The LSJ has been asked to deliver a post-grad module on interactive and online journalism as a distance learning project with the School of Journalism and PR in Skopje, Macedonia.

There are four of us on the LSJ end of the project team: Jane Croft (PR/Social media), Gary Stevens (Broadcast), Debbie Wilson (broadcast) and me (online/social media).

It’s still very much in the initial planning stage. We’ve got a module outline from our colleagues, and some suggestions about possible applications for delivering the module

The Skopje university suggested using Share Point and WizIQ.

Sharepoint
I don’t know much about either, other than I had Sharepoint down as a Microsoft back-end system for collaborative working, content management, web-hosting, etc.

The best definition I’ve come across is from this post on ZDNet, which describes it as “the server sibling of Office”.

It’s certainly huge. The ZDNet post quotes Microsoft claiming to add 20,000 new users every day.

It’s used in education as a VLE (I found this blog which gives it a good write-up.)

WizIq
WizIq is an online course-creation and course-management tool. It looks fine, and seems to be easy (hmmm) to hook up to Blackboard.

But, the merits of these tools aside, there are some issues – there’s a learning curve for us, at least, and we may need to involve ICT in any installation at our end.

Also, because Sharepoint is a Microsoft creation, there may be limited support for other browsers.

So – do we stick with these, go with open technology/social media, or use a blend of both?

More to follow.