On this page are the assignments for Thursday of Week Five. 

DEADLINES: You should have your assignments completed by Monday, June 21, at 7 p.m.

Newsgroups & Listservs

Newsgroups and listservs have emerged as important tools for Internet research.

They are places where people talk online, exchanging information, sometimes gossip. They are actually not good sources of news or information. But they are wonderful sources for people, stories, anecdotes and trends in particular subject areas.

For example, if you wanted to know about online news, one of the best places to find experts on the topic would be the online news listserv.

You should know how to tap into the power of newsgroups and listservs. You should understand the depth and variety of these "virtual communities."

For now, I would like you to get familiar with how newsgroups and listservs work. Please read this presentation:

5-Listservs

Then I would like you to go to the amazing collection of groups at Google. Go to Google and click on Groups. You will be amazed at the thousands of groups available. Learn how to search for a particular group and learn how to search within many groups.

Send me an email discussing what you found. How are newsgroups and listservs useful? Do you belong to any? How can they be useful for research?

2) EDUCATION AND THE INTERNET

I saved our final text readings until the end because they confront the very nature of our class: education and the Internet.

I would like you to think about your own education and the Internet. Certainly, you have used the Internet before this class. But how? Research? Staying in touch with friends via email and IM? Then, how about this class? What are the pros and cons of learning online? Flexibility of time? Learning at your own pace? What are drawbacks?

To help you with your thinking, I would like you to read "Darwin Goes to College" by Lehigh's own President Gregory Farrington and Provost Ron Yoshida. They have helped Lehigh establish a real presence in online education

The link is to an Adobe PDF file. Some of you at home computers, especially in other countries, may not be able to read PDF files. I will place a copy here but it also is a PDF file.

If the article proves impossible to open for you, please read instead "Face to Face vs. Cyberspace," a good article that deals with similar issues.

You have more experience on this issue than most people: You've used the Internet for education!

I want you to send me an email message that responds to whatever reading you did. Did the article capture your own experience with education and the Internet?

3) Once you read and have thought about these issues, please go to our online discussion area at http://bb.lehigh.edu and talk about them. Share with your classmates: How was learning online? Can the Internet improve education? How will it change places like Lehigh?

If you have any questions, just email me at jack.lule@lehigh.edu.

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