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TH(i)NQ Ed Launches Collaborative Learning Network

• By Scott Aronowitz
• 07/26/10

Online education Technology provider TH(i)NQ Ed, which recently changed its name from SchoolCenter, has launched a new collaborative learning network named journ(i)e. TH(i)NQ Ed said journ(i)e offers a unique focus for an online education community, specifically seeking to cultivate engagement among a generation of students for whom using digital technology is practically second nature.

According to a TH(i)NQ Ed spokesperson, journ(i)e achieves its goal of greater student engagement by allowing the establishment of multiple communities and by offering a robust set of Web 2.0 tools that allow users to interact in one or more of these communities, according to each user's coursework and outside interests.

Teachers can, for example, opt to build a community for their classes for the entire school year, or they can create several for various topics, i.e., one for a module on the American colonial period, another for the Industrial Revolution, and so on. Within a community, the teacher can assign work, receive submissions, transmit information, make announcements, keep a calendar, etc. In addition, students taking the class can collaborate on assignments and projects, discuss concepts, create wikis for general information, provide links to relevant Web sites, and ask questions of the teacher.

Administrators of journ(i)e for a school can also create communities for school clubs, events, and activities, allowing students involved in these extracurricular interests to communicate using the same Web 2.0 tools. And each student can have his/her own home page on the network to blog, chat, post pictures and video, and more.

Educators who tested the network have expressed enthusiasm regarding the extent of their students' interest in journ(i)e. "The students' enthusiasm for journ(i)e was equal [to] and greater than my own," said Jody Bowie, a high school physics teacher at Putnam City Schools in Warr Acres, OK, a suburb of Oklahoma City, who participated in the pre-launch preview program. "Once we got started, my students started using the program immediately. As an educational facilitator, I believe journ(i)e is a great tool for most ages and any subject. [It provides] a safe way for students to maintain an online learning life with fellow students and teachers in a more structured way."

Further information about the service is available here.

Editor's note: This article has been updated since its original publication to correct an inaccuracy. Specifically, Jody Bowie is a high school physics teacher, not, as previously stated, a middle school science teacher. [Last updated Aug. 2, 2010 at 9:23 a.m.]--David Nagel