Robert I have been experimenting with the use of WebCT to facilitate out-of-class discussions among students who normally meet in the traditional face-to-face classroom setting. Generally, I post an assignment that requires them to think about statistical issues and send their comments to their classmates. In the assignment instructions, I include requirements, such as "make at least 2 meaningful contributions to the discussion by Thursday at noon, and at least one comment regarding something posted by one of your classmates by Friday at noon." For example, on one assignment I gave them a set of newspaper articles in which a (questionably correct) statitstical inference had been made. Then I asked them to comment as to why one might question the findings.
We use the Discussion facility within WebCT, rather than a bulletin board. The discussion facility allows me to divide the class into collaborative groups, and for me to monitor, intervene in, and record the discussions. Asynchronous discussions, such as these, allow for the students to give deeper thought to the matters at hand, compared to synchronous distance conversations or even a live classroom discussion. However, If you are running a course on a completely distance basis, I would recommend that you have a required meeting time when everyone should be communicating. In this case, the Chat facility in WebCT is appropriate. Rich Einsporn Robert Lundqvist wrote: > I will deliver a statistics course next year which almost will be a distance course >- the students are supposed to gather at four or five sites in the region. Most of >the time they won't have any local statistics teacher to support them, so the >intention is to make use of a course web (built in WebCT). > > I have ben thinking about how a bulletin board could be used. There are several >goals as I can see now: > > *Facilitate communication, especially around difficult parts in the course, both >between students and myself and among students. > > *Provide a social forum so as to make students perceive themselves as less isolated. > > So far, most of my attempts to use a bulletin board have not been succesful. So my >simple question is if there are any suggestions for and/or experiences (negative or >positive) from the use of such components? To what extent should I force the students >to use the bulletin board? How should I make them do so? Are there any particular >topics in a general basic statistics course where a bulletin board would be >especially wortwhile (or worth avoiding)? Hints, suggestions and experiences are most >welcome. > > Robert > ************* > Robert Lundqvist > Lulea University of Technology > Sweden > . > . > ================================================================= > Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the > problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: > . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . > ================================================================= -- Dr. Rich Einsporn Associate Professor, Dept. of Statistics The University of Akron [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://gozips.uakron.edu/~rle . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
