My Ning Fling

I searched and searched for a big active group on higher education, but couldn’t find one that suited my needs. I actually searched on medical education first, but had even less hits than higher education. I found blogs that discussed the use of Nings in higher education, but many were closed communities, such as a networking site for a particular course. One blog reported on a practice that I’m very interested in:  the way that a neighbor school, SUNY New Paltz, is using a Ning to bring together early admission students who will be attending the college in the fall. Multiple blog postings discuss the research that went into the decision and setup, initial demographic and use data, and potential future project expansion.  The Ning that I've added to my blogroll is similar, exept that it's open to current, accepted, and even interested students of Albright College.  It appears to be very active, with an effective use of blogs, fora, and a large number of users.  It may offer useful ideas as we consider a simlar networking site for our residents.  However, similar sites referenced in a Ning blog have links to public sites that either leave me uninspired, or look as if they have been taken over by unscrupulous marketers, leaving me to wonder about their effectiveness and potential complications.


This being said, our medical residents have indicated an interest in testing the capabilities of social networking sites for community building, especially prior to their arrival in Buffalo - with a large international group of colleagues who is largely unfamiliar with Buffalo and the American medical system in general. Developing a familiarity with the available options (beyond Facebook & MySpace) will definitely help me engage them in an informed conversation that will hopefully result in a decision that will benefit our unique audience.