Connecting with Courses on FB, Ning and PB Works

This week the assignment was to connect and join our classmates mock classes on FB, Ning and PBWorks. First off I have to say we have some very talented and creative people. Her are my pros and cons. Facebook the class was not as easy to set up and customize as Ning, but it was very easy to send the invitations, to accept and to work with my group. The cons is that now I have access to many of their Walls and their personal contacts. As an educator that line between professional and personal needs to be carefully managed if FB is being used. Ning was very easy to set up and customize, and easy to send the invites. The con was every invitation I received from a classmate I had to complete two pages of login, password, dob, city etc. I kept thinking, I have an account, I have my own network -- please remember me, this is a a waste of time. Also with the Ning basic account, I was unable to view Groups on my Main Page. I know that I am connected to numerous groups but I have to go to each of them individually, or upgrade. Since Ning charges after the 30 day trial I really have to want to stay or cancel my account. PW Works was very easy to invite and accept. I like that all my wikis are on my Wiki Account Page and I can easily go to each one to view. The only downside to PB Wiki is that many of classmates did not turn off the notification by email when they make a change so my email is burning up with hundreds of edit notifications to their wikis. I really don't need that information. A good experience and took more time than I ever imagined to navigate, add, filter through all the emails and make comments on the sites. A great learning activity!