LL4Schools: e-Safe Social Networking for Schools

LL4Schools is a safe social network designed for schools using the award winning Elgg platform. It includes a range of Web2.0 tools (blogs, forums, wikis, file storage, RSS, social bookmarks, etc.), the ability to create communities of users and, of course, have "friends".

All user accounts are created at the request of subscriber schools so we have complete traceability and a single point of contact within each establishment. This traceability allows staff to have confidence that it is a safe environment in which to explore the educational potential of social networking. This covers both teaching pupils how to use their personal social networking accounts safely but also, and just as importantly, to use the power of social networking to support the teaching of other subjects.

There are many schools using blogging in their classes but there are also many that are not because of e-safety concerns with public, open access, sites. We know who all our account holders are: they have been created by us for the schools that subscribe. So LL4Schools offers a blogging platform which addresses the security concerns of staff while giving students the hugely motivational possibility of a global audience.

In addition to blogging users also have an online file storage area and can use it to save pictures to add to their blog, upload music files, and save work so it can be accessed from home or shared with others in a project group. By uploading mp3 files and using the RSS features LL4Schools also provides a good podcasting platform.

All users can also create communities of common interest: they can create a community and ask others to join and request to join communities created by other members. You could start with a group of friends from your class or school and expand to include any member of LL4Schools.

Teachers, and others involved in Education, can now try out the facilities available in LL4Schools by signing up to LL4Education. This is a free site for anyone professionally involved in education. It uses exactly the same software as LL4Schools but does not have the same e-safety controls so is not suitable for classroom use with students. In fact, the terms and conditions of the site state that users must be over 18. We hope that LL4Education will be both a sampler site for teachers to try out the facilities available in LL4Schools before committing to a school subscription and a forum for educators in its own right.

Unlike your school VLE/MLE (Virtual Learning Environment or Managed Learning Environment) LL4Schools seeks to provide a single social network with members from a wide range of schools: this is not a replacement for your VLE/MLE but complementary to it. It could form part of your Learning Platform provision giving each student an online space and blogging area.

The e-safety agenda is critical for all those involved in teaching and learning. Because of the user administration processes LL4Schools has in place E2BN (the East of England Broadband Network) is recommending it as the most appropriate social networking platform for schools' use and promoted it at their Annual Conference in July 2008.

Elgg (the award winning Open Source tool on which LL4Schools is based) is rapidly evolving and we will adding new features and upgrading our installation as they become available.

Go here for pricing information and use this form to register a school account. You will then need to provide written confirmation from a Senior Teacher on school headed paper in order for us to activate the account. Once you have registered your school you will want to create some accounts: all user accounts are created by LL4Schools on request - here's how.

There are some movie tutorials on the site and more will be developed over time to cover all aspects of the service. For registered staff users there is a community to which you are automatically subscribed where you can discuss both teaching issues and how to use it. We hope this will become a focal point for teachers wanting to teach about social networking and their experiences of using LL4Schools to teach other subjects.