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Ning is an online platform that allows people to create, design, and add applications to their own social network. Ning allows anyone to join and is especially great for anyone interested in bringing people together; such as a teacher. Ning allows you and your social network members to post, share, and comment. It also allows you to check and edit the content that your social network members post.
There are three different Ning plans that someone can purchase. Ning mini is $19.95 a year and is ideal for smaller groups. This plan allows you to have up to 150 members, 1GB of storage, and 10GB of Bandwidth. This plan allows its’ members to post blogs, pictures, and videos. Ning Plus with advanced features costs $199.95 a year. This plan allows for unlimited members, has 10GB of storage, and 100GB of bandwidth. Chat, blog, pictures, videos, and allows its’ users to integrate Face book and Twitter. The next plan Pro costs $499.95 a year and is built for a very large scale social network. This plan includes everything that Plus offers and even more.
2) After you have purchased your plan, create a title to your social network and URL. The key here is to play, play, and play! Ning allows you to add videos, photos, blogs, and even some applications that Ning supports.
3) Once you have figured out your social network page, add a profile picture and design your page layout. Have fun!
So, what’s so neat about Ning?
Privacy and Security
I recently signed up p for a Ning plan, which is free for the first 30 days. I created, as you can see above, my own Ning for my foreign language class. Ning allowed me to create my own URL to my site, upload my own profile picture, and design my own background theme. As I was playing around with Ning, I discovered that I have complete access to everything that is posted on my page. Anytime there is something posted on my page, I can read it and approve it to be visible to everyone in my social network. Also, I can, being the creator of my own social network, set my network to only people who I invite. As a teacher, I would invite all of my students to be members of my social network and monitor the content of what is posted. I would use Ning in my high school level Spanish classes that require writing, oral presentations, and analytical thinking. Teachers can also invite the students’ parents to become members. This allows the parents to view what is going on in this class and it also encourages parents to become involved in their children’s educational endeavors.
Blogs, videos, and Vokis
Blogs
Ning allows the teacher, creator, to post blogs on his/her page. Everyone in the social network can reply and add on to these posts. This means that foreign language teachers can incorporate technology into the class even at home! Teachers can create a blog, for example, that includes a question that prompts an open ended discussion. Students will be notified that the teacher has created a blog, via email, and will be able to sign on to Ning and take part in the classroom discussion. This allows the students to interact with their classmates at home and it also allows the teacher to assess the writing of the students. These blogs could also be used to notify students about upcoming assignments, exams, homework, etc. It would allow students to ask questions and communicate with the teacher in an efficient manner.
Blogs can also include photos and short videos of the presentations and projects created by the students throughout the semester. Teachers could post these videos and photos to update the parents on what is going on their students’ class.
Videos
Ning also allows the teacher to post videos on his/her page. These videos can be used to introduce the students to a new unit or chapter. Students could view these videos in the target language, view them as many times as they needed, and come to class prepared for what the new unit/chapter or lesson is about. This would cut down on the amount of time it takes to pull up a video and play it during class. This will allow the teacher to teach more information and allow students more time in the beginning of class to discuss what they interpreted and/or thought about the video. Also, this would allow the students to prepare themselves ahead of time and understand what they are going to be learning. Videos are a great way for a foreign language teacher to introduce students to the different cultures of the language. These students will be able to listen to many different accents in the target language and get an idea of how each country has different traditions, perspectives, practices, and products. For example, on my Ning page I posted a news clip from Spain about bullfighting and the controversy over bullfighting. I would have my students view this news clip at home and think about which stance they would take on this issue. I would explain that students must be ready to discuss their stance the next class.
A Voki is a free speaking avatar for anyone to use and is actually perfect for a foreign language teacher to learn about. Vokis allow teachers and students to record voice recordings from their own computer microphones and communicate. Students will enjoy being able to create and design their own Voki. They can choose from animals to anime and historical figures to cartoons. Students are allowed to choose which background they would like to use and they can even adjust the facial features of their avatar. These avatars enable students to use the built in microphones in laptops, regular microphones, and even their cell phones. Teachers can use these avatars to send students a message about an oral homework assignment or just to give students another means of receiving information. Voki avatars are also great for students because students don’t have to feel anxious or embarrassed to speak in front of classmates. The teacher will be the only person who hears the recordings. The teacher will also be able to gauge the oral proficiency of each student as the semester goes on!
The teacher would record his/her own voice in the avatar and post it in the blog section of his/her Ning page.
In my first Blog to my class, social network, I gave the students the URL to my Voki webpage. On my Voki webpage they can listen to my Voki and create one of their own to reply to my recording.
Blogs, Videos, and Vokis not only enhance the material that a foreign language teacher can use, but it will also benefit his/her students tremendously. For example, a student missed a class due to an illness, the teacher can post the homework on his/her blog or the teacher can record his/her voice explaining the homework using a Voki avatar. The teacher could also post videos of the content that was covered in class, the student would have to watch the video to complete the class assignments, and the student could use the Voki avatar to answer or discuss what he/she learned from the video.
Ning Applications
Ning also allows the creator to add some neat applications. For my page, I added the Box.net files application. This application allows me, the teacher to upload documents off of Microsoft Word, Excel, and/or PowerPoint. The students will be able to print off worksheets, missed assignments, rubrics, or anything that the teacher posts. Students are also able to use this application and could upload papers, worksheets, PowerPoint projects, etc. This could be used in a variety of very useful ways. Nowadays our email accounts are so full. Ning and the Box.net files application would allow the students and teachers to utilize their social network to keep class work organized and efficient. Students who know, in advance, they are going to miss a class will have the capability to upload their homework or assignments to their Ning on the day that it is due.
Teachers can also upload worksheets, videos, PowerPoint projects, and notes for a substitute teacher to use. Sometimes teachers wake up and realize they are too sick to go to school and a substitute has to come into the class. Most of the time substitutes do not have a class schedule or materials for the students to work on. The teacher could write a lesson plan for each class that day and post it on his/her Ning. The students could then log the substitute on to the Ning webpage and the substitute teacher could print off the notes, lesson plans, worksheets, and etc. that the teacher posted.
Ning and the Foreign Language Standards
COMMUNICATION Communicate in Languages Other Than English
Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions
Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics
Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
Ning is a place where students and teachers can communicate, communicate, and communicate! It allows student to obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions by posting Blogs. Students will also be able to understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics through the use of teacher posted videos, Voki, and documents uploaded using the application Box. Students will be able to present information, express feelings, and ideas to an audience of readers. Students will present, express, and give ideas verbally through the use of Voki and written through blogs, documents, and comments.
CULTURES Gain Knowledge and Understanding of Other Cultures
Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied
Standard 2.2: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied
Ning allows the students to explore the culture of the target language through the use of authentic videos, audio segments, and texts. The teacher can upload cultural information to the webpage and allow students, for expansion at home, to discover the relationships between the perspectives, practices, and products of the culture studied.
CONNECTIONS
Connect with Other Disciplines and Acquire Information
Standard 3.1: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language
Standard 3.2: Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language and its cultures
Using Ning in the classroom will allow students and teachers to reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the target language. For example, I would use Ning to further the technological knowledge of the students. Students would not only work on becoming more technologically savvy, but they would also be able to work on their writing, reading, and speaking about other disciplines such as history (discussing the history of the foreign language countries, math (understanding the currency systems of the target language countries), theater (discussing plays, viewing plays written in the target language), etc. Also, Ning would allow the students to acquire information and recognize the viewpoints that are only available through the study of the target language and its' cultures.
COMPARISONS Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and Culture
Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own
Standard 4.2: Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.
Teachers can create blogs that require the students to compare the nature of language through the comparisons of the language studied and their own. For example, I would have my students discuss the differences in the word order of English and Spanish. Students would blog about their findings and how the comparison of the two languages can aid their acquisition of the second or target language. Also students would be able to compare the concept of culture through the comparisons of the culture studied and their own through blogs or comments on a photo or video. I would show a video of an actual bullfight and have students compare that cultural concept with a similar American cultural concept.
COMMUNITIES Participate in Multilingual Communities at Home & Around the World
Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting
Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment
The teacher could contact a teacher from the target language country and create a student collaboration system. The students could use blogs, videos, Voki, and photos to share information with a pen pal from another country. This would allow students to use language within and beyond the school setting. This would also allow students to become lifelong learners of the target language. Students would be able to discuss anything they wanted with their pen pal. This would allow students to constantly learn new vocabulary and demonstrate their usage of the target language for personal enrichment and enjoyment.
Here is an interesting presentation about technology and education!
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