Computers in Classrooms #28 =========================================== ISSN 1470-5524 ~ For colleagues who teach or manage information and communication technology (ICT) in schools ~ From Terry Freedman Home Page: http://www.ictineducation.org Email: terry@ictineducation.org 18 April 2007 =========================================== *** IMPORTANT *** The details I have for you are as follows: User name: To log in or change any of your details, please go to: http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/amember/member.php You need to log in to be able to read the latest newsletter or to download any freebies such as the filofax-style website guide. You can also log in to change your details or to sign up for the Leading & Managing ICT service. =========================================== Articles in this issue: =========================================== Social networking for grown-ups: an evaluation of Ning ====================================================== I've been playing around with Ning, which seems to be the "in" thing at the moment -- well, it was last week anyway. To understand what Ning is, think MySpace. It's a way of connecting people with a common interest, and there is plenty to interest people in education. Like MySpace it has certain features, such as a blog feature and the facility for uploading photos and videos. Unlike MySpace it has a forum facility and it seems easier to customise. It's dead easy to set up your own community: I've set up two without needing any technical know-how at all. I'll come back to them in a second. So, where does the "networking" aspect come in? in three ways. Firstly, you can join communities as well as or instead of creating them, which means that you have different places in which to meet like-minded people. Secondly, you can add people as friends. Thirdly, you can click on a person's name and see what communities *they* belong to, and join them if they seem likely to be of interest. On the whole I like Ning, but it does have some annoying "features", the most frustrating of which, for me, was the lack of a batch delete facility for pictures. I inadvertently uploaded nearly 200 ones that had nothing to do with the subject matter, and had to edit each by hand. It took ages. However, the Ning people are promising a batch edit/delete facility soon. I think that to understand phenomena like MySpace you have to experience them, and this is a good, ie easy and harmless, way of doing so. So far I haven't been pestered by people purporting to be teenaged girls from Russia or anything like that, which I *have* experienced in MSN and Yahoo's Instant Messenger. Also, the community-style interface does lend itself to discussion and the posting of resources. The two communities I've set up are one for the second edition of Coming of Age, at http://comingofage.ning.com and one specifically for readers of this newsletter and visitors to the ICT in Education website. That's here: http://ictineducation.ning.com/. I've started a discussion about the internet, and provided links to (so far) 4 videos which you may find interesting. What I'd like to do is invite you to experiment with me in using this kind of resource. Join the community by going to http://ictineducation.ning.com/, and then you'll be able to contribute to the discussion, start a new one, add videos yourself and view the ones already there. I think that used wisely this sort of thing can save time, even though it seems time-consuming at first. Certainly for my own part I've discovered that a few exchanges with others can save hours of tracking down useful stuff. So, do give it a whirl and let's see what happens. The nice thing about all this is that it's not dependent on one person (ie me). I've kick-started it, but it's really up to th community, ie you, whether this becomes a useful port of call or not. Here's the URL once again: http://ictineducation.ning.com/. See you there, I hope! Disclaimer =========================================== Good morning, Judge. I wasn't even there; it wasn't my fault; he made me do it, etc. Seriously, though, all the information and links in this newsletter have been checked, and offered in good faith. For the full text of the disclaimer, please see: http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/about.html. Pass it on/How to subscribe =========================================== Now pass this newsletter on to someone else please! Alternatively, direct them to http://terry-freedman.org.uk/amember/signup.php, where they can obtain it automatically by completing a short form. (Just think what a fantastic present a subscription would make, and it won't even cost you a penny!) To unsubscribe =========================================== To unsubscribe, please see the instructions at the bottom of this message. To subscribe, go to http://terry-freedman.org.uk/amember/signup.php. This newsletter is © 2006 Terry Freedman and individual contributors.