Using Nings with Middle School Students

[Jennifer Carbonneau]

What are the implications for using a ning with middle school students? What are the dangers? I know the benefits are priceless. I am assuming that these are safe places when I select the privacy fearture. Is my assumption correct? What should I include in a presentation to parents? How do I sell them on this rhealm of technology? Is a ning the best method? I am hoping that my page would facilitate discussions or student and class readings as well as a place to do peer reviews of writing. I realize that I will have to teach the ethics of using technology and respecting other's coprighted resources. What am I missing? What are the loop holes that my administrator may see when I present it to him? What reservations do school techs have? Anything you can offer that will help me prepare for this venture would be helpful.

[Susan]

Hi Bob - While I "love" Ning, I would like the privelige of choosing when my network is "down" for updates, as such I was also going to start exploring elgg, I did have a joomla installation, but learning such a large platform on one's own is not fun! I hadn't heard of Joomlapolis until reading your post. Basically I'm waiting for the release of the new version of elgg. Like you I have very little knowledge about running databases, in fact I tried last year and couldn't get elgg set up on my hosted server. Would be happy to learn with others

Susan (susant on plurk and twitter)

[bobbartley]

Hi Susan, great that sounds excellent. Let's definately keep in touch. Twitter has been blocked at my school so I can't connect at the moment. I will also wait for th enew version, in the mean time I intend to read up and play with databases. I have also made contact with my local university in the hope that I could start a project with them getting students to help with all the technical stuff so that I can focus on children's learning.

[Jennifer Carbonneau]

I think that when the birth date is entered they never have the opportunity to see the terms of service.

[Gregory Louie]

Hi folks,

I teach at middle school as well. Connectivity can be achieved by the 13 and under set using two other tools.

1. Class Blogmeister is a private, moderated blog site that provides teachers with the controls to prevent students under 13 from using their names and ensure compliance with COPPA standards.
2. ePals provides private, secure, teacher- and administrator-moderated email and blogs together with the legal forms that parents must sign before children under 13 can participate.

I have used Class Blogmeister in the past and found it to be an excellent and teacher-friendly tool.

This year our school system is adopting ePals, which has the potential to connects us with other schools around the world.

Neither of these are full-blown social networks, but they do provide a way that younger students can connect with the world.

I'll be checking out Connie Weber myself now.

Thanks to all for your comments. I hope mine were useful.

[Jennifer Carbonneau]

Thank you for the information. I appreciate it. I hope to see a possitive reception from my tech man.

[Melanie Smith]

There is also a site called gaggle.net They let you use thier site for free, and it is specifically for school. I am currently using the free version in my classroom 6th 7th and 8th grades and the kids love it. The downfall to using the free version is that you have to deal with adds, but it's not that bad. The other thing is the kids have personal pages, but we have yet been able to post our pictures. It is a great site for email and blogs and message boards for kids where it is safe. Also, just a side note, as the admin you are told when kids are being inapp via email. It also doesn't let those things go thru, so other kids don't see them either.

Just thought I'd add my two cents. I'm looking to use Ning in my classroom, but have the fear that kids will have access to the other parts of Ning, which at home, I have found some really not good ones...any suggestions anyone? Thanks!

[Nancy Bosch]

Melanie, I don't know if I would use ning with middle schoolers. It could be fraught with hazards, I've read on this forum posts by middle school teachers whose ning's got out of hand with posting of innapropriate messages and images. I'd keep a tighter rein--you might try studeous.com....I think it has some of the same features (but as I remember no email)

I wish ning would develop a "ning.lite" for K-8

[Steve Hargadon]

You can purchase from Ning two of their services which would potentially help. One is the custom domain mapping, so that the kids aren't going to a .ning.com site (Classroom 2.0 is an example of this at www.classroom20.com instead of classroom20.ning.com). The other is the removal of links to Ning from your site.

While Ning wasn't developed as an "educational" application, they've been really good about supporting this forum and my personal advocacy for education and educators. Keep up the good feedback and we'll figure some of these issues out!

[Nancy Bosch]

What would I pay to get a ning like this one? Do you serve it yourself or does ning serve it? How much is an ad-less ning? I already pay for a website, and have blog privately served (don't have to pay so far) so cost would be an issue. Also does ning have email? I think it does----N

[Steve Hargadon]

All Ning's networks are hosted on their servers. To "run your own ads" (which means choosing to not run any) is $19.95/month. If you create a network for students age 13 - 18, Ning will remove the ads for free. To use your own domain name is $4.95/month, plus the annual cost of a domain name if you need to buy one (under $10/year). To remove the Ning promotional links is $7.95/month.

You access these features as a network creator under the "manage" tab, the look at "premium services." Or you can see this information at
http://about.ning.com/product.php/.

Ning does have an email system within it.

[Nancy Bosch]

Thanks for the info, I guess even if you host it yourself you can't use it with kids under 13. N

[Steve Hargadon]

Well, since you can't host it yourself, you're right. Programs that you can host yourself, like Elgg or Moodle, would then allow you to set your own age requirements (or not), and you'd take full responsibility for complying with COPPA or other requirements.