Hi Mike:
I am very interested in where you took the wiki-centric course format. I am also wondering where to pursue a "new" perhaps "improved" single forum-centric Social Format. Here is my posting to a teaching forum topic "Social Format vs Topics or Weeks:
I am also looking at Social Format for single forum centered teaching/ learning format. I have been using a very similar format that is provided for web and email-based discussion groups at YahooGroups.
The main page of the web interface for such a group maintained using YahooGroups provides the last five messages and an area above the last five messages for discription and links. This arrangement is a bit like the summary space or topic 0 that preceeds the topics on the main page of a Moodle course using the Topic Format. The column to the left of the discription and five-message display lists links the message archives, the member list, a file area, a member chat et cetera.
I think the Social Format in Moodle more closely approximates the discussion-group centric format used at YahooGroups.
The one addition that I would suggest for Moodle's Social Format would be a space above the messages displayed on the main course page. This space could function like the correponding space, the summary or topic 0, provided in Topic Format. I would also suggest both a discription area and provision for adding resources and activities like the summary or topic 0 just like what is made available in Topic Format.
I will be looking at the other forums at Moodle.org to see where else I may advance this last idea.
John
P.S. The YahooGroups site that was utilized for a series of one-week continuing education courses over a six month period for lawyers, law librarians and legal professionals is at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/network-lawyers
Anyone here at Moodle who is interested in taking a look at this set up let me know so that I may extend member and/or moderator priveleges so that you may take a better look. J.
This Moodle teaching forum thread is at: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=17620