Describes briefly e-mail and listservs. Discusses the promise and perils of e-mail for teacher-student electronic communication, and shows how listservs can provide solutions for e-mail problems involving communicating with large groups of students. (SR)

Educators need to better understand how Internet discussion boards can be used in their classrooms. The process of trying to learn more about potential efficacy of a merger of two potent education tools (Learning or Literature Circles and online discussion boards) is currently underway. A large research study has been designed to examine the…

Examines one online forum conventionally defined as open, the discussion list TECHWR-L, and considers some positionings and restrictions that both validate and invalidate participants' conversational topics. Considers the question of democracy as it relates to electronic conversations. Suggests that a wide range of discursive conditions, not just…

Explores the ways in which mailing list technology help constitute the specific community of the Writing Center. Attempts to contribute to the practical and theoretical needs of writing centers. Concludes that understanding how these virtual spaces function as a significant part of the rhetorical context of writing centers will provide insight…

Analysis of the difference between male-centered and female-centered electronic discourse communities identifies patterns which may exclude or privilege individual females. This paper characterizes female-centered electronic dialogue through studying the roles of Sarah and Rachel, women in two separate sections of first-year English who became the…

A study of registered nurses participating in an Internet-based cardiac education program included analysis of online discussion forums. Comments about evidence-based theory and discipline-specific wiring indicated that the environment facilitated online scholarly discourse. Interactions provided moral, technical, and academic support to…

Outlines the importance of having a forum for extended conversations about ideas and methods that work and do not work in teaching economics. States that a discussion listserv was established in 1993 afford opportunities for collaboration on projects, papers, and discussion. Describes the list's archival function for previous discussions. (JEH)

The study of discourse genres as social action has steadily displaced more traditional views of genre, proposing the organic and ecological model that any consistent pattern of response to a recurrent rhetorical situation might constitute a genre. Observation of the life cycles of genres as transient social events can occur in a classroom using…

Articulates how the term "community" has been used to identify, describe, and construct online contexts and groups--online communities. Discusses how one particular online discussion group, SpreadNet, attempts to socially construct and negotiate the meaning of the term and how such negotiation influences the (inter)actions, values, and social…

A student's participation on two listserves added new depth and new complexities to her overall learning process. The listserves (one just for her composition class at California State University San Bernardino and one that linked her class to two other composition classes at distant universities) created a community of people who had access to a…

Reports on a study of 14 master's degree students' online communication patterns when their classroom environment had been expanded electronically through a public listserv for classroom interaction and private e-mail on the Internet. Student attitudes and reactions are described, based on results of questionnaires. (Author/LRW)

While most faculty and graduate students have opportunities to meet and begin networking at local, regional, and national meetings and symposia, the same opportunities do not exist for most undergraduates. At least four needs of undergraduates might be served by developing dedicated listservers and encouraging students to begin using…

At Valdosta State University (Georgia), a philosophy course, "A Virtual Classroom: The Electronic Agora," was developed and conducted entirely through computer media. Twenty-one students were in the class. The two main activities, addressing the central objectives of a philosophy course, were: (1) research, and (2) class discussion and…

Online discussions and transcriptions of face-to-face discussions by graduate students (14 online, 14 on campus) were analyzed. Technical support was not available 24 hours a day to online students who were predominantly women. Online discussions were more student-to-student, classroom discussions student-to-teacher. The analysis suggests how…

Provides annotated listing and subscription procedures for four Listserv discussion groups focusing on outdoor, adventure, or experiential education: "AEELIST" is set up for anyone involved in experiential education; "Australian Outdoor Ed" focuses on current research and teaching interests; "Wildornt" facilitates…