1. Development of a Social Networking Platform as a Methodology for Teaching in the Degree of Chemistry
Ana María Diez Pascual,1,* Pilar García Díaz,2 Rafael Peña Capilla2
1Department of Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Biology, Environmental Sciences and Chemistry, Alcalá University, Madrid, Spain;
2Department of Signal Theory and Communication. Polytechnic High School, Alcalá University, Madrid, Spain

2. CONTENTS Objectives of the project Introduction to social software
Examples of social software
Potential use of media
Use of blogs in teaching process
Use of wikis in teaching process
Results: Wiki of Glossary of terms in Chemistry
Conclusions/Future work

3. Objectives of the project
Promote the use of social software as a complement in the development of on-site teaching
Analyze the potential of new technologies in the context of University Higher Education
Encourage collaborative work among students
Improvement of the teaching quality

4. Introduction to social software
Learning on-line
Social interaction
Collaboration
Participation
Communication
Use cases for education
Micro-learning

5. Examples of social software
Blog: create/update personal website.
Shared learning journal to document experiences, opinions, etc.
Wikis: collaborate in the creation of a resource
Shared learning process
YouTube, Broadcast Yourself. Produce & publish your own videos. Shared projects
Podcast Yourself. Produce & publish your own audio messages. Shared projects

6. Examples of social software
Social Network Sites: communicate & collaborate with other professional. Receive/provide feedback.
Pictures online: publish your pictures, share them and receive feedback.
Micro-blogging: communicate with your network through brief messages.
RSS: notify automatically you about others are publishing and sharing
Web telephony. Communicate audio/video/chat in real time

7. Potential use of media
Media
Mode
Basic
Intermediate
Advanced
Text
One-way
Print
webpages
blogs
Interactive
Computer conference
wikis, blogs
Audio
Audio clips
Podcasts
Downloads
Telephone support
Telephone conference
Audiographics
Images
Photographs
CD, DVD
Animations
Image banks (e.g. Creative Commons)
Share/edit (e.g. Flickr)
Simulations, games
Video
Video clips
Vods
Webcasts/TV
Skype
Videoconference
Mason, R. and Rennie, F. (2008). E-learning and Social Networking. Handbook, New York, Routledge

8. Use of blogs in teaching process
A very simple webpage where the entries (or posts) are organized in reverse chronological order
Readers can post comments like with a guest book on a website
Educational uses
Class notice board, announcements
Collaboration or discussion tool with the students
Explanation of concepts
Learning reflection tool
Embed slides, documents, audio-visual material, added archive links from class
Practice problems

9. Use of wikis in teaching process
Wiki is more of a “total website” than a blog is.
Can be used in place of a typical class website.
Wikis are designed for collaboration (e.g. Wikipedia)
Use in Mathematics:
Problem solving
“Real world math”
Problems of the week
Glossary of terms
Collaborate with other schools
Visual arts
Case studies

10. Results: WIKI OF Glossary of terms in CHEMISTRY
Wiki that belongs to the subject “Basic Lab Operations”, practical compulsory course of the first year of the degree in Chemistry.
Implemented during
Voluntary task, with a positive effect
on the final mark of the subject.
Wiki “glosarioterminosanaliticos”
Created within Wikispaces environment.
Collaborative glossary among the students.
Includes the most relevant and specific terms they had learnt during the practical lessons and make an alphabetically arranged list.
Each term should be joint to its meaning, similarly to Wikipedia.
The glossary should be bilingual, both in Spanish and English.
The teacher provides “feedback” through the wiki, in a way that the students can improve the contents as the course progresses.

11. Results: WIKI OF Glossary of terms in Chemistry
Extract of the glossary developed by the students in the wiki of the subject

12. Results: WIKI OF Glossary of terms in Chemistry
List of participating members in the wiki of the subject

13. Results: WIKI OF Glossary of terms in Chemistry
Participation in wiki
Students (%)
Referring to the total number of students
5,2
Referring to the number of them who made the final exam
5,9
Referring to students passed the final exam
15,6
Participation in wiki who passed the subject
100
The participation in others degrees was similar; e.g problem solving activities in Degree of Engineering:
13,2 % referring to students who made the final exam
28,6% referring to students who passed the final exam

14. Conclusions
Low participation of the students it is a voluntary activity and without direct influence on the qualification of the subject
The scarce level of participation could be related to their lack of time and the lack of flexibility of the activity
The students showed greater interest in solving exercises than in contents development
The most committed students in the subject usually get involved in the activity
All of the participants in the wiki passed the subject

15. FUTURE WORK
Flexible criteria and deadlines for working with the wiki should be established, in agreement with the students
Design multiple activities; hence the students will be able to choose those that they consider more interesting to boost their learning.
(1) a critical analysis of a scientific document in the area of analytical chemistry and related to the topics studied, which will then appear in the wiki. The students should carefully read the document and analyze the aims, methodology, results and conclusions.
(2) Writing on a hot topic related to the subject so that the students could apply their knowledge and the specific terms they had learnt. It would consist in a collaborative writing,. They would also choose the topic to develop, hence they would have to carry out literature search on the subject.
(3) Answer to specific questions related to the field of the subject. This activity would require the use of the specific terms and capacity of making a summary in order to answer the specific questions. The students would answer in a collaborative way.

16. Ana María Díez Pascual