Ever since we started the Elgg project the most common question we have been asked is:

"What is Elgg?"

Elgg is a web-based learning system that allows users to create their own "personal learning landscapes". These are places where users can store their personal reflections, development and resource base; they also become online identities which are used to share ideas with other users and instructors, sparking debate and creating online communities of learning. Finally, they provide a mechanism to search for resources relating to a user’s interests and reflections.

{{cut}}
What does Elgg do?

Elgg takes elements from e-portfolios, weblogs and social networking, and adds extensive customisation and access controls to create a fully learner-controlled digital identity.

It is a place to gather resources and experiences (from both formal and informal settings), reflect on these resources and experiences and, if desired, share them back to the wider community.

One of Elgg’s primary goals is to connect learners, instructors and resources in online communities. These can be ad-hoc communities, which arise organically around a particular subject; Elgg provides an aggregated view of all reflections and resources from anyone relating to any subject of your choice. They can also be more formal communities, which are explicitly created as areas that users with a common interest can join - for example, users taking English 101 could opt to join the community of the same name, or users with an interest in software development could create and join the software development community.

We think that education could be one of social networking’s strongest areas. Learning, whether formal or informal, often takes places through some sort of interaction with others. We all learn so much from what other people do – how they think about things – and through social networking it will be possible to build up a network of respected people to learn from and communicate with. This, we believe, will enhance a user’s whole learning experience.

Elgg is a different approach to learning environments; it is a move away from content driven systems such as Moodle and WebCT to a more learner driven system. Within Elgg, users create the content, which can be shared in order to create a rich environment for both informal and formal learning.

This is not to say that Elgg is trying to replace the more content driven systems. Far from it: we think the two approaches could sit very nicely together. One provides some good structure and set content (coursework requirements, assessment needs etc) and the other a looser environment for learners and instructors to expand their thoughts, reflect on their experiences and allow their learning to flow in a direction which suits them.

Worth noting

Having said the above, it is worth pointing out that we do not want to set out any one way Elgg should be used. We have developed the system in a completely open environment and are continually learning ourselves. This is why it will be so interesting to see how the various Elgg pilots running this fall semester work out - as with many tools, often people find their own uses for it. Some are currently using it as a blogging solution, others an alternative e-portfolio.