--- TIC-TECH message:
Tic-Techers,
Am forwarding this particular edition because it has a real nice piece on
listservs and newsgroups. Please pass on to building staff who you think
might be interested. Thanks - Mark
Mark Ahlness
mahlness@cks.ssd.k12.wa.us
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 21:58:04 -0600
From: OnlineClass <tbt@onlineclass.com>
To: tbt@onlineclass.com
Subject: OnlineClass Februrary Newsletter
NEWSLETTER FROM ONLINECLASS(TM)
________________________________________________________________________
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
http://www.onlineclass.com
tbt@onlineclass.com
February, 2001
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Contents:
How can listservs serve you?
Online Update
Technology News
Letters to the Editor
______________________________________________________________________
***** How can listservs serve you? *****
If you've never used a listserv, you may wonder whether they're
useful to the working educator. If you have used a listserv, you may
wonder how anybody ever manages to keep up!
Even before the World Wide Web was developed and educators spent all
their spare time browsing glossy picture-filled Web sites, many
teachers were online communicating with their peers. Although there
has been an evolution in the technology and the players, listservs
and newsgroups remain a valuable way for educators to share
information and identify resources.
There are several kinds of lists you can access with your Internet account.
Newsgroups
Newsgroups are public e-mail-based discussion forums that you can
access via your service provider. They are e-mail, but your server
will download current messages to a special place on your browser.
Look on your browser for news and/or newsgroups. Check the lists they
service. Then sign up for the groups that sound of most interest.
Your browser should then store the address and download new messages
whenever you ask.
Newsgroups were very popular when the Web first came on the scene.
They have become less focussed as more and more of them have been
developed, and as people find alternative ways of communicating
online. Because they are completely public and unmoderated, these
newsgroups tend to reflect a wide variety of opinions and interests,
even when there is a given topic. You will find some people opining
on the politics of education, announcements for collaborative
projects, questions about teaching, even advertisements. Lest you get
overwhelmed, only the message titles appear on your browser, so you
need only click on those that interest you.
There are MANY different newsgroups for educators. Some of the most
active include k12.chat.teacher, and misc.education. Other more
targeted newsgroups include k12.ed.tech,
alt.teachers.lesson-planning, misc.education.home-school.misc.
The best way to find the newsgroup most useful to you is to check out
the Web site Liszt <http://www.liszt.com/>
----Listservs
The word "listserv" is to e-mail discussion groups what the name "Kleenex" is to tissues. Listserv is a trademarked computer program that manages e-mail discussion. However, most people call all e-mail discussion groups listservs, no matter what program generates the e-mail.
Most listservs are public, but they are open only to people who have signed up to the list and have agreed to follow the established rules of the group. Now that many people get their e-mail on their browsers, the distinction between a listserv and a newsgroup may not be as clear as it used to be. The bottom line is that you must sign up for a listserv in order to participate.
There are many kinds of educational listservs:
- those that are moderated and two way (i.e., you can post your own comments through a moderator)
- those that are moderated and one-way (i.e., you receive announcements and information from an organization)
- those that are unmoderated, (i.e., all participant comments are cycled through the group as they arrive).
Back in the old pioneer days of education on the Internet, there was one listserv - Kidsphere - that dominated the medium. You could meet just about every Internet-savy teacher on that list, and lots of long-lasting relationships were built on it. When Kidsphere died, other lists developed that were more specific to various interests and groups. This was helpful in managing the huge growth of interested participants and their varying needs, but it has definitely splintered the educational community into little pockets around the Internet. Some of us miss the good old days.
Listservs answer several needs - they keep educators informed and help them share specific resources and teaching ideas. They also create a "community" of teachers who can share everything from discipline problems, to field trip ideas, to job openings, to peer counseling.
Choosing which listserv to monitor can be difficult. You want to be sure that you subscribe to ones that will be most relevant to your interests and needs; that will be active enough to keep useful information flowing; and not so active that you are completely overwhelmed.
You can usually choose whether you want to receive each message individually or whether you want to receive a digest that contains all of the day's messages. There are advantages and disadvantages to each option.
When you sign up for a listserv, you will receive instructions on how to send messages, how to unsubscribe when you don't need it anymore; how to stop messages when you go on vacation; what kind of messages are "on topic" and which are unwelcome. SAVE this document for future use. And remember, you need to sign up for the listservs before you'll be allowed to post a message. However, many of these listservs store message archives on their Web sites, so even if you don't subscribe, you can scroll through and read the conversation.
Some of our favorite listservs are these:
Teacher-2-Teacher - moderated by Teachnet, this listserv is a very active discussion among teachers who are looking for useful activities and classroom ideas. It's active, concrete and well-moderated so that it doesn't stray off-topic. You can sign up at http://www.teachnet.coms
Blue Webn' - this weekly one-way announcement sheet from Pacbell highlights good educational Web sites. Each e-mail is limited to just a few sites and includes good evaluation. You can sign up at http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/
LM-Net - this is a listserv for media specialists. It is one of the most active we know. Librarians are at the front lines in finding Web resources, and they are very eager to share what they've found. This is a good list if you like to ask questions. You'll usually get a response. You can sign up at http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/.
NET-HAPPENINGS is an excellent way to learn about new Web sites of interest to educators, but beware! Even with only one digest per day, you can quickly be overwhelmed. The daily digest includes snips from a variety of other sources and does not evaluate any of the Web sites it recommends. You have to sort through a lot, but there's usually something of interest. Net-Happenings has been around a long time, but it's recently been acquired by Classroom Connect. You can "subscribe" at the address <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.CLASSROOM.COM>
Middle L <listadmn@ERICPS.CRC.UIUC.EDU>, a two-way listserv for the middle school teacher. It's smaller than some of the others, but the conversation is helpful and intelligent. Send a message saying "subscribe Middle L."
EdTech is a discussion group that focuses on the technology side of online education and communication. This is a list that can be especially useful to administrators and technology coordinators. You can sign up for this listserv at <http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~edweb/>
WWWEDU is a listserv for the serious academic and/or educational Web developer. Discussion is lively, and focuses primarily on how the Internet is used in education and on theory and development. "Subscribe" at the address <listserv@lists.lightspan.com>
Many of the new education portals have their own news and discussion groups. Check out your favorite sites and look for the discussions. See which ones are most lively and useful.
----
Private Discussion Groups
Many services like OnlineClass create private discussion groups that are only open to registered participants. Some of these are e-mail based, some are Web-based "threaded" discussions. Some are free; others are part of a fee-based service. They are designed to provide the information necessary for you to use their service or product.
---
What's best for you?
Deciding to use a listserv or newsgroup depends on how much you need to keep up with the latest technology information, how much you like to "talk" to and tap your colleagues for new ideas. Newsgroups work well for those who like to "lurk" because you "go" to the information when you feel like it, rather than having it all "come" to you. In other words, your e-mail box will not be deluged with messages if you use a newsgroup. However, if you are looking for specific information or focused discussion, listservs tend to be more helpful.
The best advice we can give is to put your toes into the water before you dive. Pick one that sounds of interest. Give it a little time to see whether it's useful. Try asking a question and see how much response you get.
If you find a list that you like, share it here in a letter to the editor.
______________________________________________________________________ ***** Online Update *****
We've had good response to our new Surfing Shorts(sm) offerings. <http://www.onlineclass.com/shorts> and for that, we are delighted.
Surfing Shorts are single activities that focus on student Web research. Each "short" provides teacher instructions, student instructions and a list of Web sites to support the activity. These are not fill-in-the-blank Web quests. They are short research projects that allow the teacher to fold a meaningful activity into an established curriculum.
We've been getting lots of requests for a list of existing Surfing Shorts, so here it is:
All About Latitude and Longitude All That Jazz The American Civil Rights Movement Comparing Ancient Mythologies Discovering North America The Great Depression The History of Flight The Laura Ingalls Wilder Scrapbook Mapping Native American Cultures Metamorphosis Our Bodies Paris? Oui! Tectonic Plates A Trip to Gettysburg Understanding Food Webs What is the "Greenhouse Effect?" Who Was William Shakespeare? Writing Haiku
Free on the Web site, you'll find " Age of the Dinosaurs," a sample of what you can expect with all of the offerings. Feel print to print it our and use it in your classroom.
Coming in February will be Surfing Shorts on the topics of Egypt's Pyramids, the Roman Empire, Life in the Ocean, and more. We are anxious to get your suggestions. Write to us with what you'd like to see.
REMINDER: For the month of February, we are continuing our 2-for-1 deal. Buy one Surfing Short and get the second one free...total cost? $12.95! When you think of the hours it would take you to find Web sites on any of these topics, you can see the savings!
---
We have lots of activity going on in our moderated collaborative projects as well. Many new schools joined us in January and there's lots of enthusiasm and activity. We hope you'll take the time to visit our Web site to take a tour of the students' work. <http://www.onlineclass.com>.
You can join any of these projects at any time.
If you've got the winter blahs, sign up for a collaborative project and see your classroom come alive! Or sign up now to launch one in the spring when you need something special. Many of our projects include outdoor activities (counting bugs gets hard under the snow), so they work well as a celebration of spring and an end-of-the-year project. Allow six to ten weeks to enjoy the collaborative experience.
You can review the projects available at <http://www.onlineclass.com/general/schedule.html>
______________________________________________________________________ ***** Technology News *****
Case in point: Here is an example of the kind of information that passes among the educational listservs like those above.
This item came to us via the listserv K12ADMIN@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU, which pulled the article from the Benton listserv, which got it from EdTech. The original article came from the San Jose Mercury News.
TEACHERS STRIVE TO SHOW WHAT ADDING TECHNOLOGY TO CLASSROOMS CAN MEAN
The national debate surrounding technology in the classroom has shifted from whether computers belong in schools, to how they should be used. According to some studies, the computer-drill programs that many schools continue to use to teach reading and math actually hurt test scores.
When used more creatively, however, proponents say, computers can spur projects that teach students teamwork, problem-solving and critical thinking. Unfortunately, such programs are rare. The U.S. Department of Education has recognized only a handful of efforts nationwide as the right way to use technology in the classroom of the future. Part of the problem stems from that lack of money or time for teacher training. Additionally, more than 80 percent of technology money is spent on software and machines. As a result, most educators continue to teach the computer to children, rather than using the computer to teach.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Katherine Corcoran] (http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/front/docs/school112800.htm)
______________________________________________________________________ ***** Letters to the Editors *****
I love the concept of shorter term lessons and lower prices. Last year I used Mythos: Zeus Speaks with some really great fourth graders at a different school. We all loved it. I will not be able to do this at my new school (at least this year) for various reasons and have struggled to come up with shorter lessons with good information and practice on the Internet.
I am finding it difficult to determine for which grade levels the short lessons are planned. I see many that are interesting. I would like a grade level listed, or see tiers within the lesson plan for higher and lower grade levels (or higher and lower ability within grade level).
Thanks.
Diana Grabo 4th grade teacher Frost Elementary
FROM THE EDITOR: Thanks to Diana's suggestion, we have added recommended grade levels to the listing of available Surfing Shorts. However, remember that since these single activities focus on the use of a variety of Web sites, the activity itself can easily be adjusted to a variety of age groups.
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We love to hear from you on issues related to online teaching and learning. Please write to us at <tbt@onlineclass.com>. Put "letters to the editor" in the subject line. Thanks!
******************************** end ******************************* (c) TBT International, Inc., DBA OnlineClass. 935 McLean Ave, Ste 2, St. Paul, MN 55106. Tel: 651-771-3809 or 800-822-3809 E-mail: <tbt@onlineclass.com>
NOTE: to unsubscribe from the OnlineClass newsletter, simply send us a "reply" to this e-mail with "remove" in the subject line.
Please accept our apologies if you are receiving more than one copy. Send us a note and we'll try to find the duplication on our various program and request lists.
Note that on a few occasions, we receive remove requests from folks who write to us under an address different from the one they want removed. This makes it difficult to help, especially if we get bounced from the current address. If you fit in this category, please accept our apologies for being unable to answer your request, and please help us by identifying the address you want deleted.
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