FAQ

Table of contents

What is the eleed community about?

The eleed community is a free-of-charge forum for researchers and practitioners interested in e-learning and education, such as the authors and readers of the eleed open access journal. It aims at facilitating open scientific collaboration across disciplines and provides opportunities for stimulating discussion and collaboration on e-learning and education topics. The community platform supports such collaboration by several community services for its members:

  • Finding relevant literature by using eleed’s federated search in several e-learning and education related bibliographic databases;
  • Organizing bibliographic references relevant to a topic in a topic map; in the future, such topic maps may also be constructed collaboratively and be shared with other community members;
  • Organizing and participating in panels, which serve as a platform for discussing a topic presented by panelist’ presentations with an audience of interested community members;
  • Organizing and participating in working groups, which serve as a platform for discussing and working on a topic with a group of interested community members;
  • Supporting community members to describe their interests on their profile page;
  • Recommending relevant publications, panels and working groups to community members based on their interest profiles.

By using these community services, community members can find relevant publications, members, panels and working groups, and collaborate with other members sharing their interests. Thereby research on e-learning and education as well as communication between researchers and practitioners is fostered.
The community platform is hosted by the eleed open access journal, which is published by the FernUniversitaet in Hagen, Germany.

Why should I become a member of the eleed Community?

You may find relevant material to your topic: Either use eleed’s search functionality to find relevant literature by using eleed’s federated search in several e-learning and education related bibliographic databases or check the bottom of your profile page for relevant past, ongoing, and planned panels and working groups. Do not forget to specify your interests on the top of your profile page; otherwise no recommendations can be generated.

You may organize an overview on related research on your topic: use eleed’s search functionality to find relevant literature by using eleed’s federated search in several e-learning and education related bibliographic databases, and create a topic map representing the state of related research on your topic.

You may find collaborators (birds of a feather): If you are a researcher or practitioner interested in e-learning and education, you may find like-minded people in the eleed community who share your interests and may complement your expertise. If you are interested in finding collaborators for working on your topic, you may either join an existing working group (those matching to your interests are listed as recommendations at the bottom of your profile page) or you may simply create your own working group. The community platform will suggest suitable members as potential participants based on their profile. It will also ensure that members with similar interests will see your working group as a recommendation on their profile page. Of course, you can also tell the community platform to invite new people as participants into your working group by supplying their e-mail address. After the working group is closed, the resulting state is kept as a publication/record for further reference and use by its participants.

You may create a platform for discussing a topic with a larger audience: If you want to spawn a discussion of a topic relevant to a larger audience, you may create a panel, invite speakers to prepare position statements, and maintain a discussion between the participants and speakers of the panel. The community platform will suggest suitable members as potential participants based on their profile. It will also ensure that members with similar interests will see your panel as a recommendation on their profile page. Of course, you can also tell the community platform to invite new people into your panel (as speaker, or as participant) by supplying their e-mail address. After the panel is closed, you may prepare a final summary based on the presentations and discussions, which is kept as a publication/record for further reference and use in the community.

How can I become a member of the eleed community?

If you want to join the eleed community, first click on the “Sign in” menu, which displays a form with two parts:

  • In the upper part, registered users may login by providing their e-mail address and password.
  • In the lower part, you may simply click on “Join the eleed community”, which will display a form for supplying your e-mail address, first name and last name. After clicking on the “Join the eleed community” button, your account will be created and an e-mail will be sent to you with a link to be used for confirming your e-mail address. After you clicked on this link, your account will be activated, and you may edit your profile page for two purposes: (1) to present yourself to other community members, and (2) to tell the community system what you are interested in, so that it may inform you about relevant activities and documents.

How can I present myself in the community?

Your profile page is the primary means for controlling which information about you is visible to other members. To access your profile page you may simply click on the “My profile” item in the rightmost menu (labelled by your name) at the top of the page.
Just fill out the respective sections of the form with information you want other members to see. You may enable the edit mode by clicking on the “Edit” button of the “Members / your name” section. Relevant information may include: details of your affiliation, a description of your interests, a photograph, and your profession. Note, that badges are used to present roles, which you successfully mastered in the community.
You may control the visibility of each section by clicking on the appropriate icon located next to it. The lock icon (left) shows that the section is only visible to you, the community icon (middle) shows that the section is visible to community members only, and the world icon (right) shows that the section is visible to non-members as well. By default, each section is visible to community members only. There is a separate “Visibility” section allowing you to request the administrators to make your profile publicly available in the internet.
Using the visibility controls of each section, you have a fine-grained control over your privacy and appearance in the community.

What are recommendations, and how can I tailor them to my interests?

The community platform computes recommendations of panels and working groups matching your interests based on a comparison of the tags associated with your profile and groups. Matching groups are shown at the bottom of your profile page.
Therefore, you can influence recommendations by tailoring the set of tags listed in the Tags section of your profile page, so that the set of tags describes best your current interests.

What is a panel?

If you want to spawn an asynchronous discussion of a topic relevant to a larger audience, you may create a panel, invite speakers to prepare position statements, and maintain a discussion between the participants and speakers of the panel.
You can create a panel by clicking on the “All groups” item in the rightmost menu (labelled by your name) at the top of the page. The community platform will then display a page showing at the top a word cloud made of all titles of existing groups (working groups or panels) followed by a list of items with information about the existing groups. Click on the “Create a new group” button in the lower right corner of the word cloud to add a new group.
The community platform will then display a form for creating a new group:

  • add the title of the panel;
  • add the description of the panel’s topic;
  • select Type: Panel;
  • select Status of group: “in preparation” (default), as you did not yet invite speakers, position statements, and participants;
  • select Access: “controlled by organizer” (default), if you want to invite participants or accept members wanting to participate, or “open for everybody” if members should be able to just sign up as participants.
  • select Visibility: “community-wide” (default), “in the web”, or “for group members only” (i.e., the group is only visible to its members – relevant to working groups only).

By clicking the “Create Group” button, the new group will be created, and its home page will be shown for further editing. The page shows the following sections:

  • Information about the panel, including start and end date, which need to be defined. Note, you may request this panel to be visible in the web by using the corresponding button. Upon approval by the editors, the panel page will be visible in the web, and you may attract participants outside the community platform.
  • The Tags associated with this panel: you should add respective tags here, so that the community platform may suggest suitable members as potential participants based on their profile. Based on the tags, it will also ensure that members with similar interests will see your panel as a recommendation on their profile page.
  • Your membership: upon creation of the panel you are serving the role of a moderator, responsible for administrating this panel. You may leave the panel using the link labeled “Leave”, requesting the community platform to assign the moderator role to another member.
  • Discussion summary: After the panel is closed, you may prepare a final summary based on the presentations and discussions, which is kept as a publication/record for further reference and use in the community.
  • Invitations: Of course, you can tell the community platform to invite new people into your panel (as speaker, or as participant) by clicking on the “+” icon, supplying their name, e-mail address, requested role and invitation text. By clicking on the “*” icon, you can also send a request for a mass-mailing to the editors, where you need to supply a list of e-mail addresses and a generic invitation text.
  • Members: Here, all members of the panel group (moderator, speaker, participants) will be listed.
  • Comments: the discussion during the panel’s lifetime will be shown in a blog style.

You may add a position statement or a link to a relevant publication in eleed using the respective buttons after the Members section.
In editing mode (press button in the top right corner of the Title section), you may also destroy the panel – if you decide, while still in preparation, that this panel should be cancelled.

How do I participate in a panel?

There are several ways you can become aware of a panel:

  • Some active panels are shown at the main page of the journal.
  • You may subscribe to the community newsletter at your profile page. The newsletter announces new panels.
  • You may click on the “Groups” item in “Interact” menu at the top of the page. The community platform will then display a page showing at the top a word cloud made of all titles of existing groups (working groups or panels) followed by a list of items with information about the existing groups.
  • You may click on an item, which will display the home page of the respective panel/group. In the “Your membership” section, your current status is shown as “No member”. You may become a by clicking on the “Request membership” link. This will show a new form labelled “Request membership” on the top of the page. Fill in the form, and send the request using the respective button.
  • You may also see a panel item listed as a recommendation at the bottom of your profile page. You may click on the item and consult the panel home page and decide whether you want to request membership (see above).

How do I become a speaker of a panel?

A moderator of a panel may use the Invitations section of the panel’s home page to tell the community platform to invite new people into your panel as a speaker by clicking on the “+” icon, supplying their name, e-mail address, and invitation text, and select the role “Speaker”.
If the moderator decided to invite you as a speaker, the community platform will send you an invitation with a link you may click on to confirm your participation. Upon confirmation you will be added with the speaker role as a participant of the panel.
Note, if you are not a member of the community, the invitation mail will ask you to register as a community member first.

How do I become the organizer of a panel?

You can create a panel by clicking on the “All groups” item in the rightmost menu (labelled by your name) at the top of the page. The community platform will then display a page showing at the top a word cloud made of all titles of existing groups (working groups or panels) followed by a list of items with information about the existing groups. Click on the “Create a new group” button in the lower right corner of the word cloud to add a new group.
The community platform will then display a form for creating a new group:

  • add the title of the panel;
  • add the description of the panel’s topic;
  • select Type: Panel;
  • select Status of group: “in preparation” (default), as you did not yet invite speakers, position statements, and participants;
  • select Access: “controlled by organizer” (default), if you want to invite participants or accept members wanting to participate, or “open for everybody” if members should be able to just sign up as participants.
  • select Visibility: “community-wide” (default), “in the web”, or “for group members only” (i.e., the group is only visible to its members – relevant to working groups only).

By clicking the “Create Group” button, the new group will be created, and its home page will be shown for further editing. The page shows the following sections:

  • Information about the panel, including start and end date, which need to be defined. Note, you may request this panel to be visible in the web by using the corresponding button. Upon approval by the editors, the panel page will be visible in the web, and you may attract participants outside the community platform.
  • The Tags associated with this panel: you should add respective tags here, so that the community platform may suggest suitable members as potential participants based on their profile. Based on the tags, it will also ensure that members with similar interests will see your panel as a recommendation on their profile page.
  • Your membership: upon creation of the panel you are serving the role of a moderator, responsible for administrating this panel. You may leave the panel using the link labeled “Leave”, requesting the community platform to assign the moderator role to another member.
  • Discussion summary: After the panel is closed, you may prepare a final summary based on the presentations and discussions, which is kept as a publication/record for further reference and use in the community.
  • Invitations: Of course, you can tell the community platform to invite new people into your panel (as speaker, or as participant) by clicking on the “+” icon, supplying their name, e-mail address, requested role and invitation text. By clicking on the “*” icon, you can also send a request for a mass-mailing to the editors, where you need to supply a list of e-mail addresses and a generic invitation text.
  • Members: Here, all members of the panel group (moderator, speaker, participants) will be listed.
  • Comments: the discussion during the panel’s lifetime will be shown in a blog style.

You may add a position statement or a link to a relevant publication in eleed using the respective buttons after the Members section.
In editing mode (press button in the top right corner of the Title section), you may also destroy the panel – if you decide, while still in preparation, that this panel should be cancelled.

What happens to the results of a panel after the panel ended?

After the panel is closed, the moderator may prepare a final summary based on the presentations and discussions, which is kept as a publication/record for further reference and use in the community. This summary is kept on the panel’s home page in the “Discussion summary” section.

What is a working group?

A working group in the eleed community platform provides a space for like-minded people in the eleed community who share a common interest.
If you are interested in finding collaborators for working on your topic, you may either join an existing working group (those matching to your interests are listed as recommendations at the bottom of your profile page) or you may simply create your own working group. The community platform will suggest suitable members as potential participants based on their profile. It will also ensure that members with similar interests will see your working group as a recommendation on their profile page. Of course, you can also tell the community platform to invite new people as participants into your working group by supplying their e-mail address. After the working group is closed, the resulting state is kept as a publication/record for further reference and use by its participants.

How do I become an organizer of a working group?

You can create a working group by clicking on the “All groups” item in the rightmost menu (labelled by your name) at the top of the page. The community platform will then display a page showing at the top a word cloud made of all titles of existing groups (working groups or panels) followed by a list of items with information about the existing groups. Click on the “Create a new group” button in the lower right corner of the word cloud to add a new group.
The community platform will then display a form for creating a new group:

  • add the title of the working group;
  • add the description of the working group’s topic;
  • select Type: Work group (default);
  • select Status of group: “in preparation” (default), as you did not yet invite participants;
  • select Access: “controlled by organizer” (default), if you want to invite participants or accept members wanting to participate, or “open for everybody” if members should be able to just sign up as participants.
  • select Visibility: “community-wide” (default), “in the web”, or “for group members only” (i.e., the group is only visible to its members).

By clicking the “Create Group” button, the new group will be created, and its home page will be shown for further editing. The page shows the following sections:

  • Information about the working group, including start and end date, which need to be defined. Note, you may request this panel to be visible in the web by using the corresponding button. Upon approval by the editors, the working group page will be visible in the web, and you may attract participants outside the community platform.
  • The Tags associated with this working group: you should add respective tags here, so that the community platform may suggest suitable members as potential participants based on their profile. Based on the tags, it will also ensure that members with similar interests will see your working group as a recommendation on their profile page.
  • Your membership: upon creation of the working group you are serving the role of a moderator, responsible for administrating this group. You may leave the working group using the link labeled “Leave”, requesting the community platform to assign the moderator role to another member.
  • Discussion summary: After the working group is closed, you may prepare a final summary based on the presentations and discussions, which is kept as a publication/record for further reference and use in the community.
  • Invitations: Of course, you can tell the community platform to invite new people into your working group by clicking on the “+” icon, supplying their name, e-mail address, requested role and invitation text. By clicking on the “*” icon, you can also send a request for a mass-mailing to the editors, where you need to supply a list of e-mail addresses and a generic invitation text.
  • Members: Here, all members of the working group (moderators, participants) will be listed.
  • Comments: the discussion during the working group´s lifetime will be shown in a blog style.

You may add a link to a relevant publication in eleed using the respective button after the Members section.
In editing mode (press button in the top right corner of the Title section), you may also destroy the working group – if you decide, while still in preparation, that this group should be cancelled.

How do I become a member of a working group?

There are several ways you can become aware of a working group:

  • Some active working groups are shown at the main page of the journal.
  • You may subscribe to the community newsletter at your profile page. The newsletter announces started working groups.
  • You may click on the “Groups” item in the Interact menu at the top of the page. The community platform will then display a page showing at the top a word cloud made of all titles of existing groups (working groups or panels) followed by a list of items with information about the existing groups.
  • You may click on an item, which will display the home page of the respective panel/group. In the “Your membership” section, your current status is shown as “No member”. You may become a by clicking on the “Request membership” link. This will show a new form labelled “Request membership” on the top of the page. Fill in the form, and send the request using the respective button.
  • You may also see a panel item listed as a recommendation at the bottom of your profile page. You may click on the item and consult the panel home page and decide whether you want to request membership (see above).

What happens to the results of a working group after the working group ended?

After the working group is closed, the moderator may prepare a final summary based on the presentations and discussions, which is kept as a publication/record for further reference and use in the community. This summary is kept on the working group’s home page in the “Discussion summary” section.
In addition, the final state of the working group’s page is kept as long as the group is not destroyed. According to the visibility settings, the group page may only be available to group members.

How do I invite people into a panel or working group?

As a member of a panel or working group you can tell the community platform to invite new people into your panel or working group by using the “ Invitations” section of the panel’s or group’s page. Click on the “+” icon, and supply name, e-mail address, requested role and invitation text for inviting a new participant.

As a moderator of a panel or working group you may click on the additional “*” icon, to send a request for a mass-mailing to the editors, where you need to supply a list of e-mail addresses and a generic invitation text.

How do I leave a panel or working group?

Just visit the panel’s or working group’s home page and click in the “Your membership” section on the “Leave” link.

How do I leave the community?

You may leave the community whenever you want. Open your profile page and click on “Edit login data”. There you find a link to “Delete my account”. Before deleting your account you can decide what to do with your contributions. You may keep them for the community (they will be shown with your name to protect your copyright) or delete them together with your account.

What personal data is used by the community platform?

The community platform uses personal data to provide services to its users according to the “Terms of use for the eleed Community”.
For the provision of the service, the community platform stores personal data of registered members. These are name and e-mail-address as well as voluntary profile data such as address, organizational affiliation, and picture. In addition, authorship relations for contributions and messages, group membership information, and tag relations are stored. Except for the e-mail address, the provided data is visible for registered members.
The contributions of the members and information on authorship are visible according to § 3 of the “Terms of use for the eleed Community”. In accordance to §3(4), upon request of the contributing member personal data can become visible to non-members.
On termination of the membership, all personal data is deleted unless the member explicitly agrees to keep the data continuously visible for the community. Contributions of the member and information on authorship remain accessible according to the regulations of §8 of the “Terms of use for the eleed Community”.
Passwords are linked to a member´s account. They are encrypted before they are stored.
IP-Addresses of users, the time of the visit and the IDs of the visited pages are tracked and stored. On termination of the current session, this log data will be stored for seven days for error tracking and security analysis purposes.
For the purpose of research on interaction in collaborative systems and research on context-based adaptation in collaborative systems the following data is used for an analysis of user behavior: shortened IP addresses of the users, time stamp of user visit of the community, pages visited (URL and parameters). Such research is carried out by an organizational unit of the editor-in-chief. It serves also the improvement and further development to the community software. The provider may also use an external company for performing research activities. In this case, §3 (6) of the “Terms of use for the eleed Community” applies accordingly.

Who runs the eleed community?

The community platform is administered by the eleed open access journal, which is published by the FernUniversitaet in Hagen, Germany. Technically, the community server is maintained by the CampusSource department for open software of the FernUniversitaet in Hagen, Germany, which is also maintaining the CampusSource platform.

How is the eleed community funded?

The community platform is funded by the eleed open access journal, which is published by the FernUniversitaet in Hagen, Germany. No membership fees are applicable. The FernUniversitaet funds the journal and community as part of its mission to support open science and education.

What are the future development plans of the eleed community?

The eleed community is a free-of-charge forum for researchers and practitioners interested in e-learning and education, such as the authors and readers of the eleed open access journal. It aims at facilitating open scientific collaboration across disciplines, and provides opportunities for stimulating discussion and collaboration on e-learning and education topics.
To achieve a critical mass of scientists and practitioners in the field of e-learning and education, eleed offers its services (open access to publications, community services) to members of related scientific and professional societies free of charge.
In the future, it is planned to extend the community platform in several ways:

  • improved services for federated literature search,
  • improved services for supporting scientific work,
  • new services for open scientific collaboration, including trans-disciplinary collaboration.