Wednesday Live: Mightybell for Virtual Book Discussions and Monthly Gina Bianchini Q&A

Join me for our monthly live and interactive Q and A with Gina Bianchini, founder of Mightybell, Wednesday afternoon/evening (US Time). Gina will both share current developments with Mightybell and also ask for your feedback and suggestions as educators and learners. Following 30 minutes with Gina, I'll stay on for another 30 to talk about the use of Mightybell for virtual book clubs/discussion spaces--which Mightybell works really, really well for.

Regular disclaimer: I consult with Mightybell on their education outreach, as Gina has a personal commitment to having the broader education community benefit from her social software projects (many of you will recognize Gina as the co-founder of Ning). If you haven't "met" Gina before, you'll really enjoy her energy and her devotion to "social learning."

In a Mightybell "space," you can collect and curate a variety of types of content--one use of Mightybell is like a living textbook, where you can draw in articles, websites, video, and ideas, and are then able to have threaded discussions about each one, as well as a general conversation inside the space. Mightybell also can create beautiful online spaces designed for intimate communities--an event, a project, or a class. A terrific list of awesome uses for Mightybell collected by +Scott Ellis is here: http://www.vsellis.com/29-awesome-things-you-can-do-in-mightybell. I've been thinking lately that it might be really good for personal learning journals, and would love to know if anyone has tried this. A space can be public or private, allowing as much or as little outside interaction as you want.

Mightybell is also free, and because of its unique capabilities, it's started hitting a sweet spot for me where it's doing things I can't imagine doing in any other platform--especially, right now, with virtual book discussion spaces. I've created about a dozen of these (even more if you consider the spaces for FutureofEducation.com interviews), and you can see a partial list of them at Book Club 2.0 or in the Mightbell spaces linked below.

• Mightybell in Education for discussions specific to education, teaching, and learning;
• The new Education Showcase and Directory for you to list your education spaces or find others;
• The Mightybell hosts group (link) where you can ask general questions about hosting a Mightybell space;
• Running a Book Discussion in Mightybell - how to create spaces for class or virtual book clubs.

Hope you'll join us! If you can't make it, don't worry, there will be a recording (the link will be posted at http://www.stevehargadon.com afterwards).

Date: Wednesday, February 20th, 2013
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=M.C4415D8049A57DF74A3B77771411A0. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording:  A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2013-02-20.1642.M.86035557D2F8C8CA05E067C29AD0A7.vcr&sid=2008350.

Gina Bianchini