Course Networking overview

The social networking craze has led to the rise of facebook, twitter, linkedin, and various other platforms.  Some have been tailored towards a certain type of client for example linkedin is for those who consider themselves business professional.  To my knowledge Course Networking(TheCN) is the first of its kind that combines social networking with education.  The Course Networking platform connects educators and students using shared classes and interests.  TheCN’s creator Ali Jafari has created various other platforms that have found success in distance learning and online class management.  For teachers especially this could be helpful as it seems like they can be hesitant to accept facebook or twitter as learning or information spreading tools.  Also, like most social media sites, TheCN is linked to the most popular sites like facebook and twitter to expedite the spread of its popularity around the world. 

Most other platforms for social networking must be bought by universities or institutions to make their money.  TheCN intends to combine that source of revenue with money made from user targeted advertising on the site itself. 

An important function of TheCN is the ability to share notes, readings, and study tools.  Sites like Koofers and Notehall do this but some of them cost money.  This also raises questions about plagiarism and cheating via TheCN.  Users are able to control which information they choose to share and with whom they want to share it with.  As information is uploaded the user is asked who they wish to share it with be that actual classmates, virtual classmates, and the open public.  All of this can be found through the terms of service on Thecn.com. 

Furthermore, from my brief interaction with TheCN it will be best utilized if teachers participate.  Some students may take the initiative to post assignment and other information but, teachers are much more likely to interact with it.  In conclusion, I believe that Course Networking can be a very applicable tool to the many aspects of distance learning and hopefully help improve overall communication between people of similar educational interests.