[Winona Online Democracy] Greetings Everyone, I'm sure Randy will follow up with more details, but I wanted to let you know about Winona's first-ever online event that will take place over a two week period starting next week. The event will be a follow-up to Alfie Kohn's presentation this Thursday at 7:00 in Somsen Auditorium on the topic "The Schools Our Children Deserve". Mr. Kohn is a noted author on human behavior, education and social theory and has appeared on "Oprah," "Donahue," "Today" show, National Public Radio, the BBC, and more than 200 other TV and radio programs. He offers a very interesting and provocative view of education today (in particular standardized testing and related issues). The Online Event will provide an opportunity to explore, at a local level, some of the issues he presents. It will include: - A moderated email panel discussion with a panel consisting of local education policy-makers, educators, teachers, parents and community members. Randy Schenkat will moderate. (for a complete listing of panelists visit: http://www.winona.org/Panel_Members/panel_members.html). By signing up to participate as an audience member in the panel discussion, you will receive one "consolidated" email each day (so you don't have to worry about being inundated with mail) and you will have the opportunity to ask questions of the panel. - You will also have the opportunity to sign up for a limited, two-week long, unmoderated community-wide discussion of education issues with a List Manager helping to facilitate the discussion (thanks to Dwayne Voegeli for performing this role). This discussion will function much like Winona Online Democracy, but will be limited to the topic of education and the issues presented by Alfie Kohn and the Panel members -- as well as related issues brought up by other community members. - A participant pre-event comment page. When you register, you will be given the opportunity to offer a statement about education. These will be posted to a web page and will provide an overall indication of how the participants feel about education and what issues are important to them. - A web page with background issues about education (both local and national). The online event is co-sponsored by the Winona Council for Quality and Winona Online Democracy. If you have an interest in education, I encourage you to participate. This event represents a "next step" for Winona Online democracy and, hopefully, will provide a model that can be used to explore other issues in greater depth. For more information, visit the website that has been set up for the event at: www.winona.org. The speaking event Thursday at Somsen is free and the online event is free. No tickets are necessary for the Alfie Kohn's speech and you can register for the online event at: http://www.winona.org/Register/bnbform2.htm. Please let Randy ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) or myself ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) know if you have any questions comments. -Steve Kranz, Co-Chair -Winona Online Democracy ---------------- This message was posted to the Winona Online Democracy Project. Please visit http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org to subscribe or unsubscribe. Please sign all messages posted to this list with your actual name. Posting of commercial solicitations is not allowed on this list. Report problems to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
