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The Closer Radio Drama

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It's a Ning Thing

With the explosion of social media popularity among kids and adults today, it makes sense to harness this love affair for educational purposes. It doesn’t take long, when teaching 8th graders, to realize that social connections are of prime importance. If these connections can be welcomed into the classroom vs. expelled, educators may find success among students who otherwise show little interest. This would be a huge win for all involved. Teachers love nothing better than to have students engaged in what is being taught. Not only this, but an engaged student is much more likely to actually learn something in the classroom and - maybe, just maybe - gain an interest that will help motivate them in the years ahead.

“How might this look in the classroom?” you ask. Great question! One way educators are tapping the social media well is through a Web2.0 application called “Ning”. Similar in many ways to Facebook, the Ning social media platform allows users to become members in order to participate in the member dialogue. This digital dialogue takes shape in many ways. Once a group has been set up, members can chat, blog, comment on posts, create discussions, send messages, share photos, and even videos. Privacy settings can also be initiated in order to keep group interaction limited to a targeted audience. Also, there are no charges involved in order to become a member or create a group. With these features, and even more that I didn’t mention, Ning is proving to be a very useful tool on the 21st century educator’s laptop.

BP10_2010043_Link to Comment on Another's Blog

Post to Bill Carrigan's Blog:

Bill, this quick 1 minute fly-by of photoshop express was extremely helpful. The screen flow moved at a great pace in sync with the commentary. This looks like a great option for students in public schools who may not have access to high-powered and high-dollar photo editing applications. Thanks for the great post!

http://billyc3.blogspot.com/2010/04/bp82010042one-minute-movie-photoshop.html

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Post to Paul Devoto's Blog:

Paul, as I sipped some coffee and enjoyed your 1 minute video on Wikis I couldn't help but smile. Your witty script and great casting teamed up with your production skill to create a great sell for the wiki. Great job and thanks for the smile.

http://pauldevoto.blogspot.com/2010/04/bp82010041oneminutemessage1_18.html

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(Image taken from Bill Carrigan's blog at http://billyc3.blogspot.com/2010/04/bp42010041web-20-tools.html)

Bill,

Thanks for the heads up on the Aviary Phoenix application. I love the fact that you don't have to install any software in order to run the application. (and the fact that it's free!) Many of the computers in my school run from a server and require software to be installed on the main server in order to be available on each individual station. The copyrights, costs, and manpower to make it happen make this very prohibitive for new software that a teacher may want to add. It sounds like Aviary has come up with a solution for a problem just like ours.

Thanks for the post!

(In response to the post found at http://billyc3.blogspot.com/2010/04/bp42010041web-20-tools.html)

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(picture taken from the dy/dan blog found at http://blog.mrmeyer.com)


Paul,

I appreciate the RSS feeds you posted to some really great thinkers. I read Godin's "the dip" a few years back and found it insightful. I subscribed to his RSS feed and look forward to catching his flashes of insight more often. I also read a few entries from dy/dan and was convinced to subscribe. In my short reading he really challenged me in the area of how I am questioning in my classroom. Great post!

(Posted in response to http://pauldevoto.blogspot.com/2010/04/bp42010041rssfeeds.html)