Social Networking with Nings for Language and Culture

Pilar MundaySacred Heart University

Fairfield, CT

What are they?What are the elements that make them unique/different?Examples of “pages”Examples of “blocks”Students’ Comments about NING

WHAT ARE THEY?

• Ning is a platform that allows anyone to easily create social networks

• Specific characteristics of nings help students meet the learning objectives of language proficiency, intercultural effectiveness, and life-long learning in their courses

• There are other platforms very similar to nings that can also be used for these purposes, such as GROU.PS, Grouply or SocialGo.

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS THAT MAKE THEM UNIQUE/DIFFERENT?

Menu: You can add any

elementsBuilding blocks that you can customize and move around

This an example from GROU.PS

This is an example from NING for an Advanced Spanish and Composition Course

Portal created with Mixxt for a high school English class in Spain

EXAMPLES OF “PAGES”

Personal PageStudents create their personal spaces, with

custom templates, with their own images and

narratives.

It permits easy communication among students

Students from the US ask a student from

Spain if they can talk to her through Skype and write messages on her “wal’’ in her

personal page

Photos PageIn this case, students were reviewing vocabulary related to

furniture and home items.

Students can personalize their learning

Discussion boards

In an easy way,

students in the same class help

each other pick a topic

for a composition

In another one of my NING, (exchange program with Spain) the discussion boards were divided into two groups: “Serious” boards, where only teachers were allowed to post topics and “not so serious” discussion boards, open to the

students:

Here are some examples of the “serious” boards. They dealt with

topics seen in class, such as the ones seen here:

What is your country for you?

The movie, “The Official Story”

The Dirty War and the Disappeared

Stereotypes

Pre-Columbian civilizations

But they can also choose the discussion topics themselves, by

creating their own fora, in the “not so serious” boards.

In this case, some were only in Spanish, some were only in

English, so students could have the chance to read “correct” versions of the language they

were learning.

Multimedia is easily embeddable in the discussion board (or blog) posts. In this case, students were asked to look for an image about Cuba that showed what the text they

had read in class said about that country.

BlogsThrough their

blog posts, students can

develop creative writing skills.

In this example, students are free to chose

the topics they want to write about. They

then send the draft to me and

they post the corrected version.

Students have to comment on other students' posts. Although the grammar in the comments is not corrected, students have a chance to express their views.

Here we have an example of a YouTube video embedded in a blog post. For this activity, students had to describe in their blogs ways they

practiced Spanish outside of class (informal learning)

Other PagesYou can add up to 2 more pages in NING Mini, more in other

platforms.

Here’s is something new that NING has, a Quiz Page, where students

can review any grammar/vocabulary

and check their results against other students

Here, we have an example of a MUSIC/PLAYLIST page.

Each student had to select two songs to explain to

their classmates. The songs were then uploaded into the website playlist.com and later embedded into

our class platform.

Other PagesIn most platforms (including NINGs) you can add “blank” pages that you can also fill with

any content from the web.

Although this is not part of the platform itself, we can see that you

can use many websites and still integrate them into your class platform through embedding.

In this case:

1. Create a playlist2. Add songs (or ask students to add

them)3. Configure your player4. Embed in your ning!!

Other PagesNing also has some Apps that can be added as pages (you can add 2 in NING mini)

Here are some more Apps that can be useful in the language class

CalendarDocsMailPlanner

Here is the App NewsShare that allows students to collect web links used in my class.

Another App is BlogTalk Radio: You or your students can have their own radio programs, where listeners can call in to ask questions. The “episodes” can be downloaded or heard

at a later time.

EXAMPLES OF “BLOCKS”

“Blocks” (on main page or sometimes in personal pages) can be filled with any existing “widget,” HTML objects, or

even your own text or pictures

Many websites allow anyone to “embed” their content as “widgets” in these types of platforms

Students can ‘showcase” their work in their pages

You can also add an RSS feed from any publication to

appear in your portal. In this case, I have added the

RSS feed from the Spanish newspaper

El País, “from its most sent news”. You can choose to view just headlines or snippets (like in this case) of up to

four pieces of news.

Or you can create your own “gadgets” or “widgets” with Google Docs, Spreadsheets

(insert gadget function)

STUDENTS’ COMMENTS ABOUT NING

41 students in three different courses participated in this survey about NING

The ability to post multimedia elements was what they liked the most. The Forums were the most disliked assignement

Here are their specific comments about NING

Or , in other “wordles”:

Brainstorming activities

What kind of activities would you like to include in YOUR platform?Remember the following:

Simple works best (e.g. photo activity)Make it relevant to their livesMake it entertaining