Thing # 23

I was very impressed with Classroom 2.0. I like the section where you can find more information by tool, subject, or area on the bottom right of the front page. There is some very interesting topics and discussions going on. I can certainly see the use for this site in education. I did in fact join the network, and I added the discussion forum page to my reader. This is a site that I can go to to find out how other people are incorporating Web 2.0 tools into the classroom, as well as troubleshoot problems with technology. Very useful indeed!

I also looked at Joyce Velenza's Teacher Librarian Ning and Bill Drew's Library 2.0 Ning. Both of these nings are designed for library related discussions. They both had several good discussions going on, so I will probably come back to them to see what is going on later.

Another one that I looked at was Middle School Science Teachers. I think this one could be a great forum; however, it looks like it doesn't have a very strong following yet. There are only 70 members, and the participation wasn't that outstanding.

Also, I wanted to look at the Great Books Group, but the link doesn't work and it wouldn't let me see a page. There were two others I tried to look at, International Collaboration - High school and university students worldwide collaborate and learn about each others' cultures and life styles and International Classroom - Social network created for classes around the world. Space where pupils can share, talk about themselves ,show pictures and videos etc,and get to know each other's culture, but they both said they were by invitation only and I don't know how to get myself invited :( These global outreach nings seemed like a fabulous way to teach our children about other cultures and allow them to develop tolerance and understanding of other people around the world.

All in all I like the format of the nings because the discussions are broken down into sections, and I can choose a section to open. Once opened, each comment is displayed. This makes it easier to choose what I want to focus on without having to read through everything or open individual comments. Yea for nings :)