Sultan Qaboos University

College of Education
Learning & Instructional Technology Department
TECH4101: Distance Education & the Internet
Fall 2008

Social Networking
(Ning)

Done by:
Amal AL-Balushi (66755)
Hiba AL-Julandani (57549)
Sara AL-Zahili (63466)

Course instructor:
Dr Alaa Sadik, alaasadik@squ.edu.om
Definition of Social Networking:
Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups.
When it comes to online social networking, websites are commonly used.
Social networking sites are interactive websites designed to build online communities for
individuals who have something in common -an interest in a hobby, a topic, or an
organization- and a simple desire to communicate across physical boundaries with other
interested people. These sites are not unlike the old-fashioned “party line” telephones, but
they leave a more permanent record of the conversations.
So, social networking sites function as online communities.

Case studies/examples of Social Networking Sites:

 Ning (http://www.ning.com/)
 KickApps (http://www.kickapps.com/)
 CrodVine (http://www.crowdvine.com/home)
 GoingOn (http://www.goingon.com/)
 CollectiveX (http://www.collectivex.com/)
 Broadband Mechanics (http://www.broadbandmechanics.com/)
 Cerado (http://www.cerado.com/)
 ONESite (http://www.onesite.com/)

Objectives of using Social Networking (Ning) in DE:

The aim of using ning social networking in distance education is to foster sociality and
create online communities in which the learner learn through various tools such as e-mail,
chat, blog, discussion forum and others. The using of these tools enhances the learning and
helps the learner to share his information with other learners.

Features of Social Networking (Ning):

 Discussion Forum: Get people talking. People can use discussion forum to discuss
whatever topic they want and they can respond with posts, photos and attachments.
 Chat: it can be used for synchronous interaction where the people receive instant
messages.
 E-mail: this feature help you sending messages to the member in your social
networking and receiving messages from them as well.
  Add a video: people can share their videos with others. Through this link, people can
add some videos that can be seen by other people in the same social networking.
 Add photos: people can share their photos with others. Through this link, people can
add some photos that can be seen by other people in the same social networking.
 Add music: the members can add music through this link and share them with other
members in the social networking.
 Event Listings: This feature enables you to schedule events, invite network members,
and keep track of who’s attending.
 Invite People: this feature enable you to invite your friends and other people to be as
members in your social networking.
 Notes: it is like text feature, which lets ning managers to add text boxes that have
certain notes.
 Text Box: people can use this feature to add some texts.
 Blogs: people can write in it whatever topics they want and share their information with
others.
 Interest Groups: this option enables you to create groups inside your social network
according to hobbies, interests, affinities, geographical locations and more and let the
members to sign in any group they belong to or they are interested in.
 Member Profiles: Each member of your network has a fully customizable profile with
their photo, basic information and everything they’ve contributed to the network.

Advantages of Social Networking:

 It is free.
 Easy to use with it is attractive user interface design.
 Create a virtual identity (personality) for each user which allows instructors and
students to know each others better.
 Sharing files and resources (images, videos, text).
 Encourage interaction (instant messaging, chat ...etc).

Limitations of Social Networking:

 It gives you only ultimate storage capacity of 10 GB and monthly data transfer
bandwidth of 100 GB. The users should pay if they want more memory space.
  Because it is free social networking for any person, it contains some personal profiles
that contain topics like drugs, alcohol and others unethical topics.

How Social Networking is used to deliver and support Distance Education?

As the web can be used for different levels in education, also social networking can be
used in different levels:
 Stand-alone instruction: social networking can be used as stand alone media for
delivering distance educational courses. This can be by:
 Making social network for the course (private and public feature). Instructors
can create a private account in social networking for their course. By using this
account students must be invited to view the page. However, by using public
account any person can view the course and participate on it.
 Uploading the resources, materials and assignments of the course (video,
audio, graphics, text)
 Using the communication tools to interact with the students (chat, discussion,
instant messaging)
 Using other available tools to enrich the course (blog, interest group, list event).
 Web-supported instruction: Online social networking can be used to support
instruction. For example it can be used to:
 Design activity for the course. (Group or individual).
 Share resources.
 Encourage interaction.
 Web-pedagogical resources: Social networking can be used for sharing different types
of resources with students (video, audio, graphics, and text).

Some Consideration for using Ning or other social networking in education:

 Consider the cultural issues when sharing different files. Files that are shared should
be appropriate from the cultural view.
 Announce the students that all the information will be public and can be as results for
search engine .So, students and instructors should share correct and reliable
information.
 Copyright and privacy issues. Student should not share others files without permission.
  Announce students for other unsafe and unethical networks and personal profiles.

Concerns raised by researchers and distance students/tutors about Social

Networking:
Studies show that LMS are used by more than 70% of the colleges and universities in
order to provide “educational instruction, communication, and assessment” (Bradford,
Porciello, Balkon, & Backus, 2006) and it is estimated that there are more than 12 million
users using LMS technologies throughout the world for online learning. LMS technologies
allow students to access various course information including announcements, week-by-week
assignments, lectures, as well as various audio/visual materials. However, because of the
rapid changes in the technologies instructional designers, developers and instructors should
rethink about the appropriate technologies that can be used for delivering the instruction. The
new generations of people (digital native) have different view to the web. They view the web
as collaborative tools that used to share the information not only presenting and browsing the
information. They are not only viewing that, but they are interested in applying these views.
The studies show that teens use social networking as an extension of their personality, to
show their friends – and the world – who are they, what they care about, and to build
connections with other like minded people (Goodman, 2007). So, educators should familiarize
themselves with various social networking software technologies and to rethink about LMS
and social networking which is more appropriate for the digital native generation.

References:
 Hendrickson, M. (2007), Nine Ways to Build Your Own Social Network. Retrieved from
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/24/9-ways-to-build-your-own-social-network/
 Brown, K. (n.d.), What is Social Networking. Retrieved from
http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/
 Heather L. Carter, Teresa S. Foulger, Ann Dutton Ewbank (2008), Phi Delta Kappan,
Retrieved from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6952/is_/ai_n28526091
 Nancy S. Grant, On the Usage of Social Networking Software Technologies in
Distance Learning Education. Retrieved from
www.editlib.org/index.cfm/files/paper_27833.pdf?fuseaction=Reader.DownloadFullText
&paper_id=27833