GoingOn Social Media Platform is the Love Child of Blackboard + Facebook

The online education platform built by GoingOn, my old software company, gets a review from UPenn's student newspaper:

Open Learning Commons combines elements of Blackboard and Facebook

The love child of Blackboard and Facebook has a name - the Open Learning Commons.

The new platform prototype, launched by the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, allows interested people within and outside the Penn community to participate in classroom activities from the Web.

The first class covers global environmental sustainability and combines coursework with social networking.

Led by Political Science professor Donald Kettl, the course involves not only 14 Penn students, but also international university students and anyone interested in "a flavor of what's going on at Penn in the classroom," program developers Lisa Minetti and Jennifer Maden said.

"The students are doing a real-world, real-time project, focused on framing an American approach to the next round of climate change policy," Kettl wrote in an e-mail.

Marni Baker, the program director, originally conceived the idea after fruitlessly searching for an ideal platform to combine "private interactions with the students" with YouTube lectures, discussion forums and a blog, all open to "wider audiences."... (full article)

You can visit the Global Environmental Sustainability Collaborative site here.

"Love child of Blackboard + Facebook" is a good description for this vertical Dave, Jon and team are working hard at leading.

UPenn's Global Environmental Sustainability Collaborative... Join the Conversation & Courses!

The software company I co-founded, GoingOn, has recently launched an initiative of UPenn's College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS).

The Global Environmental Sustainability Collaborative is an online forum and course that is open to the general public. Join if environmental and sustainability issues interest you! More from their site:

Please join faculty and students from The University of Pennsylvania, Kyung Hee University, and Ritsumeikan University, in a global, multi-continent discussion of issues around Global Environmental Policy and Sustainability led by Dr. Don Kettl, Professor of Political Science and Robert A. Fox Professor of Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania. On this site you have access to the course syllabus and reading list, as well as have "real-time" access to course lectures and discussions as they unfold. We invite you to join the conversation at no charge as a member-at-large. Create a profile, and join the course conversation as it evolves. As a member you will be able to add your thoughts to the course Comment Wall, Blogs and Forums. Members can also network with each other via email and instant messaging using the "Facezone" on the right. Offering a Penn course in an open online forum is an exciting new initiative at Penn. As you participate in the course this Spring, please share with us your thoughts and feedback on the experience.

If you're interested in bringing a similar initiative and collaborative platform to your academic institution, contact GoingOn's CEO, David Popler, at davidp[at]goingon.com

Lynda.com... Online Training for Designers

Just signed up for Lynda.com since we got a free one-year subscription from TED. Not so useful for me, but maybe of interest to you? Their description:

lynda.com is an award-winning provider of educational materials, including Hands-On Training™ instructional books, the Online Training Library®, CD- and DVD-based video training, and events for creative designers, instructors, students, and hobbyists.

The lynda.com Online Training Library® and CD-ROM courses include such subjects as Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Office, digital photography, Web design, digital video, and many others.