Ning

What is it?

Ning, invites users to "create your own social network for anything." The Ning Blog is full of examples of responses to that invitation. (In fact, use the blog search function to explore the variety of subjects, groups, and uses of Ning.) Among the range of answers, several are specific to educators and address the use of technology in the classroom. Ning users can create public or password-protected private networks and determine who can view or join. Members of a social network can upload photos and videos, chat and establish discussion forums, create their own blogs, establish RSS feeds, display calendars, and create subgroups within the social network.

At the basic level, Ning is $25/month.  The "basic" account allows 2 admins and up to 1,000 members.  It should be noted that even though this is the "basic" account, it has almost all of the features of the "Performance" and "Ultimate" accounts; the only difference is the amount of storage offered (1GB for "basic" accounts).

Getting Started

Creating a Ning network is as simple as signing up, providing your name, an email address, and selecting a password. Then, you'll be invited to create a network and to name, subtitle, and describe your Ning network. You can choose whether it's private or public, layout and appearance, and then, once that network is created, begin posting and invite others to join. Photos, videos, blogs, events, and personal pages are among the options of a Ning Network. Why You'll Love Ning describes some of the possibilities. How Can We Help You answers basic how-to questions.

Examples

The Ning website is full of examples of social networks using this open-source program. Teachers find Ning useful for professional sharing and as a classroom management tool. The majority of class or course Ning projects are password protected; therefore, not publicly viewable. Teachers, however, can link multiple classes via a single Ning, and post assignments, course materials such as handouts, videos, photos, and maps. Students can create their own member pages for assignments, discussion, and blog posts. Ning, like any tool, can be useful if well-managed; perplexing if not; and one question about its use rests with whether the tool is convenient to you, as the teacher. Sample sites, Ning in Education and Classroom 2.0 offer discussions about Ning and resources for educators interested in collaborative technologies in education. They're good places for asking how other teachers are using Ning and about the pros and cons. Ning in Education is particularly for teachers who want to set up their own Ning Networks internal to their classrooms.

A blogpost on Classroom 2.0, for example, features teachers discussing various social networking open-source programs in the classroom, including safety and privacy issues. "Online Social Networking for Educators," an article drawn from the National Education Association (NEA), emphasizes the value of social networking for teachers: it's an excellent communication mechanism within a school or district. A Minnesota literature teacher states, "What I like about social networking is that I can stay in touch with other teaching professionals to share materials, ideas, teaching stories, and sometimes even my gripe of the day."