Another crack at Education Ning

Sadly the education.ning.com is still under maintenance. This has really put a dampener on my investigation. I have, however, come across a post be Steve Hargadon. He is a blogger, and started the Classroom 2.0 website discussed in Current Events #5. Hargadon is the Emerging Technologies Chair for ISTE, the author of 'Educational Networking: The Important Role Web 2.0 Will Play in Education,' the recipient of the 2010 Technology in Learning Leadership Award (CUE), and a blogger at www.SteveHargadon.com."

On August 23, 2007 Hargadon wrote a blog post regarding Ning's and the development of education.ning.com. After he have created Classroom 2.0 he saw the benefits of social networking and education. he suggested to the creator of Ning.com to go on an educational route and, as he stated in his blog, "so education.ning.com was born."

His hope with education.ning.com is to establish a location where educators can share their ideas, thoughts and feelings on education in a safe environment. I believe this philosophy can and is being stretched further as educators start to create education Nings for their classrooms. The potential for social networks in the classroom are vast.

Kist (2010) defines the Ning with other social networking, meaning "the kind of communication that takes place online using some kind of platform (Web site) such as Facebook, Twitter, or Ning in which people can place messages and connect with others who are on the Website." Overall the Ning will provide students and teachers, depending on who the target group is, with a social networking platform outside of Facebook and Twitter (but still could be connected to both) where students and teachers can discuss important topics in education.

Kist (2010) expresses an example where a teacher "Tom" has used a Ning in his classroom for a project. The Ning is set up as a discussion board where he has posted several topics, and students have the freedom to add their own discussion topics as well. He states, "The Ning was the space in the project that was more appropriate for expressing opinions..." Students were given a safe judge-free environment to comment on their projects and their beliefs.

I think once education.ning.com has completed it's maintenance I will be investigating the Ning set up. I realize this may take place after this course has been completed, but I think this could be beneficial to some of the classes I am working with. I think even younger grades, where students are starting to use social networking more actively, this could peak their interests and engage them in expressing their learning. My French 7 class might even get on board, but they might be 'too cool' for Nings too.

References

Hargadon, S. (2004). About Me. Retrieved from

      http://www.stevehargadon.com/p/about-me.html

Hargadon, S. (August 23, 2007). Starting a New "Ning in Education" Network. 

     Retrieved from http://www.stevehargadon.com/2007/08/starting-new-

     ning-in-education-network.html

Kist, W. (2010). The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the new media

     age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Current Events #5 - Ning

Part of my inquiry project was to look into Ning.com. I was curious about what others had to say about the Social netorking system. In this blog post, Seth discusses his concerns regarding the Advertisements being posted on the Ning platform, in this case by Google Ads. Take a look at the advertisement he is talking about. I would be offended and concerned to see it on my Ning too!

http://www.digitalang.com/2009/01/ning-social-networks-unsuitable-for-education/

I also wanted to see what sorts of Nings are already set up for educators and I came across The Educator's PLN - The Personal learning network for educators. You can join their site through google, facebook or twitter. They have discussion boards, videos, groups on specific topics of interest. It looks like it could be very useful in the Web 2.0 world. 

http://edupln.ning.com/

Additionally - Not a Ning, but another social network - Classroom 2.0: Web 2.0, Social Media and More is set up in the same style, but teachers are specifically focused on integrating Web 2.0 and technology into their classrooms. They even have a group called Classroom 2.0 Beginner Group.

http://www.classroom20.com/

References:

Classroom 2.0: Web 2.0, Social Media, & More. Retrieved
     from http://www.classroom20.com/

Dickens, S. (2009, January 6). "Ning Social Networks - Unsuitable for education?"
     Digitalang: Making Ed Tech assessible since 2007. [Web log post]
     Retrieved from http://www.digitalang.com/2009/01/ning-social-networks-
     unsuitable-for-education/

The Educator's PLN: The personal learning network for educators. Retrieved
     from http://edupln.ning.com/

Current Events #4 - 21st Century School District

This article comes from the New York Times. I came across this article and was thrilled to read that the 21st century education can work, and how this school has made differences in the socio-economics of its town. The economic recession did not impact this community as everyone wants to buy a house there and enroll their children in district wide program. Read more and find out why.

References:

Schwarz, A. (2012). "Grading the Digital School: Mooresville's Shining Example
     (It's not just about the laptops)." The New York Times 
     Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/education/mooresville-
     school-district-a-laptop-success-story.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1

Current Events #3 - Facebook Addictions?

I found this article in the Globe and Mail. The article itself is nothing special, it discusses a study conducted by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business about the addictive nature of social networking and how hard it can be to resist.

I found the comments people posted responding to it quite interesting. Many of them are quite negative towards Facebook, saying it doesn't provide us with anything or that their privacy policies are wrong.

What are your thoughts on social networks? Are Twitter and Facebook running our lives? Are you unable to ignore the urge?

References:

Anderssen, E. (2012). "Is Facebook as addictive as cigarettes?" The Globe and
     Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-
     button/is-facebook-as-addictive-as-cigarettes/article2323006/

Current Events #2 - Appitic.com

I came across this article while doing research for one of my other classes. The article discusses a website Appitic - 1,300+ EDUapps - http://appitic.com/ which provides a list of relevant Apps for education purposes. The article also acknowledges the time the creator spends per week filtering through all the apps currently available. Are there any on her lists you already have? Are there any that you can't wait to add?

References:

Barack, L. (2012). Apps You Can Trust. School Library Journal 58(1), 12.

Current Events #1 - New iPad Apps

I realized that I have ben forgetting to add current events onto my blog, so today I am adding five posts about different articles that relate to the Web 2.0 ways. The first, a colleague of mine suggested Gizmodo.com. He frequents it for the latest and greatest in Technology.

Gizmodo posted three articles regarding Apple's new Apps - iBooks2, iBooks Author and iTunes U. iBooks 2 is the new platform as a textbook reader. It has many features as you will see when you read the article, and some draw backs, such as a lack in Web 2.0 Social Networking capabilities. iBooks Author is a textbook creation app. Anyone can now create a Textbook. (Can we see the problems there?) iTunes U allows you to take online courses for free. I have downloaded the app to my iPod Touch, but have not played with it yet.

I think the implications of these apps is pretty straightforward. So we need an iPad to use the textbooks (but need enough space on the hard-drive to keep them all). We can all now create textbooks, because the regular Joe is an expert on all subjects (what about spelling, grammar, and oh COPYRIGHT!). iTunes U gives out free courses - I definitely plan to check out the App and get back to on it's worth.

References:

Apple's iPad Textbooks: Everything You Need to Know about iBooks 2. Retrieved
     from: http://gizmodo.com/5877500/apples-ipad-textbooks-everything-you-
     need-to-know-updating-live

Apple Releases iBooks 2, iTunes U and iBooks Author for Interactive 
     Textbooks.  Retrieved from http://gizmodo.com/5877513/apple-launches-
     ibooks-2-ibooks-author-for-textbooks?tag=apple

iTunes U Puts Entire College Courses on Your iPad. Retrieved
     from http://gizmodo.com/5877532/itunes-u-puts-entire-college-courses-on-
     your-ipad?tag=apple

Ning!

Prior Knowledge:

I am aware that a Ning is a social networking platform. Kist states, "The name "Ning" comes from the Website Ning.com that provides free networking space for any group of people who want to form an online community" (2010). The Ning is similar to Facebook, in that "participants create a profile and then post comments and questions to the group" (Kist, 2010).  Kist explains that teachers are using Nings as a safe location for students to interact on the Internet using a social media platform other than Facebook (2010).

Wikipedia goes further to explain that "Ning offers customers the ability to create a community website with a customized appearance and feel, feature sets such as photos, videos, forums and blogs..." and supports other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The process:

So two hang ups today. I wanted to sign up for the Educational version of Ning, but their website is currently under construction and maintenance. I, then, went to Ning's main page, where they say you may have a 30-day Free trial experience. What they don't tell you until after you have started the process, is they want your billing information up front. This lovely catch allows them to automatically credit your credit card on the 30th day. I personally do not feel comfortable pursuing this line of investigation, as I do not feel comfortable giving my billing information (especially after a recent credit card fraud experience). I will thus be changing my Proposal.

References

Kist, W. (2010). The Social Networked Classroom: Teaching in the new media age.
     Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

ning-logo2.png. Retrieved from
     http://static.ning.com/about/images/press/assets/ning-logo2.png

Ning (website). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ning_(website)