Creating a Ning - What I have learned so far

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I created a Ning for the College of Education at NC State about 6 months ago. We officially unveiled it at the begining of the semester, and so far have over 150 members. I've run into some "stumbling blocks" that I'd like to share with others that are interested in starting a Ning themselves.

1) Public vs. Private
This has been a big issue with us, should our Ning be open or not? In the end (and after getting feedback from the faculty), we decided to leave the main Ning open, to allow users to dictate the transparency of their pages (private, only friends, etc.). Then groups can be closed as need be. This has allowed us to have poublic and private areas of the site - and so far is working quite well

2) Private Groups
The biggest issue with Private Groups is managing membership. For example, if you want to invite someone to join a group this is the process:
-They recieve invitation
-They join Ning
-They then have to request invitation to private group
-Group admin has to approve (even if you sent them the original invite)
-Then they have to confirm the invitation before they are added
This has added several days in the group process and in between the last two steps they seem to virtaully disappear from the management tabs.

3)Photos
Right now I've decided to manually confirm each photograph. This is a tricky area for me, normally we would request everyone submit a Photo Release form, but since these are all "Adults" posting photos themselves (not me posting them) it gets a bit well murky.

4)Group Page
I have issues with the design of the group page and I can't appear to change it without changing the apperance on the main page - this is annoying to me and others that want to customize their group pages.

5) Changing Text
You can actually change the Welcome Messages, etc. in Ning in the LANGUAGE TAB. This made no sense to me at first and took me awhile to figure out.

6)Premium Services
They are worth it. If you are dealing with kids, you can get the ads removed for free, but in our case we didn't qualify. But I don't have a problem paying $19.95/month to get them taken off. I wish I had actually gotten the custom URL in the beginning (its a bit late now I think) but otherwise the premium services are a good way to get "credibility" for a non-educational service like Ning. (When I say non-educational I mean that they are not JUST education - they have tons of sites associated with Ning - some not appropriate)

7) Purpose
Be upfront about the purpose of the Ning. In my case, this is not a replacement of a CMS. This is a supplementary area for classes and groups within the college. Ideally it is for those that share interests, but don't know each other, to be able to meet virtually. I think this becomes even more important with our influx of Distance Ed courses.

8)Keep tabs on your Ning
The best way for me to do this is through the latest activity RSS feed. This way I'm not getting a billion e-mails, but I still feel like there is a level of oversight for the website. One of the things people (and when I say people I mean faculty) have concerns about is the ability for anyone to put anything on the site. Keeping on top of the site (which by the way has had no issues so far - cross your fingers).

I've used Steve Hargadon as my guide through the world of Ning, and went to one of his sessions at NECC, but it really took getting into it before I understood what I wanted and what it could do.

Voices of NC

http://www.voicesofnc.org/

One of the great things about my job is the diversity of professors I work with. There are some new kids on the block (they've been here for like 2 years now, but I still see them as new :). that are doing some fascinating things.

The most rewarding thing I can ever do is introduce someone to a tool and just have them go with it. It is amazing to me what they will come back with and how far they have grown past what I can teach them. Now these two guys I could never assume to teach them anything, but they collaborate with me and I just learn so much. OK, so now I'm gushing, but I want to share this incredible project they are working on.

Voices of NC is a project that is focused on understanding a sense of community and place with our surroundings. It has many strands, from language and dialect, to community and diversity. I had the opportunity to work with this group last year on doing podcasting and it amazes me where they have gone with it.

They key to all of this I think is how stellar their web presence is. They are not only doing exceptional work - they are sharing it! The teacher generated projects there, but also the curricular materials generated by the faculty.

I can't say enough good things about this project. It was great to be a small part of it and I hope they continue to do more!

Creepy Treehouse vs. Walled Garden

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One of the great things about the ed tech industry is their ability to coin phrases. I had never heard of these before until I went to NECC, and although they look on the surface to be completely unrelated, they are intimately acquainted.

The "Creepy Treehouse effect" which has been discussed in-depth by Chris Lott and Jared Stein is used to describe what happens when teachers join student social areas - such as Facebook or MySpace. Based on the information session I had with our college students last semester it was obvious how much they did not want us (and I define us as any authority figures) in their space. What they are they most afraid of is the "cyber-stalking" that they expect from their peers, but repel from their parents.

Most of us have experienced this "Creepy Treehouse Effect," maybe not as a student, but as someone with a presence on the Internet. The first time someone you don't know walks up to you and asks if you are feeling better because they read your Twit about it earlier that week - you will freak out just a bit.

So how do we use the power of Social Networks without the creepiness? We create a "walled garden," a place that utilizes the tools of a social network, but in a more controled environment. There are a few tool out there to do this, but Ning & ELGG are by far the most popular. Ning is the choice of most communities, mostly because it is free - while ELGG is a server based open source system. I've written about Ning & ELGG a bit, and IMHO ELGG just wasn't at the place I needed it to be - it just had its 1.0 release. So we went with Ning & so far the results have been fantastic. The students appear to appreciate having a social network that is seperate from their personal life - while the instructors are learning more about how their students interact.

So far so good....

Avatars

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I'm a big advocate of avatars in education. One of the things I have found in working with students online is how powerful a medium it is. When students know that "the whole world" is viewing their work, and not just their teacher, they really put a good deal more effort into their product. They are proud of what they have created and that sense of individualism and personal pride is important - but how do you do that without putting your students "at risk" online? How do you add personalization without a picture - especially in tools where pictures, or avatars represent your work, i.e. VoiceThread? Here are a few of the tools/options that I have used in the past and how they have worked for me. I also have to give a big shoutout to my twitter friends who helped me find some new sites!

Artwork
Have your students draw a representation of themselves, scan it in and use as their image online. This way students get to use their artwork and represnt themselves.



Portrait Avatar Maker ( http://avatarmaker.abi-station.com/)
This one is by far one of the "safest" creators. There are no options that would make a middle schooler giggle (see WeeMee). But there are almost too many options. I would imagine my students taking forever to create their perfect image.

WeeMee (http://www.weeworld.com/)
I like the way the WeeMee avatar looks a bit better. However, there are some options that I would not feel comfortable asking my middle schoolers or high schoolers to do, nor would I want to walk them through it.

Simpsonize (http://simpsonizeme.com/)
I have to say when I first saw this I thought - now way. But I actually think this may be the best of the bunch. There are only a few options, so it won't take forever in class. There aren't any inappropriate questions, and it is just plain fun!

On My Own...Website

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I've been contemplating taking the plunge for awhile now. It is finally time to get my own website and who do I turn to for recommendations? The twitterverse of course! I was amazed at the response I received:

netposer - godaddy.com
hurricanesfan66 - dreamhost
alscillitani - godaddy.com
kevoliver netfirms.com
redefining - pair.com
billgx - uber.com & wampserver.com

So now I just have to decide on one!

My goal is to make me be NOT needed

My husband may die a small death when he realizes this is my goal - but it is. I want my teachers to not NEED me anymore. My goal is to teach them how to find tools, assess their validity and make them work in their classroom. I could never (and don't want to) try and teach them every tool that exists - I want to give them the skills to find the tool for themselves.

I've been asked a good deal lately to define what it is I do. Not because they don't believe in what I do (so I'm not out of a job yet :) but because they are actually considering cloning me. Seriously, we are looking at another Instructional Technologist (do not send me resumes - you know how this works - it will probably never happen). It still amazes me how people in education (and we have a degree program in IT) have no idea what an Instructional Technologist does or is supposed to do.

However, in deconstructing my job, I have discovered that the most important thing I do really has nothing to do with technology per se. People feel comfortable coming to me and discussing what they are doing. My job is primarily to listen and bring the right tool sets to the table. Yes, I may do training and develop workshops, but when it comes to what makes me valuable - it is my ability to connect the right people together.

So maybe I'm not out of job after all :)

What is your theme music?

I’ve always had theme music. I mean there are certain songs that motivate me in my life. I believe this springs from all of the Basketball Warm-up songs that I have had played before the “Big Game.” “Shook Me All Night Long” and “Mysterious Ways” still remind me of taking the court for the first time as a Freshman in high school playing on the Varsity Team (no I wasn’t that good, but when you are 5’10” in 7th grade and your school doesn’t have JV, well you get the idea). So to this day I still have certain songs that I listen to to pump me up.

So here are mine:
“Short Skirt & a Long Jacket” by Cake. This is the song I listen to when I need to quote “tour the facility and take up slack.” Anytime I need to go into a meeting and standup for myself, this is the song I either listen to or just play in my head. It gets me in the right frame of mind to just get it done.
“Talk on Indolence” by The Avett Brothers. My best friend has named this the dissertation song. The beginning lyrics say, “Reading and writing and searching for reasons. The summer the spring the winter the snow, the record will stop and the record will go. The world outside just goes and goes…” Everytime I get frustrated with finding the right words- I realize that others have gone through it too.
“Gonna Make You Love Me” by Ryan Adams. This is what I listen to on my walk to work. It gets me going and almost makes me want to skip ☺

So what’s your theme song?