Use Ning to build online communities and memorable learning experiences.  Ning is a free social networking platform that offers a wide array of features and capabilities.  Networks can be public or private, which gives facilitators greater control over the direction of their communities.

My recent experiences with Ning (as a learner) have been excellent!  (Work Literacy Web 2.0 for Learning Professionals, 25 Tools by Jane Hart, and Corporate Learning Trends and Innovations 2008)  I highly recommend that you experiment with Ning if you want to augment offline courses or if you want to build online learning workshops.

I was trying to explain Ning to a group of people today when I came across Michele Martin’s blog post “Course Community Building with Ning”.  She shares a presentation created by Dr. Alisa Cooper of South Mountain Community Colleges, which I have also embedded below.  Visit Dr. Cooper’s blog, The Maricopa Experience, to learn more about how she uses Ning in a learning environment (VoiceThread presentation).

This was timely information for me.  It helped me explain a very useful, free tool that more learning professionals should investigate.