About
Christian Voigt
since 2009 Lecturer: Academic Development
2008 – PhD in Information Systems (UniSA)
2000 – Master (Dipl.-Wirt.-Inf.) in Business Informatics (Technical University of Ilmenau)
Email: christian.voigt(at)unisa.edu.au
URL: http://people.unisa.edu.au/christian.voigt
Welcome to my Blog. I am an Academic Developer with a strong interest in online learning landscapes using Web 2.0 technologies. I hold a PhD in Information Systems applied to collaborative online learning and have been involved with e-learning as a teacher and researcher since 2002. In my research and work practice I aim to be as holistic as possible and this leads me well beyond the boundaries of electronic learning support system. I believe that, among many other things, education needs to be engaging and authentic in order to be successful.
Before joining the ranks at the Learning & Teaching Unit I was a Lecturer and Course Coordinator in the School of Computer and Information Science, UniSA (2004-2008). Current and past research interests include: modelling learning scenarios as activity systems (Engestroem, Y.) or design patterns (Alexander, C.) as well as experimenting with open source software (e.g. Moodle, Mahara, Elgg). I am currently working on a number of small projects to test aspects of UniSA’s new learning environment (to be introduced in 2010/11).
A complete list of my publications is available on http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/Staff/homepage.asp?Name=christian.voigt#ResearchPublications
Hm, so what is this Blog about …
I don’t have that answer quite yet but I suppose that after my first month of blogging I can fill that gap.
For now, a good pircture tells more than thousand words …
Hello, Christian,
I am writing you because I found a paper of yours while searching the web for social-networking education oriented projects. Specifically, I had been trying to find an example of a site where someone had merged the Elgg and Moodle projects; people say that it can be done but I have not seen it yet. Anyway, while looking for those I found your paper and in your paper you mention the Mahara app. Do you have a preference between the three (Marhara, Moodle, Elgg) or combined efforts therein? Are there any features that you feel better facilitate education in one or another? Are there any other projects that may also work similarly? I am looking mainly for open source for the community support and because I may want to make some changes.
I thank you for any assistance you can give.
- Matthew
PS: If you are currently working on any edu-community projects and I can be of assistance, please let me know. I am trying to better understand the user experience.
Hi Matthew,
If you look for a community support tool I would go with Elgg! However, I work for a University, hence community building is only one aspects of many. Currently it’s ePortfolios that are on my mind most – a big topic Unis have put on their agendas for a number of reasons. At the moment we look at trials with the typical Moodle-Mahara combination … However I want to apply the social networking idea as a motivator. I was also looking at PebblePad, a proprietary Portfolio tool but that’s a topic for a later posting. If you find a Moodle-Elgg combination let me know, I would be interested in seeing that too.
It’s still very early days so I can’t offer a definite feedback at this stage, but will post news every so often. When you say you are interested in community support and user experience, what kind of communities and users did you have in mind? You will find that the same tool is used very differently by different communities.
Cheers,
Christian