Using electronic mail to manage the implementation of educational innovations

Abstract

In this paper, I wish to argue that the use of electronic mail is not limited to setting up opportunities for ESL students to find pen-pals to practise their English, etc: it represents an important new resource for managing the implementation of educational innovations. I will therefore report on how, in my capacity as director of the ESL courses at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), I have used electronic mail to promote communication about curricular developments in these courses by setting up an electronic list, to which all ESL TAs and supervisors subscribe. More specifically, e-mail is not only an innovation in its own right, it is a potentially very important management tool for promoting educational change.