Hi all – Good to see you here again!
Back in March I closed Lovely Living University over on the Ning network. We just weren’t getting any participation. Everybody was excited whenever I announced a new class, but nobody logged in. Yet there still seems to be interest. I decided to experiment with bringing class information to members where they are at – Facebook (for our age demographic!) to help interested people keep informed on class events, updates, etc.
This week I began working to rebuild Lovely Living University here on this blog. We’ll see if the combination format of the blog, hand-in-hand with Facebook groups, works better to encourage participation. The one thing I’m most worried about is that the closed, private Ning network fostered community in a way that I’m not sure Facebook groups will. That’s the real purpose behind Lovely Living University – community, making friends with similar reading tastes and interests. It’s really not supposed to be just all about the free online classes.
We’ll start up slowly – a couple book clubs are still in swing (A Year in Oz, The M.F.K. Fisher food history book club, and the Lovely Living University book club) and I’ll attempt to get Summer School up and running again.
Hoping our first class here on the new platform will be Media Studies 111: The Miracle Worker, about Helen Keller.
What do you think of the new blog format, and have you followed us on Facebook?
http://www.facebook.com/lovelylivinguniversity
-Carrie
