Orientation Week: Ning Introduction Post

For this assignment, you will adjust your Ning settings, create your Ning Profile Page, and then create a post in your Ning blog introducing yourself to the class. This is like the kind of introduction you would make in a regular class - so you might want write about your major, the courses you are taking now, your family, hobbies, pets... whatever! Here's a Sample Assignment - it's my introduction blog post for this semester.

Returning Students: Please create a new Introduction blog post for this semester!

For those of you who are using the Ning for the first time this semester, before you create your blog post, you need to check your Ning settings, so make sure you do each part of this assignment, starting with Part One.

PART ONE: Ning Settings. After you have entered the Ning, you can adjust your Settings. Please follow these instructions for Adjusting Your Ning Settings. Most importantly, you need to make sure your name displays correctly and you can also choose from the different email notification options.

PART TWO: Create your MyPage profile. To get to your page, just click on the My Page tab on the Ning homepage, which is the part of the main navigation menu starting on the left hand side of the page. Make sure you meet the following minimum requirements:

• Photo. Upload either a photo or an image to use as your avatar. It's completely up to you if you want to use a personal photo as your avatar, or if you prefer to use some other image or picture. (I decided to use a cartoon for my profile photo this semester, for example.)
• Profile Questions. If you did not do so already, make sure you answer the questions listed in the profile.

PART THREE: Create your Ning Introduction Blog Post.

Type the text. As explained earlier, I strongly recommend you use GoogleDocs to type the text - NOT to format it, but just to type it, spellcheck it and do a word count. You can also choose to just type in Ning, or to use some other word processor; whatever choice you make, you need to be sure you do a spellcheck and a word count. For this Introduction blog post, for example, you should write something between 200 and 600 words long.  

STEP TWO: Create the post.  When you copy-and-paste into the Ning blog post box, it's a good idea to use the Paste Plain Text option and then MAKE SURE you type at least something - even just a period or a comma - to make sure Ning registers the text you have pasted in. Then you need to format the text, including at least one image (or video) and at least one link. Make sure you include Image Information for the source of each image. Finally, make sure you give your post a TITLE - and include the words "Week 1 Introduction" somewhere there in the title.

Every online text editor is a little bit different, so here are some specific tips for using the Ning text editor:

• Adding a Blog Post: This is a detailed description of how to add, preview and publish a Ning blog post.
• Formatting Blog Posts: This explains how to use bold, italics, etc. in a Ning post.
• Links in Posts: Follow these instructions to include a link in your blog post.
• Images in Blog Posts: Follow these instructions to include an image in your blog post - or you can include a video instead!
• Managing your Blog: These instructions explain how to manage your blog, so that you can edit previously published posts, etc.

So, if you run into any problems creating your Introduction post, check out those pages for additional help - and if you cannot find the answer to your question, just send me an email (laura-gibbs@ou.edu), and I'll get back to you promptly. Be as specific as possible in your email about just what your question is, and that way I should be able to find the right answer for you. (You might want to send me a screenshot of what you see on your screen, for example.)

When you are done with your Introduction post, you can fill out the Gradebook Declaration at Desire2Learn.