Learning Labyrinth

Thing 22 – Learn about Social Networking and explore the Classroom 2.0 and other education-related NING Networks

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I’ve been a member of a few social networking sites (MySpace/Facebook) for many years now but purely for the social fun of it. I also belong to Linkedin which is a professional networking for career growth and development. My first experience with a Professional Learning Community (PLC), which also marks my introduction to NING, was via the professional development program entitled Powerful Learning Practices (PLP). Sheryl Nausbaum-Beach set up a NING social network for the participants of the program to connect us with each other in the 20 participating private schools as well as with “expert voices” from across the world. It has been a great way to connect with people worldwide who are integrating technology and web 2.0 tools in the educational environment. NING communities, as well as other social networks, serve as a common place for members who share common interests and goals to exchange resources, host discussions, collaborate on projects and trade ideas.

I now belong to several NING social networks that focus on integrating technology in education, including:

Visit iPod Educators

Visit Classroom 2.0

Visit Ning in Education

Visit Laptop Learning Community

Visit IND-PLP

Visit Trinity 2.0

As a culminating project for the PLP program, I set up a virtual NING community for our school faculty and staff called “Trinity 2.0″. The Trinity PLP Team’s hope is that Trinity 2.0 will serve as a way to connect our community of educators and personnel together on a more personal and social level in the beginning. In order to lure the teachers into using the virtual PLC we have set up groups with social-sharing themes like “Recipe Exchange”, “For Sale” and “Restaurant Reviews”, as well as many more. After we have thoroughly “hooked” our teachers and staff into using the Trinity 2.0 network, we will begin to phase in professional development modules and cross-department collaboration groups. To begin this “phasing in” process I came up with the idea of having a group where teachers could share the various projects they are creating with their students using technology and web 2.0 tools. Another one of my teammates suggested calling this group “My Successes.”

I am keeping my fingers crossed that Trinity 2.0 catches on like wildfire at the beginning the next school year when we officially launch it to the faculty and staff of Trinity.

Thing 16 – Set shared goals using 43 Things

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Although I have heard talk about 43Things many times before, this was my first experience actually snooping around it. I say “snooping” because I felt like I was invading other people’s private thoughts and ideas by reading their personal diaries. I have to say I don’t think I would be comfortable publishing my goals, or in some cases my dreams and fantasies, on such a public domain. I am generally a very private person in RL in that I very rarely (if ever) discuss my true feelings, thoughts or ideas with others – even those closest to me – for fear of being not accepted or ridiculed. This all may sound absurd to some who think they know me and would immediately venture to say that I hold nothing back or that I sometimes share too much information. However, what they fail to see or realize is that everything that I haven’t held back or have divulged are not really my personal thoughts and feelings but rather facts or obvious realizations.

However, I do feel this site would be very useful and a wonderful tool for departments, teams and/or classrooms for tracking group goals.