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.

[Lucy Gray]

Are you the same John Norton who publishes the list of web sites for MiddleWeb? I really find those email missives useful!

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi everybody, my name is Laura, and I'm an online instructor for the University of Oklahoma, living virtually in Norman, Oklahoma but physically residing in Timberlake, North Carolina.

The courses I teach are 100% online and my main interest is in finding ways to build a stimulating, always-changing, information-rich online environment for my students.

One way I do that is by using random and date-based content at my course websites - my Schoolhouse Widgets are available for anyone to use - in blogs, on websites, inside course management systems, etc., It's easy to do since they are javascript-driven. When I create new widgets, I post an announcement at the Schoolhouse Widgets blog - I built a lot of new widgets over the summer but now that school has started - GASP! - I'm not sure if I will be building any new widgets for a while!

Anyone else out there using javascript widgets? Building Google Gadgets? I would love to share strategies and ideas!

:-)

[Meg Ormiston]

Laura,
I love your widgets! What a great resource for teachers, thank you for sharing your hard work. I will pass them on as I work with teachers. what a great way to have fresh content on a teacher's web site!
Thanks!

[Mark Clive]

Hi Laura.

Great Widgets! I'm using a couple of Javascript widgets on one of my networks. One of the most important initial uses for widgets I found are with calendars. I'm creating networks for all the teachers in my area and encouraging them to make a Google class calendar, which then connects to it via widget. This means the students can then just copy the widget to their own Myspace or Facebook page to keep track of their assignments and such.

What do you use to build your widgets? I'd love to get started. Since I teach in the film school here, I'd like to make random movie quote widgets, a top 100 film widget, etc. Better yet, I'd like to involve the students in creating them too.

[Laura Gibbs]

hi Mark, isn't Google Calendar super? my school is, unfortunately, heavily promoting Microsoft Exchange calendar with our students (having forced all the students to switch to Exchange-based email this summer, ugh)... but if I had the freedom to choose I would be using Google Calendar for my course calendar. I love the way you can display a calendar in a webpage with the javascript provided by Google.

I use the Rotating Content tool at RotateContent.com to create my widgets. it's a tool that a genius student of mine built for me a few years ago: the content changes based on date or randomly, and all you have to do is put the content you want to use in the cells of an HTML table that you can edit using any HTML editor that suits you.

for people who are not comfortable with HTML, you can just type plain text in the cells of the table and that will do! for people who are comfortable with HTML you can get more elaborate, with images, links, and even putting in CSS code if you want to get fancy (I used CSS to configure the ancient Greek widgets I created a couple years ago, although now with UTF-8 encoding becoming very common, I don't even need to do style tags for ancient Greek in widgets!).

and yes, you can get the students involved in creating them, since a simple HTML table can be edited in Mozilla Seamonkey, a free webpage editor available for both Windows and Mac users. my students use Seamonkey to create websites and publish them; it's easy to use and not intimidating for beginners. it's one good option for basic HTML editing.

anyway, I still find it kind of magical that without knowing anything about web programming, I can create this dynamic content for my webpages! random movie quotes sounds like a ton of fun!

:-)

[Steve Hargadon]

You really are too cool for words. Wow. Ping me when you get a chance--I have a Javacript question I'd love to ask you! :)

[Mark Clive]

Hello all.

I love Ning! I've already created the UTA Film/Video Network for my area at the university. I have networks for my classes as well. I'm big on active learning and this helps my students educate themselves and each other. They'll also be collaborating on projects through the networks.

I tried something similar by creating my own network using the Joomla CMS, which I loved, but not being much of a programmer could never get quite what I needed to happen. I'm looking forward to collaborating with you here and helping the Ning folks continue to have a superior product.

All the best to you!

Mark Clive
Senior Lecturer
Film and Video
University of Texas, Arlington

[Steve Hargadon]

Mark:

Really glad to have you here. Do you want to edit the http://socialnetworksined.wikispaces.com wiki to include your networks? I love Joomla as well, but I think the future for much of this belongs to web apps, just for the ease of deployment and updating.

Will look forward to your collaborating and help.

[Meg Ormiston]

Hello all!
I am Meg Ormiston, an independent education consultant located in Burr Ridge, Illinois. I am a former classroom teacher, an author of two books, retired school board member, adjunct professor, and a presenter nationally and internationally. I am also a raving NING fan! After collaborating with the great folks on Classroom 2.0 I started my own network for two graduate classes I taught this summer. http://techcamp.ning.com/ I was amazed how quickly the teachers took to the platform, and how much fun we had collaborating with each other. I was exploring ways face to face professional development can be extended, and this platform helped our group do just that.
I specialize in helping administrators create a vision for the future of teaching and learning with the support of digital tools. I also work with educators at all levels as they create ways to transform teaching and learning.
My latest investigation has been into Second Life, WOW, I see the power for the future of professional development and teaching and learning at all levels. This world is not for everyone, but if you venture in world look me up, my SL name is Meg Writer and my house is over on EduislandII http://slurl.com/secondlife/megwriter/80/27/22/
I look forward to growing and collaborating with everyone!

[David Truss]

Dave Truss
I have not used Ning in the classroom although I do participate in a few conversations on Ning in different areas of education. I don't think I would use Ning 'in' the classroom because I don't like that you cannot create a closed network. Example: If I put Grade 8 students on here, there is no way for me to know who is connecting with them to ask for friendship, or which networks besides ours that they have chosen to join.

It would be great if Ning could create a similar structure that is invite only, and either schools or classrooms could join. That way not only would people be controlled by invitation into groups, but groups could be shielded from unwanted friendship invitations. Maybe this is already available and I haven't explored Ning enough yet???

I'm at a high school next year, but don't know if I would use Ning there either... lots to think about as I head into the new year!

[Steve Hargadon]

I think everything you are asking for is currently available. Go to Ning.com and start your own network, and the first option will be to make it private. I run a private network for my kids' drama troupe, and they love it, and we have felt totally safe and protected.

[Dennis O'Connor]

My name is Dennis O'Connor (aka wiredinstructor). I taught public school 4 -12 for 25 years. In the mid 90's I was introduced to online learning by the Milken Family Foundation.

Just before the turn of the century I left the classroom and went online 24/7. I love to learn and teach online. Collaborative environments like Ning provide a strong dose of the kind of community of practice that a well designed online class delivers.

I current manage and teach in the UW-Stout E-Learning and Online Graduate Certificate Program. As the idea that all students in k-12 should experience online learning takes hold, I want to keep screaming that all students in k-12 should experience EFFECTIVE and WELL TAUGHT online learning. I try to walk the talk by training educators to be great online teachers. I recently joined Classroom 2.0 to bring together folks from the Stout program and others interest in E-learning. It's a good thing to learn to live a bit online (especially if you want to teach here).

I also work as editor and online curriculum developer for the 21st Century Information Project. We specialize in teaching Library Media, Technologists, & interested educators the fine art of searching, evaluating, and ethically using digital information. We've got six years of researched based curriculum, lots of free flash based games, assessments, and lesson plans online (free). We also offer a Moodle based training course called Power Searching in a Web 2.0 World.

Since working online means juggling jobs all the time, I also have ed consulting business. (Google wiredinstructor ) Most of my consulting time is dedicated to working with ISTE as a Lead Reviewer in the ISTE Seal of Alignment Program. ISTE reviewers use a variety of tools: D2L, & Wikispaces are what's working now.

I've seen online learning go from 'suspect' correspondence school to a revolutionary force that may just finally crack the nut of tech integration in public schools & colleges.

The future is bright!

Dennis@San Marcos