Thing #22: Nings
I knew nothing about Ning until this Thing. I was totally Ning-norant.
I joined the Ning Teacher Lingo. It appears to be a good resource for lesson ideas and interesting or amusing articles geared to the industry. For elementary education I think Ning is solely a teacher-specific tool, like an educator's magazine.
For middle school and later grades, I gather that Ning can also by students be used as an alternative to more anarchic social networking sites such as Facebook. While it's a commendable idea and it's always good to have a safe space for school networking (or global networking), it's pretty clear that nothing school-endorsed is going to take the place of sites like Facebook. Students will always want a refuge from school, just as adults want a refuge from work. Still, it's great for students to have an opportunity to create their own networks based on their own interests.
On the whole I find Ning somewhat off-putting. Unless you've created your own group, it gives off a vibe of being rather exclusionary to me.
Nick, I agree, Ning, did not interest me long term. The problem I noticed was so many posts were negative and it sounded like a bulletin board for whiners. I believe I have enough challenges without trying to wade through posts by malcontents. -Marty
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