next decade, this 30 million will grow to 100 million. To meet this staggering demand, a major university needs to be created each week" (1996). 
"Our ancestors sailed across a vast ocean, one third of the earth's surface, and to accomplish this great feat they needed the vision to see islands over the horizon, the ability to plan intentional voyages of discovery, the discipline to train physically and mentally, the courage to take risks, and a deep sense of aloha to bind the crew together during the voyage. These are Hawaiian values but they are also universal values. They worked in the past and they will work today" (
instead of seeking radically new opportunities to develop school-as-it-can-be" (Seymour Papert and Gaston Caperton, in 
matter. What matters to me is the determined space and time where determined tasks are accomplished. Social historical and political tasks, not only individual ones. . . . The two main tasks of the school: to get the already known knowledge and to produce the knowledge not yet in existence" (In Seymour Papert's 
and to consider the action of others to give point and direction to his own, is equivalent to breaking down barriers of class, race, and national territory which kept men from perceiving the full import of their activity" (
The Educause Learning Initiative has published “7 things you should know about Ning.” A PDF version is available. Ning is one of the many social networking systems (SNS) to emerge and become popular in the past few years.
One factor that clearly seems to determine the popularity of specific social networks is the age group of the participating majority — for example, MySpace & Mixi are popular with teens, Facebook with college and university students, LinkedIn and Plaxo with working professionals, etc. Consequently, features available on these sites tend to appeal to the respective age groups.
My first impression of Ning is that it is a bit traditional (old fashioned?) in how it sets up discussions, individual pages, etc. Perhaps readers can comment on how Ning (or other social networks) differ significantly from discussion group implementations such as Yahoo and Google.
It seems that the added flexibility (extensibility) with Gadgets, for example, and the ability to integrate with other social networking systems is what distinguishes the new from the old.
Most importantly, how can social networks provide added benefits for use in teaching and learning beyond the more common discussion forums or bulletin boards?
Cheers,
-bert
[Dr. Bert Kimura
Professor, Osaka Gakuin University
Coordinator, TCC Worldwide Online Conference
Emeritus Professor, University of Hawai'i]
Comment: Bert, mahalo for the intriguing post. Good question re SNSs. As educators, we’re poised on the borders of this vast virtual territory and wondering if there’s really anything there that can help us do a better job. Do we invest our already severely strained budgets and resources in exploring this new world or do we continue to sit on the sidelines and wait for someone else to venture in and let the rest of us know if there’s pedagogical gold out there? If we do wait, will we actually comprehend what these trailblazers are saying when and if they do return?
My guess is that some are already venturing into this new land with their students and discovering its riches. But that’s the easy part. Far more difficult is convincing others that they ought to take the plunge, too. Perhaps they won’t need convincing when they see how successful the new emigrants are. Regardless, the new territory isn’t going anywhere. In fact, as we speak, it’s growing exponentially before our very eyes.
But I beg the question. How? How will we use SNSs to improve learning? It’s not rocket science. IF every student and instructor has a linkable, accessible “place” that she/he has claimed in the virtual world where no buildings are needed for housing, no roads are needed for commuting, and communication with one or all is instantaneous, 24/7, then a class is literally a network, a joining of individuals via their places in the virtual world. These “places” are blogs or other SNSs, and the active joining becomes the network or class. These SNSs and networks represent a quantum leap over webpages simply because anyone could learn to build them, access is free and easy, and communication with others and the entire world is literally mouse clicks away.
The irony is that these free-flowing networks of individuals via their virtual places are already functioning and being used by the vast majority of our students. The only participants who are missing in large numbers from this action are educators. So, pack up all our cares and woes, here we go, singing low, “Hello, networks!” -js
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Blogger Brian 狼布朗 said…
I use facebook because it is easy to set up groups and stay in contact with people over great distances.
Ning is different than a facebook. It allows people to create a niche social network.
Many of the groups are oddball like Diabetes People or Poodle Lovers or whatever. This is what makes magazine popular and successful. It is a way to create a sort of webzine/social network.
I use it as an ESL tool. I set up a site for my non-English speaking class. Young people who love the cyber world have an added reason to interact in another language. It is moderately effective. I believe that Ning is well suited for this because of the ability of individuals to create their own unique pages within network, closed or not closed. I would not say that it is dated. I think it is designed to create a niche social network.
March 20, 2009 3:49 AM