Electronic Discussion Boards Research Articles

Developing Collaborative Cyber Communities to Prepare Tomorrow's Teachers

Abstract: Computer‐mediated exchange and interaction have become topics of debate and discussion in the past several years due to the growing interest in synchronous and asynchronous communication and their role in language acquisition, learning, and teaching (Liu, Moore, Graham, & Lee, 2002). This article offers a model for a collaborative course on Technology in Foreign Language Education (TITLE) that is built around computer‐mediated discussion. The graduate seminar, designed and taught collaboratively at the University of South Carolina and the University of Florida, allows students to experience the benefits and challenges of virtual communication as they engage in discussions about the theoretical and practical interface of pedagogy and technology in language teaching. Course components, such as chat, e‐portfolios, multi‐user object oriented domains (MOOs), an electronic discussion board, and virtual guests are discussed and the outcomes of the seminar are highlighted in terms of student gains.

Technology Leadership Cadre

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of employing preservice teachers as leaders in technology to change teacher education curriculum, and to mentor and support inservice teachers, teacher education faculty and preservice teachers. We describe the evolution of the design of this program by comparing the first and fourth year, and examining the mutual benefits for 49 members of the Technology Leadership Cadre (TLC) and the people they influenced. Using design-based research, we used an iterative approach to revise the structure of the program based on data we collected and analyzed. This data included 121 postings from an electronic discussion board, 964 surveys, observations, interviews with four faculty consultants, and focus group interviews with members of the Technology Leadership Cadre. TLC members collaborated with faculty in changing the porfolio assessment process from paper to electronic. This change in turn prompted faculty to incorporate technology-based artifacts for students to incorporate in their e-portfolios. Most important, as TLC members taught others technology skills through workshops and mentoring, they developed leadership in technology and in the classroom through this mutually beneficial relationship.

Writing Autobiographies on Brown in the History Classroom

About fifteen years ago, I heard Anne Firor Scott, W.K. Boyd Professor Emerita at Duke University, recount an exercise that she assigned to incoming Duke students: “How did your hometown respond to the Brown decision?” Students were required to consult local newspapers and public records, to interview relatives, neighbors, teachers, and public officials, and to carry out other research to address this query. Intrigued by this investigation, I devised an autobiographical version of this writing assignment for students at my northern campus. For the past several years, I have launched sections of my African American History II course with a first-person version of Scott's inquiry: “How has race, and especially the Brown decision, affected your educational history?” It began as a first-day, in-class writing assignment, but the most recent iteration asks them to draw upon course readings and library research resources to illuminate their personal experiences of race and education, from elementary grades to present-day college years. Students submit their first drafts near the beginning of the semester, reflect on historical readings and class discussions, and then revise their autobiographies by the end of the course. Student postings on our electronic discussion board make their reflections more public than traditional writing assignments, sparking discussions about how our perspectives have been shaped by different experiences of race and education.

Enhancing Collaborative Learning: Discussion Boards and Chat Rooms as Project Communication Tools

Group projects are integral to the business curriculum and can be useful in devel oping students' skills and abilities as managers. However, fuculty encounter sev eral problerns with group projects, including assessing students' efforts, aiding good communication and coordination among members, and making sure the project is a truly collaborative effort. Technology may aid in addressing these problems; elec tronic discussion boards and chat rooms, for example, can help faculty and stu dents enhance collaboration and increase the accountability of group members.

Undergraduate Education Majors’ Discourse on an Electronic Mailing List

This article explores patterns of student discourse on an electronic mailing list in an undergraduate teacher education instructional technology course. All postings from distant, studio, and lab sections were placed in one of 18 categories derived from the postings’ content and then discussed in terms of distribution among the three groups. The postings are examined in terms of levels of cognitive engagement and the patterns among the levels, groups, and categories. Finally, the postings are discussed in terms of William Perry’s (1970) Model of Intellectual and Ethical Development. The article concludes with suggestions for ways instructors might use electronic mailing lists and discussion boards more effectively.

Religion on the Internet: Research Prospects and Promises

Introduction. The promised land or electronic chaos? Toward understanding religion on the internet (J.K. Hadden, D.E. Cowan). Internet Research: Studying Religion on the Web. Researching religion in cyberspace: issues and strategies from the sociology of the internet (L.L. Dawson). Religious ethnography on the world wide web (W.S. Bainbridge). Doing research and teaching with the American religion data archive: initial efforts to democratize access to data (R. Finke et al.). Religion, rhetoric and scholarship: managing vested interest in e-space (D.E. Cowan). Internet Faith: Religions in Cyberspace. Surfing Islam: ayatollahs, shayks and hajjs on the superhighway (G.R. Bunt). Toward understanding how religious organizations use the internet (S. Horsfall). Dispatches from the electronic frontier: explorations of mainline Protestant use of the internet (K. Bedell). Online-religion/religion-online: virtual communities (C. Helland). On-line ethnography of dipensationalist discourse: revealed versus negotiated truth (R.G. Howard). Webs of Deceit: Religious Propaganda on the Net. New religious movements and the internet: the new frontier of cult controversies (J.-F. Mayer). So many evil things: anticult terrorism via the internet (M. Introvigne). Internet Teaching: Pedagogy and the World Wide Web. Evolution of a religious web site devoted to tolerance (B.A. Robinson). Mapping a cyberlimen: a test case for the use of electronic discussion boards in religious studies classes (J.M. Robinson). A history of the religious movements homepage project at the University of Virginia (J.K. Hadden). List of contributors and contact information. Biographical information on the authors.

Electronic discussion boards (poster session)

No abstract available.