Innovative ways school teachers use Ning today?

foteini veneti October 12, 2011 at 12:28pm

Dear Christina,

I find your suggestions extraordinary. Could you please guide me how to do all your above mentioned? I am an EFL teacher, working on a ning platform with ss and Ts from all over the world.

Foteini

Greece

Christina Lee > foteini veneti October 12, 2011 at 12:47pm

Hi Foteini -

We are conducting interviews with some of the select NCs and will be publishing this article in October. Stay tuned and we'll share w/ this group once it becomes available.

Tx.

-c

Tadeusz Lemańczyk October 10, 2011 at 10:55am

If you were interested in Multilingual Studies at a Distance. Students and Academics of All Countries, Unite! :-) ( http://fedcba.ning.com/ ) used by me for Poznan University of Technology students studying in this semester Information Security ( http://www.fem.put.poznan.pl/poli-admin/ects_cards/3095_22_ectscard... ), I would answer to any of your questions concerning the problem.

Best,
Tad

Solveg Cooper October 9, 2011 at 10:11am

I am an instructor in an online accounting course at a community college. I use Ning as my course hub for assignments, communication and direction. I have a Ning mini sponsored by Pearson. I upload videos and pictures to keep the course media rich and interesting to my students. I've used VoiceThread to have them participate in discussions but I'm not using it this semester.

For a main spoke from the hub, I use a publisher's homework program for electronic text and homework problems. I use one forum category for questions on the problems. I encourage all students to ask and answer questions. I find that students are very helpful to each other and the learning is increased as students explain problem solutions to each other. I use other categories for spokes such as alternate resources, lists of course links, FAQ's about the course and interesting things to share. One of my spoke links is to google docs where groups can collaborate on a team project that I've done in the past.

I've divided my course into units and each unit has a required blog post. Students begin the semester by an icebreaker titled 2 facts and a myth. This encourages them to get creative and share something about themselves in a non threatening way. As they complete a unit they are required to blog about what they learned and the relevance of the content within the course. I also have them answer an ethical debate, which is something that invites discussion. I require 2 comments on other students blogs, so giving them an ethical element within the blog keeps the comments relevant and engages a higher order of thinking with the response.

Because I use this network for a classroom, I have FERPA requirements for privacy. I do not share the login with unsupervised faculty peers or with the school community.

Thanks for adding this discussion. It's great to hear what others are doing.

Solveg Cooper

Business Education

Cuesta College

Tadeusz Lemańczyk > Solveg Cooper October 10, 2011 at 11:55am

Hello, Solveg, I've just examined several of your Web pages with great pleasure and think that you and me could use NING in order to organize at least a few courses studied at a distance by some Cuesta College, California Polytechnic State University, and Poznan University of Technology students together.

Incidentally, who else would be willing to join us?

Best,
Tad

Lynsey Murray October 8, 2011 at 5:09am

I just want to add....my students USED to be able to customize the appearance of their individual page... now that option is not available. I have been frustrated and disappointed by this b/c it was a lot of fun for them to do and made it much more personal. Getting tech support from Ning and questions answered has not happened which led me to simply abandon this issue...

Lynsey Murray October 8, 2011 at 4:46am

I have ben using Ning for three years for my Visual art classroom http://murraydms.ning.com/

I think the Forum is a fantastic way for students to research a topic before it is covered in the classroom http://murraydms.ning.com/forum/topics/due-520-art-2-animals-1

and I ask students to reflect on their work/process when they finish

http://murraydms.ning.com/photo/self-portrait?xg_source=activity

Jason October 6, 2011 at 11:21am

Hi Alexandra,

Great question. Per Ning's Terms of Service, anyone joining your community must be at least 13 years old.

If your community is public, meaning members and non-members alike can check out pages and content posted to your community, it will be accessible to your students, even if they are under 13.

Parents and students 13 years of age or older can of course join your community.

Best,

Jason

Lynsey Murray > Jason October 8, 2011 at 4:40am

my 12 yr old students are able to sign up.. I set the sign up not to include age input... the terms of use for my district are on my site. I control and approve members before they join so its not open to anyone who I do not know. I approve all content

Chad Bruns October 5, 2011 at 7:50pm

This is my fourth year using Ning in my classroom and really love it!. Be sure to check out my Ning website-Mr. Bruns 360. I am actually giving my second presentation on using Ning in the classroom at a 21 Century Learners Conference tomorrow(10-5) in Underwood, Iowa. I also gave a similar presentation last year at the Iowa Social Studies Conference in Des Moines, Iowa. Check it out:

Creating a Classroom Social Network Using Ning on Prezi

Now to answer your questions.

Ning has helped transform my classroom form a teacher centered classroom to a students centered classroom. My Ning website gives each student their own webpage that serves as their e-portfolio. Every video or Powerpoint presentation they do needs to be uploaded to their webpage.

Through the use of blogs, students are required to use that space to takes notesvia "Daily blogs" but also do what I call "assigned blogs". These are basically short little research assignments that students have to do. The focus on these is to work on research and writing skills. Students are also required to discuss their topics in class.

The forum is used in a variety of ways. I can give out information to students, students can help other students, and current events are also discussed in this space. I find that a lot of "accidental learning" takes place via the forums which I never test on. It gives students a forum in which to share their opinions and thoughts and then respond to other students as well.

Ning also allows me to have a specific group for each different class I teach. This allows me to put podcasts and Powerpoints on each classes specific page so the main page doesn't get too cluttered.

Ning also makes it easy with the built in chat and email system for students to collaborate anytime and anyplace. Students in my classes realize that learning can take place outside of the "walled garden" of the school.

Another thing that I really appreciate Ning for is that it eliminates any issues with students being absent from school. Whether a student is absent for a day or a week, they know they can get everything they need from my website. I never have to mention anything to them when they get back. That was always a nightmare for me as a teacher before I started using Ning.

With the addition of Leaderboards, student now compete to see who is leading them especially with the fact that I give extra credit points to those that make the list.

I could go on and on about the impact that Ning has had on me and my students. Thanks Ning!

PS. I had also set up a Ning website for our High School two years ago as we started incorporating Professional Learning Communities and it really helped bring everyone together via a central website. Unfortunately, that has died off as we got a new Principal that wanted to go in another direction.

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Innovative ways school teachers use Ning today?

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