolled in would have its own column. Students would have the fully customizable/personalizable space to choose which columns are visible and their order. Replacing the discussion forums in a class, students would be able to engage with anyone in their courses, specific assignments by profs could use hashtags as filters. A potential great piece from this would be that past class rosters would be accessible. It would be “easy” to reach back to past classes and ask questions or share something influenced by previous ideas.

“Campus” notes

Every campus we’ve been on has newsletters of different types. In Mastodon you could use 500 characters (with links?) to share what’s happening that day or to promote events. If there’s a time sensitive event you could use this column.

School group/organization/hashtag spaces

This could be personalized and customizable. All of the groups and organizations you belonged to could be in one space. Or they could be separated with hashtags. Instead of managing dozens of emails from different spaces, they could be aggregated here. Depending on the power of your server, this could be very robust spaces.

Private/Public spaces

Institution wide one could be opted in to be able to privately direct message others. There should also be a way to bring public voices into the campus space. If you have an invited speaker, create a space for them to take questions both privately and publicly as well.

These are our initial thoughts. Please share yours in the comments or use #OurChatSpace :)

Hugs to you all!

(this piece was co-written with the lovely @sundilu)

Published inedtechhigheredideavomitngdle

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  1. […] pedagogical, and content knowledge required for purposeful educational technology integration. OurChatSpace OR What Mastodon could do for #HigherEd – Daniel Lynds unpacks a relatively new open source platform similar to Twitter. I have […]

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