2nd+Assignment

@http://www.ning.com @http://education.ning.com/page/page/show?id=1027485:Page:45750 also @http://education.ning.com/ (which is really an operating Ning comprised of educators who are using Ning in schools) ALSO: Check on registering for a educational Ning because you will be using this Ning in the near future as a LMS.

Cecilia Quant

**1. Name of Web/Library 2.0 Tool: Ning ** 

www.ning.com

This website has a wealth of information too vast to cover in specific detail. It is a site that allows the user to either join an existing network or create their own network. The networks, pre-existing or user created, has the option of being public or private. I joined two enormous, pre-existing, private networks - “Classroom 2.0” and “Flat Classrooms”. The user must give a valid reason for joining in both networks and this is approved by the networks’ respective creators/administrators. Both the “Classroom 2.0” and “Flat Classrooms” networks are two (of many) places for educators to post their own questions concerning pedagogy tools, teaching strategies, or any general educational questions. Other educators give their advice, and you, the user, can also post a useful comment answering a question. Ning can be an educator collaborative tool and can be used globally. Flat Classrooms is created by Julie Lindsey and the name is gathered from the notion to “'flatten' or lower the classroom walls so that instead of each class working isolated and alone, 2 or more classes are joined virtually to become one large classroom. This is done through the Internet using Web 2.0 tools such as Wikispaces and Ning” (Flat Classroom Project).

Special features:

 Strengths:
 * Can either join a network or create own network
 * User-created network can be made either private or public
 * can find a network and/or similar networks through search filters

 Possible weaknesses:  - - - **2. Similar Web 2.0/Library 2.0 Tools: Facebook and Meetup **  Similar tool #1: Facebook: www.facebook.com Similarities of Facebook + Ning 
 * Share educational and pedagogical advice, questions, or tips with other educators locally or globally! Depending on the network, this exchange can occur almost immediately, although it is still considered an asynchronous online communication environment.
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Educators can upload and share pictures and videos of their students working on projects
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">students can safely access a private Ning network set up by their educators
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">the credibility of a user can be determined by what (pictures, videos, text) the user puts on his/her profile
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">ad-free for educators (Flat Classroom Project )
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Spamming is prevalent on ning.com which forces a lot of networks to go private
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Joining a private network takes at least a day for access and the user faces possible membership denial
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">credibility of other users on the network are put to question and sometimes there is no sure way to discern their credibility
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">cannot message or use certain Ning features with a user unless s/he is your friend
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">must be at least 13 years old to use Ning as an educational social networking site (Discovery Educator Network)
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">the overwhelming amount of features on the Ning interface
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">students usually don’t have as much control over it as the educator/adult
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">As of July 2010, all of Ning's free services will be phased out!
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Facebook is a social networking tool which was originally inclusive to college students (Facebook was originally used by college students within their college network. It was necessary to have a “.edu” email account to join)
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">In 2006, Facebook has been made assessable to anyone 13 and over, but each user can limit his/her profile settings to be public, private, or only some parts public
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Facebook users can upload photos and videos. They can also add applications onto their profile which feature extras like a “graffiti wall” which enable the users’ friends to post their personal drawings onto the user’s profile
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Facebook users can create their own networks (Facebook groups or Facebook Fan pages) and events
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Facebook users can make their networks and events either public or private (an outside Facebook user can request to join a network/Facebook group/Facebook Fan page, but private events are different. Only the event creator can invite others to join)

Differences of Facebook + Ning <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Similar tool #2: Meetup: www.meetup.com Similarities of Meetup + Ning <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Differences of Meetup + Ning <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> - - - 3. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Connection to teaching and learning ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Ning is an excellent networking site swarming with a plethora of educators constantly and globally. The exchange of ideas is enormous, so there is no question that Ning is a powerful tool for educators to communicate with each other. Ning can be a platform for on the job Q&As from educators. In fact, one of the answers to this question was found on one of the Classrooom 2.0 forum topics, located here at http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/649749:Topic:26399?id=649749:Topic:26399 Here is one blog entry by Dana Lawit about the educational use of Ning: <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ning is used by students in a classroom to keep up discussions about the book they are reading via a social network. When students posted inappropriate comments, Ms. Lawit took it as a “teaching moment” to inform the students what is acceptable and what isn’t within the electronic social environment and found that the students voluntarily took down their inappropriate comments. Here is a snapshot of Ms. Lawit's students participating in her private Ning network via her "innovatededucator" blog entry: <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Kansas teacher Kevin Honeycutt, an early Classroom 2.0 adapter, created this site as a compilation for student artwork (Richardson, 2009, p. 143).
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">the individual’s profile format and layout: Ning focuses on particular interests/networks that draw individuals together (this moves from broad to specific) VS Facebook encourages the individual user to expand his/her networks and interests by befriending other individuals and joining networks (groups and fan pages) (this moves from specific to broad)
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ning’s news, updates, and other activity feeds are from the members of a network VS Facebook’s news, updates, streams, and other activity feeds are generated by the users’s friends
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ning focuses on groups and discussion topics VS Facebook focuses on the individual’s status updates
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Meetup and Ning are both social networking tools design to connect individual people to similar interests
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Meetup and Ning both begin by prompting new users to choose their networks by interest (from broad to specific catagories, for ex.
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Meetup has “alerts” (the Meetup user chooses topics that s/he may want emails about) VS Ning user actively reads/skims through his/her activity feeds on the mainpage
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Meetup encourages people to physically meet for events VS Ning is used as a forum for open communication
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Meetup profile and interface is simpler and “cleaner” than Ning’s VS Ning’s interface has many “boxes” that encourages skimming and clicking
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-i-use-social-networking-to-keep-my.html
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">tinyurl/yvmcjh

- - - <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">4. Examples of student (or LMS) work **

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Doug Valentine is the McKillop Elementary Librarian in Plano, Texas. This site is a compilation of video book reviews from the students in the school with cute, creative video-editing “tweaks” done by Mr. Valentine. (Check out this adorable little girl giving a book review about a Berenstein Bear's book on how to eat healthy)
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">http://www.classroom20.com/profile/DougValentine

media type="custom" key="6040601"

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> An example of a sophomore undergraduate college student’s work.
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">http://www.classroom20.com/profile/AngelinaTrumpore

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> A social space for music students at Manchester College.
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">http://ccmmusic.ning.com/

- - - <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">5. Instructions ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> []

- - - <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">6. Final comment ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Ning.com is no doubt a resourceful tool for educators, but it is up to the teachers to create, filter, and administrate the network for students. Again, it is legally for people ages 13 and over, so it is not legitimately suitable for students in grades K-6/7.

- - - <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">7. Recommended Resources ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;">Brauner, Larry. (April 19, 2010). //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ning social network announcement ruffles some feathers // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;">. Retrieved from Online Social Networking on April 2010 from[] Ning is closing down its "free" feature and charging for its service! -- This article offer other online pedagogy social networking alternatives.

Buskirk, Eliot Van. (April 16, 2010). //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ning fails at free social networking // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;">. Retrieved from Wired website on April 2010 from[]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;">-- With all the hubub on what a great free private network Ning is, this article takes on a different perspective. Users should always keep a balanced view on the tools they use. **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;">Discovery Educator Network. (February 22, 2010). //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Using Ning as a school social network: Diana Krause // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;">. Retrieved on February 2010 from[] -- Has further information and a prezi presentation as a beginner’s introduction on how to use and exploit ning.com. Prezi is similar to powerpoint in that it is a presentation software, although the interface and format is different. Prezi is available for free. The prezi on this site can be reused as long as it is credited to Diana Krause.

Educause Learning Initiative. (April 2008). //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">7 things you should know about... Ning // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;">. Retrieved on March 2010 from[]. -- An informative overview on Ning.

Flat Classroom Project. (2010). Retrieved on March 2010 from []. -- I found out about the Flat Classroom Project through one of the main education websites on Ning ( **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[] ) ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;">. This is a private network, but it is a vast sea of ideas and pedagogy tools with a treasure trove of input from educators at a (mainly) national level. This network on ning is a "must join"! Also check outhttp://netgened.wikispaces.com/.

Nations, Daniel. (2010). //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">How to create your own social network on Ning // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;">. Retrieved from About.com website on March 2010 from[] -- This is a step-by-step textual and visual tutorial on how to create a Ning account.

Richardson, Will. (2010). //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Blogs, wikies, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;"> (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. p. 139-146. School Tools. (Nov. 28, 2009). //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Create a school social network for free // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-weight: normal;">. Retrieved on March 2010 from [] Great ideas on how school faculty can use Ning in an academic capacity!

VonBank, Anthony. (February 16, 2010). //What factors inhibit the use of web 2.0 by educators? I need lots of perspectives! Msg posted to Classroom 2.0 website. Retrieved on February 2010 from []. -- An asynchronous, ongoing, online discussion about educational web 2.0 tools including Ning on a forum. Found the link through this one: // []

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> ~Fin~

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">