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These files are maintained strictly for historical reference, research, and recordkeeping purposes,
and the content has not been altered or updated since archiving.
Content on this site may not meet current digital accessibility standards.
If you require an alternative, accessible format of any information found on this site,
please contact Bruce Jones, bjones@ucsd.edu to request an accommodation.
Hi Folks,We use NING in two large courses in the teacher education program, one for elementary and one for secondary teacher candidates. There are approximately 280-320 students in each course. They meet in a large lecture hall for one hour of lecture, followed by two hours of discussion in "small" break-out groups of about 30-34 teacher candidates.
We use NING for several purposes: 1) to post writing assignments, for example responses to weekly inquiry questions, 2) to enable additional conversation outside of class, 3) to communicate general information across all sections of the course, 4) and most important, to build community among the teacher candidates and with the instructors. We use the "forum," rather than the blog, and create weekly forums to organize postings.
I am interested in the extent to which this technology, coupled with the course structure, enables continued professional relationships once teacher candidates complete their degree/certification and begin their first teaching positions. Many of our teacher candidates teach across Canada and the US, and internationally as well.
While NING is quite like other social networking sites, when we began using it several years ago it was the only one that allowed us to form closed community groups that were protected by an administrator function that allowed us control over who could enter. We did not want to use a completely open site. Teacher candidates can post pictures, videos, their teaching activities and professional contributions, and have conversations that we did not want to give public access to. We have continued to use it because it also allows us to use a French template for the sections of our courses that are conducted in French.
For us, NING is incredibly useful. It is easy to use and continues to evolve and offer new options as well. So far, so good.
Best - jennifer
Here's one example, although you need to be a member to use it: http://www.ncte.org/community Peter Smagorinsky Professor of English Education and Program Coordinator The University of Georgia 125 Aderhold Hall Athens, GA 30602 smago@uga.edu http://www.coe.uga.edu/lle/faculty/smagorinsky/index.html -----Original Message----- From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Helen Grimmett Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 8:17 PM To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu Subject: [xmca] Re: technology for Classroom use Hi, I've recently heard about something called a "ning", which from what I can gather seems to be a way to set up your own small scale networking site (like a mini facebook) for your own circle of users. It seems to me this might be an ideal way for classrooms (or groups of classrooms or teachers) to explore this technology and be able to share their work without worrying about what else they might come into contact with on facebook, myspace or youtube etc. I haven't investigated it fully yet, but am wondering if it might be the sort of thing that will be useful for my research project on professional learning. Perhaps someone else has some more infromation about nings? Helen Grimmett _______________________________________________ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
-- ______________________________ Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur, Ph.D. Associate Professor The University of British Columbia Faculty of Education 2125 Main Mall Library Block 272B Vancouver BC V6T-1Z4 phone: 1.604.822.9099 fax: 1.604.822.3302 _______________________________________________ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca