Introductions

[Steve Hargadon]

Welcome! Please introduce yourself, let us know who you are and where you are from, and, if you are already using Ning in an educational setting, how you are using it.

[Steve Hargadon]

Hi, Collette!

How are the students responding to Ning? I would assume most are users of other, larger social networks. Do they give you any feedback about how your use of Ning compares with their other social networking experiences?

Great to have you here!

[Collette Snowden]

Hi Steve

Yes, you are spot on about student use. MySpace is probably the most popular social networking site in Australia, followed by Facebook. Many of the 'old hands' have simply migrated material from MySpace. A few have commented on the better design and functionality of NING, while those who are new to social networking as authors are quite tentative. I had an interesting email from an older student last night complaining about having to use it due to a) being unable to access if from work due to firewall security preventing access to social networking sites b) slow broadband speed where she lives. I spent quite a while replying and offering alternative avenues to access material. Lo and behold, when I had sent the reply and returned to my Inbox there was an update from her explaining how she had got 'sucked in' to the course related discusssion on NING and had found it useful etc. . What is also interesting to observe in this large group is the rapid formation of sub-groups. So far, I think I am learning far more than the students - especially about them as individuals. I have decided to incorporate activities on NING into their weekly study group tasks and individual work so that we can start to move away from social networking as they know it. Will let you know how it goes.

[Steve Hargadon]

That's very interesting about the groups. Let us know as you discover why this is. Since they are older students, it might be interesting to have me do a real-time discussion with them about their experiences that we could record... Let me know what you or they think of that idea! :)

[Collette Snowden]

HI Steve

Will do. Yes we could explore the possibility of you doing a real time discussion with them.

[Steve Hargadon]

OK, contact me off-line at [e-mail] when you think it might be appropriate.

Steve

[Berta]

Hi from Caracas, Venezuela.
I am an EFL teacher at a public university interested in e-learning and web 2.0. I am a member of the Webheads in Action community and came to this site through Jennifer Verschoor from Argentina, who moderates a Yahoo group on professional development.
I am a member of three Ning groups but just set up one for my students next term when we will be offering an EFL writing course. I had planned to set up a wiki and blogs but I now wonder if a Ning would handle it much better. I am still a bit confused and tried to follow the audio recording at http://www.classroom20wiki.com/LIVE%20Conversations of February 19, but got lost at times because I did not have the actual visual (although I did open this page and tried to follow ... but I must say I was following it while having three or four windows opened at the same time ... too much multitasking leads me nowhere, right? :-)

Thanks Steve for the talk and I hope to come to this group in case I get stuck (That is what frightens me of using Ning in class next term, I am too new to this tool and might run into trouble).

Cheers to all in still lovely and sunny Caracas (in spite of politicians)
Berta

[Steve Hargadon]

Feel free to ask me any questions! I think we should re-do that recording and do one in which we record the actual visual as well.

Will look forward to helping you and then to hearing reports from you about your students' use.

Cheers!

[Sarah McPherson]

Berta,
It's nice to hear abut your work with EFL. I'd like to invite you to project I'm working on called Global Connections. We have participants who are teachers in pre-service or graduate school from New York City, London, Taipei, and Tokyo participating. We also have English teachers from a middle school in Mexico City. We are in the 'get acquainted' phase so it would be a perfect time for you and your students to join us. We will be sharing some cultural, educational, linguistic, and technological ideas to use in our classroom. Hope you can join us.
Sarah
NYC

[Mrs. Choudhary]

Hi I'm Katie and I'm a 4th grade teacher in Schiller Park, IL. We are about a mile NW of Chicago and right across the street from OHare Airport. I just started a Ning page for my students to use as a blog space and I'm interested in integrating technology even more into my classroom. I have a grad class with Scott Weidig this semester, and he introduced me to all of these wonderful blog sites. Thank you for all of this amazing information and help!

[Steve Hargadon]

Hi, Katie! Welcome! Hope we can help you as you start to use Ning. :)

[Mrs. Choudhary]

Steve, I tried to get rid of the ads via your post, and ning in the classroom responded to me. They said since ning is for students over 13, they would not be able to help me. Any thoughts?

[Steve Hargadon]

I think it must be that the students are *under* 13, right?

Ning provides ad-free networks for students grades 7 - 12. The reason they currently don't do youger than that is because of the COPPA legislation. In accordance with that, Ning's terms of service require that you are 13 or older to sign up for Ning.