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, Robin!

I think you'll make some good contacts here. You and your wife would probably also like Classroom 2.0 (www.classroom20.com), and the list of social networks in education at http://socialnetworksined.wikispaces.com/.

As far as comfort with technology, there are some broader issues which are fascinating. Some of it is strictly hardware--if you don't have enough computers that you can count on working all the time, it's hard to plan your lessons around their use!

[Janelle O.]

Hi, my name is Janelle. I live and teaching in Robinson, IL. I teacher high school English classes: mainly dual credit College English I and College English II. Although, I will also be teaching communications next semester. No, I am not using a ning, but have just made one. I would like to use it next semester in my senior English course. I would welcome any ideas on how I might incorporate it into my class.

Thanks,
Janelle

[Steve Hargadon]

Hi, Janelle! You might want to take a look at http://socialnetworksined.wikispaces.com to see some examples of Ning class use.

Glad to have you here.

[Terri Johnson]

This is Terri Johnson from St. Joseph, Missouri. I've recently started a private Ning for my 8th grade students in Investigative Environmental Science. I'm hoping to get myself comfortable with the process to enable it to be open next year. Our learning curves (students and mine) are growing in leaps and bounds!

[Steve Hargadon]

Hi, Terri! That sounds really fun. Can't wait to hear more.

[Sharon Taylor]

Steve, I will.

[marcotuts]

I'm a student from Olin College of Engineering who is taking a year off with 5 other students to work on a substantive, real world project. We're focusing on middle school education, and would love to talk to anybody who has done anything they think is particularly cool or unique at the teaching level. It's ok, sometimes it is good to brag ;) Shoot me a message, email anything!

[Ellen Chisa]

Hi!

I'm Ellen, one of the other five students working with Marco on the project. I'm also happy to talk to anyone who wants to brag/rant/or just chat. We're based out of the Boston-area, but we're all from different parts of the country. Nice to meet everyones' acquaintance!

[Steve Hargadon]

Hi, Marco and Ellen! So fun to have you here. Middle school is so critical. Hope you get some good feedback here.

[Steve Hargadon]

Hi, Karen. So glad to have you here. Can't wait to see your contributions. Love the thought: "walls melt away... and our class becomes just a way to live and learn." Awesome!

[Shasta Looper]

Shasta Looper from Greenville, SC. I was first introduced to Ning lasat week during the National Writing Project's Annual Meeting in South Carolina. I am very interested in using Ning in my 5th grade classroom, but I have concerns about privacy.

[Steve Hargadon]

Hi, Shasta! Unfortunately, Ning requires that users be 13 years or older because of the COPPA legislation. So sorry! :( But let's all hope this changes at some point.