Re: Why don't you use electronic forums?

Beverly Hunter ( bhunter@bbn.com )
Wed, 17 Sep 1997 16:58:05 -0400

Brian Drayton asks a question below that we all think about from time to
time. Here is my answer.
Yes, I do participate in electronic forums. The ones I participate in have
the following characteriistics:
- They are of a predefined duration and purpose.
- The people in it make a commitment to that duration and purpose. (and at
least half of them keep their promise).
- I can use a password of my own choosing that I will not forget or
misplace. (once the password is gone, i'm out of there).

I participate in about six of these per year.

At 2:36 PM -0400 9/17/97, brian_drayton@TERC.EDU wrote:
> One fascinating thing that I have noted anecdotally is that many of
>the people who try to mount eletronic discussion groups in education don't
>actually use those forums themselves very much.
> This reminds me -- should it? -- of advocates of qualitative evaluation
>and assessment methods for the classroom, who nevertheless use the most
>hidebound -- and tried-and-true -- quantitative measures of their
>teachers' performance.
> The crucial question for me is, what niche should electronic forums fill
>for the professional, as opposed (for example) for the hobbyist (know of a
>couple of lively lists for teachers, too, so they are honorable
>exceptions). I make this contrast because there are lively, long-term
>conversations in many domains such as music (e.g. the Grateful Dead
>lists), literature (e.g. the Jane Austen list) and pets, but not many
>lively discussions involving teacher-enhancers or people trying to build
>electronic forums.
> What is your experience?
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________________________________________
>_
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Beverly Hunter
Manager, Learning Technology Systems
BBN Systems & Technologies
70 Fawcett Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 873-3468 voice
http://learning.bbn.com

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TEECH Electronic Discussion Forums in Professional Development

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