Social Networking

U Wisconsin Pilots Virtual Student Union

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 03/01/10

The University of Wisconsin-Extension has opened a virtual student union as part of its sustainable management program, where students can chat with each other and connect with employers and faculty online. The site is a pilot program to evaluate how well the platform can eventually serve all students seeking online degrees through the university.

The new site includes blogs by returning students in the green degree, a green jobs career center, and news feeds about sustainability.

The online platform was built by the Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Lab, the extension program's learning technology research and development arm.

"The beta release of our first student community is about providing a space 'between' classes to share, learn, and interact with a broader community," said Rovy Branon, executive director of the Co-Lab. "Our development team has built a robust platform with capabilities that we will roll out over time to meet the needs of our growing online student population."