Professor invents IU communication site

School meets cool on CourseNetworking, an online resource that combines the social aspects of Facebook with the learning environment of Oncourse.

Ali Jafari, a computer scientist and serial entrepreneur at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, is the creator of CourseNetworking. This is his fourth project with learning management systems.

CourseNetworking allows a student to communicate with other students in their class and their instructor.

The online resource will also allow students to communicate with other students and instructors from around the world who are in the same course.

“CourseNetworking will help improve intercultural learning,” Jafari said. “You can be working with a classmate in Paris, which can help you improve upon the language and learn about their culture.”

Jafari has been in the learning management systems field for 25 years and was originally reluctant to take on another project. But he saw a huge opportunity with the growth of social media.

“If you look at all the learning management solutions available, all of them lack a social networking aspect,” Jafari said. “We want to give everyone an involvement and make school more entertaining, social and fun.”

CourseNetworking will give users privacy control of the flow of information and will offer a self-policing environment that discourages inappropriate posts.

Jafari said she hopes to see CourseNetworking create a new learning method for the classroom.

“We are potentially inventing a new pedagogical method that hasn’t existed before today,” Jafari said. “It’s opening the door for new learning methods.”

The CourseNetworking company will invite 40 academic institutions to invest in the company and will operate free of charge.

— Nicole Montella