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]

Perfect! Would love to hear reports from you at some point on both projects.

[Todd Finley]

I'll keep in touch. I enjoyed your Eluminate demo. Thanks!

[Dan Reeve]

I am a Middle School Literacy Specialist in St. Louis, MO, trying to thoughtfully engaged struggling and reluctant readers as progressively and effectively as possible. Currently I've been using a Moodle for about two years now and am intrigued by the ease of use and familiarity of (for my students and their own social networking experience) Ning.

[Steve Hargadon]

I'll be interested in how you compare Moodle and Ning. Different kinds of programs for sure, but sharing some collaborative engagement pieces. I'm particularly interested in what are the key elements Ning would need to be more widely used as a Learning Management System.

Glad to have you here!

[Todd Finley]

One of the benefits of Moodle, is the responding/grading feature. It's quick and easy. Love it.

Responding privately and automatically grading students work on Ning is a problem, unless I combine Ning with an outside resource (Nicenet?). I would love thoughts on how to do this.

Frankly, the slow speed of adding graphics to Moodle and the problems resizing text is incredibly aggravating for me.

tbf

[Dan Reeve]

I've been embedding Google docs using an

[Steve Hargadon]

I've heard that Moodle's quiz feature has been the *killer* entryway for getting teachers to use it. I can see the responding/grading being so as well. Give someone a good way to save time and they'll adopt.

Ning wasn't really developed for any kind of LMS application. But it is highly engaging, and I'm wondering if folks will add OpenSocial widgets for this use.

[Dan Reeve]

I think the LMS piece is added by plugging into the other web apps that give you the features available in the Moodle. For example:

Google Spreadsheets has a new feature that allows data to be entered through a live form. Place the link anywhere and a website pops up. I've found it extremely useful in the classroom. Though it doesn't have the grading feature of Moodle. It still saves me a large amount of time having all my students replies in one spreadsheet.

[Todd Finley]

I'll have to try that to see if it's helpful. I appreciate your thoughts on this. Lately, I've been sending video responses to students' work; perhaps the "automatic" grading function isn't critical (but it would be helpful).

Thanks Dan & Steve!

[Dan Reeve]

Todd you may also want to check out VoiceThread.com if you haven't already :)

[Todd Finley]

I've been meaning to get to VoiceThread. The idea of annotating texts in multiple ways seems like a good way for students to develop critical literacy skills.

[Dan Reeve]

How where you giving students video feedback in the Moodle?