Thing 22: Nings

Classroom 2.0's Ning includes access to monthly vidcasts that are broadcast first as free webinars. Steven Hargadon created the ning to "Welcome to Classroom20.com, the social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education" and even has a section to give additional help to those new to this effort. He seems to be encouraging others to learn and integrate all this digital stuff by using those same technologies to teach us. PBS KIDS producers and educators discussed Early Childhood Literacy: Resources & Strategies.

So much free quality inservice is available on the Internet through the webinars, blogs, nings, and online video sessions that I'm surprised my district has gone to immense work to have 2 days of upcoming face-to-face, self-selected workshops for all in the district. The district librarians will be attending a webinar on updates on our Canadian-based circulation program, so there will be some use made of 2.0 technologies.

In checking out the various Nings and postings by teachers and librarians, I can see how useful this is to add a "you are not alone" element to our lives. The most impressive site, and the most travelled from what I can tell, is Joyce Valenza's TeacherLibrarian Ning. Her tabs, Members, Photos, Videos, Forums, Events (let's you know about all the upcoming library and techie state/national conferences), Groups and Blogs, make every kind of social and information connection that could help in at work.

I don't think I would create a ning, but I might join one. My only hesitation is that I'm already a member of LM_Net, have an RSS feed from several blogs, and get a lot of professional reading and information from print and online journals and magazines. As wonderful as they are, do I really have time to add all the postings of a ning? We've only scratched the surface in this course concerning all the possibilities in the ether. But to keep from feeling overwhelmed and undercapable, I think I'll select a few to learn well. I think Nings will be in the second wave for me.