The Ning Thing and Some Others Too!!

Social Networking Sites Blog Post March 21, 2010

Reflections on the process of learning about the tool (3 points)

I’ll have to start off again by saying that the learning curve for the three tools I am discussing hasn’t been very steep. All three are extremely easy to use and sign-up for. Shelfari is the newest and the one that’s got me the most interested! But, I will try to do my best to describe the process for all and much more.

The three sites I feel that I need to talk about this week are Ning, Facebook and Shelfari and in that order too!

Ning is a great site and social networking environment. In Ning I belong to THE EDUCATOR'S PLN: THE PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORK FOR EDUCATORS. This Ning has been awesome. I have taken away so much from it from so many invested people. I get weekly updates from it and in the updates are a number of awesome webinars that are happening each week. I have attended many and have learned so much from just them.

The process of learning Ning was like any of the Web 2.0 tools. The real trick is digging around and finding out who is worth reading, listening to and viewing. Once you have committed to following people, it is a matter of trying to keep up with the vast amounts of information that can come your way and to also post a few things in return to the community. So like Facebook or just a plain old Blog, once you have the read and write part figured out, it is pretty much the same for all these Web 2.0 tools and Ning wasn’t any different.

One of my favorite things the Educator’s PLN Ning offers are videos. I am thinking this might be my new learning style!! One example of a very key learning I got from a video on Ning is Ian Jukes’ video on Understanding Digital Kids. This video message has some linkages to Nicolas Carr’s article called “Is Google Making Us Stupid”? Is your brain wired differently now? Are you still capable of reading more than 140 characters at a time? If you’re not, read on and maybe Shelfari can save your life!!?!? Ian also has an interesting Blog called The Committed Sardine!!

Another video that is extremely good and should not be missed is Alan November’s: Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom.

Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom by Alan November from Brian Mull on Vimeo.

Another Ning thing that’ll I’ll offer up is from the well known Kathy Schrock who gives a short but great Second Life case about being a Digital Pioneer and not a Digital Native or Immigrant!

Digital Pioneer: The Movie from Kathy Schrock on Vimeo.

I know I haven’t got Second Life listed as one of my three Social Networking sites, but I have recently completed a Second Life project where people will be able to come to my (and my partners) gallery to check out my Digital Portfolio. My partner and I call it our Portfolioallery, and it even floats in the sky!!

Second Life is worth a try (I HATED it from the start). It isn’t that easy to figure stuff out, but once you do, it is a very cool social collaborative and networking; not site, maybe an environment, but most definitely a world!!

Okay, my last “Ning Thing”^TM (I might trademark this! Remember you heard it here first!!).

Check out this very interesting look at social networking in schools. It’s entitled, Engaging Learners: Using Blogs and Social Networks to Engage K-12 Learners. I think what’s interesting about it is the 'whole school' approach to implementing their Blog. It also includes something which is a bit closer to my interest which is using iPods/Phones in the learning and teaching process.

Facebook (FB)! Well I am not sure what to even say that hasn’t been said by a myriad of people already? I hated, and still have mixed feelings about Facebook. When I first started using it, I didn’t even use my real name and used "John Smith" instead! My wife still uses her Jane Smith pseudonym and a can of Diet Coke as her picture!! John Smith existed until I read an article by Alyssa Trzeszkowski-Giese entitled, “A Facebook Education” and it changed the way I use Facebook. As you all know, I do actually have an identity on FB that is linked to who I really am and I use it primarily to stay in touch with former students and now all of you too!

I find FB invaluable enough that I have the Facebook app on my iPhone and that is the main way I try to post and read my Facebook communications. I really like the interesting posts people put forth that enable me to learn new things. I have to admit that people who post their latest Starbucks purchase or too much stuff about their personal life get the axe as my FB friends. To quote Brandi one more time, “I break up with them”! I just don’t have time for personal updates. We just discussed this in eClass, and it is hard enough to keep up with all the really good stuff that encourages my growth as a Doctoral student let alone being distracted by who is going to Starbucks!!

I really do find FB an invaluable tool for staying in touch. As you might have noticed, I said that I keep in touch with former students. Our Dean in charge of Education at RDC has said that we are not to be “friending” current students!! What do you think of that? I agree and can see the concerns she has, but at the same time, I think we are missing out on the real potential of FB.

Three interesting (and sad) articles I’ve recently read are as follows:

1. Keeping Office Hours ‘Real’ in the Facebook Age by Kiren Zucker (interesting)

2. Teachers Lead Adoption of Web 2.0, but Perceptions Stifle Social Networking by David Nagel (sad one)

3. Administrator’s See Potential, But Limit Use of Web 2.0 Tools  by Kathleen Manzo (sad)

Zucker’s article gives advice on how to keep it real in the age of Facebook and text messaging by students. With students having the ability to be in touch with their instructors all the time, how does a person draw the line? Well I am a poor role model. I really do try to be hooked in 24/7 for my students and do give them my cell number so they can text me if they need. I run a Blackboard course like our eClass and we also have a class Blog.

Nagel’s article describes how teachers use Web 2.0, but don’t promote or aren’t allowed to communicate or collaborate with students. Manzo’s article resonates the same sentiments as Nagel’s. This kind of ties into how RDC is looking at FB and students. Also, hoe K-12 schools are not allowing students access to Web 2.0 tools during school time. I could write a whole other posting just about this topic.

So, I guess the question is, how do we come to a happy medium? What are we afraid of? Would an insulting Facebook post to you at 11:00 p.m. be any different than an in-person exchange at 2:00 p.m.? What are the rules with communication outside of school hours? I think until we figure the rules out, we are going to continue to ban the use of FB in K-12 schools and in post-secondary alike. And, as long as teachers use FB inappropriately with students, school districts, colleges and universities and their administrator’s will keep putting up the road blocks for using these types of tools.

Okay, Shelfari!! This is one of those Web 2.0 gems I’ve come across! Thanks to Lois and her widget (I can’t figure out how to get my widget to look like Lois’s? Mine’s just a hyperlink) I'm hooked!!

If you’re a reader, then Shelfari is THE place to be. Do I sound like a book geek?? You can sign up in a few seconds and then pick out books you’ve read, are reading or want to read and create a bookshelf. So what’s the big deal? Well, it’s all the tagging and communicating around the books that makes Shelfari a cool Web 2.0 tool. This site links you to every aspect of a book that you can think of. Whole groups and communities rise up around an author and his or her books.

I can definitely see myself using this long after this course is done. I haven’t had a chance to brag this tool up too much, but I am definitely going to share it with my students and Library bud Sona from RDC.

Discussion of the tool in terms of your personal learning (e.g. me as a learner, me as a parent, me as part of a social group) (3 points)

Okay, this section seems to be my downfall on the marking rubric.

I am going to attack the parent role first. My whole family are book readers. I am going to advocate all of us getting Shelfari accounts so we can post books we’ve read and discuss them online. I am particularly interested in getting my reading, writer and author daughter involved. She already has one published book and is working on her second!! One other family thing that I’d like to do is to get my Mom and in-laws (who are voracious readers) hooked into Shelfari. We all read similar and sometimes the exact same books. It would be really nice to have my in-laws who we see only twice a year post to Shelfari and share the books they’ve read so we don't have to wait for Christmas and summer holidays.

For me as a learner, even though my shelf is full of fiction books, I do have books like Daniel Pink’s and Donald Tapscott’s book on my shelf and I’d really like to get involved in a community of people who discuss and recommend books in and around the interests I have as a professional and a Doctoral student. 

Discussion of the tool in terms of your professional learning (e.g. me as a teacher, me as a school leader, me as a teacher-librarian, me as a member of professional learning communities/networks). This takes into account technology integration, use in schools, pros and cons, etc. (3 points)

I am really looking forward to being a part of the Educator Summer (& all year) Reading and Third Tuesday (Social media, community building, social networking and relationship building, communications, marketing, organizations and society communities). This is where I hope to be able to stay on top of all the great books out there that deal with educational technology. I really see Shelfari being a 'place' to gather great links, resources and friends around books just like I gather great resources from Twitter, Ning and Facebook now.

Evidence of Research and Further Reading (3 points)

See my listing and links through-out this post.

Respectfully,

Brad