Ning

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**WHAT:** Nings are online social networks which have many features and allow for many flexibilities. They are a social hub for groups to collaborate, post and share. Nings are social portals which include **PHOTOS, VIDEOS, BLOGS, PRIVATE CHAT ROOMS, EVENT POSTINGS** and **MORE!** **WHO:** **//Anyone//** can set-up a Ning! Students must be 13 or older to join a Ning. **WHERE:** **[|www.ning.com]** **WHY:** Nings are a perfect environment for student-student collaboration. Teachers can set them up as private, password protected networks which are only accessible by the students and teacher. Nings can fit the needs of any classroom collaboration unit. **EXAMPLES:**
 * English:** Literature discussions, author studies or writing lab! Use Ning for students to post photos of self-created book jackets, student-produced video book trailers or author posters. Have students use blog or chat to collaborate on projects while out of the classroom.
 * Math**: Set-up an album for each math unit. Have students upload images of formulas to post. Share YouTube videos which explain certain math terms. Use EVENTS to post homework assignments.
 * Social Studies**: Have each group of students create a page for a certain historical figure within a unit. Similar to Facebook, students can create a social network page for this person, complete with biography, photographs and documentaries. Use blog feature for the historical figure's diary.
 * Science:** Have students created a page for each periodical element. Include photographs and descriptions of each element and videos explaining their importance.
 * Foreign Language:** Have students create an informational portal on a particular foreign country. Included can by videos and images of the countries features. Students could use the blog to have conversations in the language of study.

Click here for Ning Tour [[image:playButton.gif width="114" height="31" link="http://slides.diigo.com/widget/slides?sid=22776"]]
For detailed content of what other ways teachers have used Nings with their students, take a tour of these Nings which were created by teachers for subjects across the curriculum and for various grade levels. Note that, for obvious reasons, some are password protected and, therefore, you may only view the main page. The last Nings on the tour were created for collaboration by educators.

Step-by-Step Instructions for setting up a Ning (created with Pages on a Mac):


Created by Mary Schwander