The design of TaCS: Applying social tagging to enhance learning

Elise Lavoué (1)

1 Laboratoire de Recherche Magellan

We describe a web-based educational platform relying on the use of tags as learning resources in a social context. Tags are user-generated keywords used to organise and improve access to online information resources. Social tagging refers to the practice of labelling or categorising resources in a shared online environment. Our platform, named tag-based collaborative system (TaCS), is a first attempt at implementing a recent theoretical framework specific to social tagging that defines learning and knowledge building as a co-evolution of cognitive and social systems. Within this framework, design choices have been made to support individual, social and collaborative learning processes. To illustrate the usability of TaCS, we describe an example of its integration in a real course during five weeks. Observed uses and opinions expressed by students tend to validate the implementation of the theoretical framework, and the value of TaCS as an educational platform.

Mots clés: collaborative learning; educational technology design; tag-based collaborative system; TaCS; tagging; web-based system; social learning

Domaines: Environnements Informatiques pour l'Apprentissage Humain; Education

Elise Lavoué. The design of TaCS: Applying social tagging to enhance learning. International Journal of Learning Technology (IJLT), 2012, 7 (3), pp.314-330. ⟨hal-00731092⟩