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MENTOR REPORT: ELECTRONIC DISCUSSION

Mentor Report During the fall of 1997, I served as a mentor for several faculty members who were interested in using electronic discussion in their courses. In the summer of 1997, I held a mini-workshop in which faculty members were introduced to the procedure for setting up an electronic discussion list, viewed examples of syllabi on the Internet for courses that used electronic discussion, had an opportunity to practice using Eudora filters and mailboxes, and discussed pedagogical goals and practical issues regarding use of electronic discussion. As aresult of this mini-workshop, I created a step-by-step guide to setting up filters in Eudora that I distributed to faculty who attended the workshop and to others who expressed interest. In the fall of 1997, I arranged a lunch meeting at which faculty were encouraged to check in and discuss with others their use of electronic discussion lists. As a result of that meeting, I prepared an assessment form for use in determining student response to electronic discussion. I sent this form to faculty on the techprojects listserve via e-mail. Throughout the semester, I had an opportunity to serve as something of a clearinghouse for information about use of electronic discussion, and I think that such a clearinghouse is a good idea. For example, I passed along to faculty information about the url for a website on use of electronic discussion, and late in the semester, I received some tips about managing the workload generated by electronic discussion that I passed along to some faculty members. I am convinced that we have on this campus a considerable number of faculty members who have experience using electronic discussion in their courses in various ways, and I would like to see us collect tips and other information from these faculty members in a systematic way. Such data, if collected through a survey or some other instrument, could be disseminated as a webpage available through the Wheaton homepage. Here is a copy of the assessment form I used a few weeks ago in one of my courses. Midterm Assessment: Electronic Discussion 1. Did you post a response to the in-class debate on Hamilton and Jefferson to the electronic dicusssion list NewNation? Yes No 2. Did you read your classmates' responses to the in-class debate on Hamilton and Jefferson? Yes No 3. Have you posted a study question response to the electronic discussion list NewNation? Yes No 4. Do you read your classmates' responses to study questions? Yes No 5. Did you use responses posted on the electronic discussion list NewNation to study for the midterm exam? Yes No Rate the following on a scale from 1 to 7, with 1 meaning "not at all useful" and 7 meaning "very useful." Not at all useful Very useful E-mail responses to in-class debate on Hamilton and Jefferson: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 E-mail responses to study questions: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The electronic discusson list NewNation: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Are there particular things you like about the electronic discussion list NewNation? Are there things about the electronic discussion list NewNation that you would like to see changed?

Last updated on 12/1/00;
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