Periodic Fable

Some interesting social software for learning:

Ecto
http://www.ectolearning.com/
Their blurb: “Ecto is a hosted, open networked Personal Learning Environment. Use Ecto to transform learning into an interactive, collaborative, and student centered activity. Ecto is the only learning management system built from the ground up on the principles and architecture of social software.”

It’s an online service and at the moment you can join for free although it’s a commercial offering. At the moment it looks pretty vanilla – it seems to be social networking aimed at learning and teaching, nothing really new about it.

ELGG
http://elgg.org/
Elgg is an open source social platform based around choice, flexibility and openness: a system that firmly places individuals at the centre of their activities. ELGG is being used by a LOT of universities and educational organisations, but you do need a server to run it on so it’s not a solution for individuals.