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I am going to relate the following questions to our Design Project for this course. We created a social network for teenagers to encourage discussion about bullying.

How intuitively easy to use is the technology by both students and teachers?

I think the project is very intuitive for students to use because it is designed similar to social media that they are familiar with. It links to accounts we created on facebook, twitter, flickr etc. so they can participate in our project by using their existing social media accounts. After reading Bates and Poole (2003), I was concerned about how complicated the site would be for teachers to manage. Teachers with social media experience should have no problem but otherwise the site could be intimidating. However, our site has a variety of tasks to choose from so that more advanced members are still engaged and inexperienced members are not overwhelmed. For example, the former might create a blog on our site and then link to a mind map that shows their definition of bullying. The latter might post a comment about a video embedded in our site. Bates and Poole (2003) say that if students and teachers are motivated enough, they will learn to use the technology. Perhaps, the students could take a leadership role and help the teachers learn the technology.

How reliable is the technology?

We used Ning.com to create our network. They claim to be the “world’s largest platform for creating social websites.” Ning was launched in 2005. Over 2 million Ning networks have been created since then. Therefore, it is a stable company that is not likely to go our of business in the near future.

How easy is it to maintain and upgrade the technology?

The technology is maintained for us since our site is hosted with Ning. We are able to upgrade our plan by paying a higher fee. Ning used to be free but recently started charging their clients a small fee for their sites. A downside to being hosted by Ning is that we will have to comply with any future price hikes if we want to maintain our network.

Do you have adequate technical and professional support, both in terms of the technology and with respect to the design of materials?

Ning has a FAQ page, help videos, and a support forum. In order to email a Ning representative directly, we’d need to upgrade our account. Other sites we’ve connected to like facebook, twitter, bubbl.us etc. provide adequate technical support as well.

Do any of the categories or questions provide you with insights concerning the implementation of educational technology in your local context (school district, university or private organization)?

My main concern with the implementation of a Ning network in my district is about privacy issues. We can moderate any photos, blog posts, and video that our members upload but we can’t control inappropriate content they see on twitter, flickr, or facebook. There is danger that students might leave the accounts we created on these sites and wander onto pages not condoned by their school. I’m not sure what types of school filters and/or rules are put on these sites across the schools in my district. We put a disclaimer on our site for teachers that they should send a permission letter home to parents describing the site and possibility of coming across undesirable content.

Bates and Poole. (2003) “A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology.”  In Effective Teaching with Technology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pages 75-105.

Ning Inc. (2010) Retrieved from: www.ning.com