Fireside Learning Ning

My Nomination for the 2010 Edublog Award -
Best educational use of a social network:
Fireside Learning Ning

This is not the usual Bestiaria Latina round-up, but those of you out there who are teachers might be interested! I wanted to take a few moments here to nominate Connie Weber's Fireside Learning Ning for an Edublog award ("Best educational use of a social network"). The Fireside Learning Ning is my main online "hang-out" for learning and thinking about education - and I find something there of value each and every day thanks to all of Connie's good work and the contributions by the many members of that Ning. At Connie's Fireside, I've met teachers (and parents and students, too!) who have a passion for education, but whose teaching and learning experiences are very different from my own - different subjects, different schools, different countries!

For those of you who are not familiar with Nings, they are kind of like Facebook, but for a specific community who come together for a shared purpose. You have a profile page at the Ning, you can share photos and videos with other members, there are discussion forums, you can blog, etc. I use a Ning for the online classes I teach, and it is one of the most important tools for making those online classes really successful. It was thanks to the Fireside Ning, in fact, that I really came to appreciate the power of Nings as a way to network and make friends with people online, exploring the real world and the virtual world together. The Fireside Learning Ning is a place for general discussions about education - some of you may also be familiar with the eClassics Ning (a great video repository!) and also with the all-Latin Schola Ning. As you can see, Nings are very flexible, and can be used for all kinds of purposes.

So, here is a big THANK YOU to Connie Weber for all the work she has done in making Fireside Learning Ning a big success over the past several years! Any of you who who would like to visit and/or join in at the Fireside, please feel free to do so: you would be most welcome!