LL4Schools: e-Safe Social Networking for Schools

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

Just released: LL4Schools now offers video streaming from Kaltura which includes online editing - so now your pupils can create video in the classroom and immediately upload it to the LL4Schools site. They can then show it in a blog or wiki page in LL4Schools or, indeed, any other website. Take a look at this simple slideshow example.

Schools can register here for the FREE social learning service: once validated an account will be created for the site contact and a school group containing 20 free user accounts.

While there are some teachers using blogs and social networks both personally and in their teaching many are not because of e-safety concerns with the major public, open access, sites. At LL4Schools we know who all our account holders are: they have been created by us for schools that have subscribed so we have complete traceability and a single point of contact within each establishment.

With LL4Schools staff can have confidence that it is a safe environment in which to explore the educational potential of social networking: by teaching pupils how to use social networking safely, using the power of social learning to support the teaching of other subjects and giving students access to the hugely motivational global audience.

Unlike your school VLE/MLE (Virtual Learning Environment or Managed Learning Environment) LL4Schools is a single platform for communication and sharing with users drawn from a wide range of schools: it is not a replacement for your VLE/MLE but complementary to it.

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) recommends it as the most appropriate social networking platform for schools' use.

Teachers and others involved in Education can 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 in place and so is not suitable for classroom use. In fact, the terms and conditions of the site state that users must be over 18. We hope that LL4Education will be a sampler site for teachers to try out the facilities available in LL4Schools before subscribing and a forum for educators in its own right.