Introduction
MySpace and Facebook may grab the headlines in social networking, but there are many other social networks. Social networks are online communities created around interests with people-to-people recommendations and communication. These specialized social networks allow like-minded users to find and interact with one another, whether around crafts or cars or any other shared interest. In this Thing, we'll take a look at some of these networks.
Gather
Gather describes itself as the “leading social networking and media site for adults, with some of the highest quality user-generated content on the internet.” Most of the discussion on Gather is in a debate format, focused around a single issue, book, or theme to appeal to busy professionals. American Public Media is heavily invested in this site as an outlet for National Public Radio listeners.
Ning is a social networking site with a different focus. With Ning, you can set up your own social network based on your particular interest or join one that someone else has already created. There are several educator networks from which to choose. To learn more about Ning, check out one of the librarian or school related groups below.
Video demo of Ning by its CEO Gina Bianchini
School-related groups on Ning: Classroom 2.0, Teacher-Librarian Ning, Texas School Librarians, Teachers 2.0
Wikipedia list of social network sites
You get the idea; there is a social network for everyone. And, on the chance you can't find a social network that matches your interests, start one of your own.
Discovery Exercise:
Explore Ning and uses of Social Networking in Education.
NOTE: You are NOT required to join the Classroom 2.0 network to explore its resources, but we hope you will. It's an amazing resource.
Increasingly, educators are beginning to leverage the positive aspects of social networking to improve student learning. Ning is a service that allows anyone to easily create and manage a free (ad-supported) social network for any purpose. Last fall, Ning announced "ad-free" networks for educators using the site with students in grades 7-12. Ning sites may be private (viewable only to members) or public, and the site creator/administrator has lots of control over how users join and how they can participate/contribute.
In early 2007, Steve Hargadon created Classroom 2.0, a Ning social networking site for educators "interested Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in the classroom." The site currently has over 13,000 members sharing ideas and resources, asking questions and discussing ideas and concerns about using these new technologies to support teaching and learning. Exploring this site is a good way to learn more about Web 2.0, and to get a feel for how a social networking site can be used in education.
If you begin to feel overwhelmed by the amount of content, remember that you are not supposed to keep up with everything on a site like this, but rather to skim, explore and focus on those areas which are of real interest to you. In networked learning, the important ideas always come back around. Also, if you can't imagine managing this with students or colleagues, remember that you won't have 13,000 of them participating in your network, and that it's perfectly okay (preferable, even) to start small and limit the scope!
As you complete the exploration exercises, consider how you might incorporate social networking to benefit:
- Your own professional development / lifelong learning
- Classroom teaching and learning; Student learning
- Personal interests, hobbies, community, family, social causes, etc...
PART 1 (~60-90 min): Visit Classroom 2.0. Have a quality look around (see tips immediately following). If you don't spend some time exploring, you won't really get a feel for the site or the potential for this type of tool in education.
Tips for finding your way around Classroom 2.0
- Forum - (click Forum tab at the top of the page). Here you will find discussion categories with threaded discussions under each. Find a couple of discussions that interest you and read some of the posts and replies.
- Groups - (click Groups tab at the top of the page). Here you will find special-interest discussions and resource sharing. Members interested in the topic can join the group and participate in the discussion. Find a group that interests you and explore the discussions and other content for the group.
- Tags - (right sidebar on Main page) Click a link to find all discussions tagged by tool, subject or area. Or click a tag anywhere within the site (e.g. at the bottom of a discussion post) to view all resources tagged as such.
- Members - (click Members tab at the top of the page). Click any member's profile picture to view his or her personal page, including their groups, discussion postings, personal blog, comment wall, friends and other self-selected content.
- Latest Activity - (left sidebar of Main page) See the most recent activity by all members of the site.
- Videos - (click Videos tab at the top of the page). View videos uploaded and shared by site members.
PART 2: (~20-30 min) Check out this wiki-based list of Ning networks related to education. See if you can find one that interests you, or that applies to your subject area (it is possible that a few of these may be private, especially those that are for students) and take a look.
Further Resources (for your reference)
- EDUCAUSE: 7 things you should know about Ning
- Schools and Online Social Networking - article by Nancy Willard presents both positive and negative aspects of social networking, as well as suggestions for schools.
PART 3. (~30 min.) MISD 23 Things has a brand new Ning network. Join it and do at least 2 of the following:
- Leave comments for another member
- Upload your photos or video to the Ning
- Add the Ning badge to your blog
- Add another of the Ning widgets to your blog
Learning Activity:
Write a blog post reflecting on your exploration of Classroom 2.0 and any other Educational Ning network you explored. Label your post Thing #23 and address the following questions:
What were your overall impressions?
Did you find any discussions or resources of value?
Do you have any ideas for using social networking in your own professional or personal learning, or in classroom learning?
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