I am headed to South Africa for one month in August as a Senior Fulbright Specialist. I am conducting a series of workshops based on the theme "living together" when both South Africa and the US had anti-miscegenatin laws preventing living (or marrying) together among the races....to look at how both countries came to a reconciliation. I want to connect study groups from both countries in an interactive study group. I do have a ning based web site (www.globalvisits.com) that I am getting ready to shut down. AT one time we connected hundreds of university students between the US and Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan in such groups, using the technology based on this ning site. But I want to shut this site down and use another medium. The ning site has been inactive for some time and Global Visits did a good job fulfilling his purpose. We are moving on. How can I use existing technolgy to engage students in a discussion forum, exchange links and videos, download pictures. Would Facebook allow this? I am on facebook, but if I start a new page as administrator I understand I would be the only one to initiate discussion or download things. I am listening!! I really do want to shut down my ning site this week and would prefer not using it.
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I highly recommend MightyBell as a growing and collaborative way to create projects, share media, and interact in discussions. If you liked the stability and performance of Ning give MightyBell.com a chance.
thank you Rhoda. Sorry for the delay. I have been traveling and had to focus on that work. Now I can look more closely at MightyBell. Thanks!
Betty, you may want to explore ObWorld, an initiative by Yong Zhao at the University of Oregon. This is a platform designed to bring people together to build communities and to network etc. It is very versatile but you will need top open a discussion with the creators/organisers as to how you can use it to best meet your needs. Flat Classroom is using it this coming semester to build a community around our Eracism Project. Find out more.
Thank you Julie. I have been traveling overseas with my work and could not focus on this straight away. Now am back to planning this summer's project in South Africa. This will be helpful! Life is too busy. Betty
You can do a Facebook group or a Facebook page. You can have multiple administrators and the public can post. Facebook pages are more public.... meaning that you don't have to be a FB user to see this. Groups are more discussion groups.
I also really like Google+ communities. Very easy to create and maintain, plus you can integrate Google Hangouts into them.
LG
Thank you Lucy. I wil explore this. I have been overseas with my work was too focused on that to respond to this straight away. Life is too busy!