General Outline for the PAL Teacher Symposium presentation on Ning

Workshop objective: To expose WL Teachers to collaborative (Web 2.0) online resources and incorporate them into their practice as educators and as learners.


Outline for this mornings presentation

Intro-Social networking
By sitting here in this workshop, we are doing this right now, just old skool.
Is Facebook inherently evil? Yes, if you're a network tech. Let's think of this in terms of end use – the tools keep people connected and interacting. Why do we not approach this in terms of networks for learning and networks for friends? Why not have the teachings moments of what's appropriate in which situations?

I enjoy learning about new tools, but inevitably it becomes one more thing to do. One more web site to create. One more thing to remember to keep up. The beauty of Ning is that in terms of pd , it is usually already done & there's no need to reinvent the wheel. It's like having a personal assistant with thousands of contacts who can get you whatever you need (or didn't even know you needed.)

What's the deal with the web, then?
Overview of Ning – we'll use Steve Hargadon's Classroom 2.0 site

Uses as an educator:
-for developing own skills
classroom 2.0 http://www.classroom20.com/
EFL Classroom http://eflclassroom.ning.com/index.php
Apprendre 20 http://apprendre2point0.ning.com/
Web 2.0 in Higher Education http://web2inhe.ning.com/
Ning in Educatin http://education.ning.com/
Technology in Education http://edtechnology.ning.com/


-for developing students' skills:
Caveat – don't reinvent the wheel! Always remember to check if it's already done, and you can build on someone else's sweat equity. Remember the Network. Use the Network.
Interesting justification for using feeds: http://blog.classroom20.com/

Example of a private network http://www.ning.com/?view=search&term=espagnol

Wiki with links for social networks.
http://wiki.classroom20.com/Social+Networking


Hands on experimentation with site:
-create user accounts
-explore
-respectful request that you post an inspiration that hits you, or a question, or how you think you could use this tool in the comments to this blog post. Then check back for the answer!