Using Listservs and Discussion Groups in the English Classroom

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Using Listservs and Discussion Groups in the English Classroom

Virtually everyone is on the Internet these days from my 85-year-old grandfather to my five-year-old nephew. We are checking our emails from long lost friends and next-door neighbors. As adults we are paying our bills, filing our taxes, and scheduling our appointments. But the phenomena is not exclusive to adults; teens are on there more than ever communicating with one another, shopping, and finding out information about endless topics in just a click of a few buttons. We are so technologically centered that it makes sense to transfer this pastime to school, right?

Online learning: the wave of the future? Many say yes as students from kindergarten to the graduate level continue to participate in communication via the Internet. They range from small projects to entire online courses and degree programs. In the college classroom, the Internet has taken on a sort of “replacement” role to the traditional classroom set up, while in the secondary classroom, teachers are finding ways to incorporate the Internet, namely listservs and discussion groups to supplement the time spent in the actual classroom. This insurgence of technology helps students to become familiar with the Internet and software programs, it gives the shy student a chance to shine where he/she may not normally have a chance, and it has allowed for more student-generated discussion.

Many of us already use Internet Chat rooms to discuss certain issues with people of similar interests. These rely on what is called real-time interaction or synchronous which means that all users are online at the same time discussing topics back and forth. Discussion groups or listservs are similar to this, ...

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...o, Regina F. and Alberto M. Bento. "Using the Web to extend and support classroom learning." College Student Journal 34.4 Dec. 2000: 603-8.

Burnett, Tim. "Running Your Own Listserv." Classroom Connect 7.4 Dec. 2000/Jan. 2001: 11.

Dutt-Doner, Karen M. and Susan M. Powers. "The use of electronic communication to develop alternative avenues for classroom discussion." Journal of Technology and Teacher Education 8.2 (2001): 153-72.

MacDonald, Lucy and David C. Caverly. "Expanding the online discussion." Journal of Developmental Education 25.2 Winter 2001: 38-9.

Robinson, Doug. "Listservs 101: What they are and how to make the best use of them." Feliciter 47.6 (2001): 292-3.

Tiene, C. Drew. "Online discussions: a survey of advantages and disadvantages compared to face-to-face discussions." Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia 9.4 (2000): 371-84.

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