Electronic Communities in Writing Instruction:
A Beginners Guide

Intro

Teachers

Students

History

Texts

Feedback for Your Course

Another advantage of a web bulletin board is that students will usually be very vocal if there is an assignment that they still have questions about, or if they have a topic or idea in mind and aren't sure if it's appropriate for the course. The bulletin board enables me to see where students are getting stuck, where I need to clarify something, or what they become enthusiastic about. In addition to being a place for students to have conversations with their peers, it is also a place for students and teacher to have a meta-class discussion. However, the technology alone does not always produce this result. How you model messaging behavior on the list and how you relate to students in class will affect their online behaviors.

Perhaps as a result of my teaching persona, my classes usually enjoy a high degree of openness. Students have never been afraid or hesitant to tell me what they like or dislike about class assignments and activities. I have discovered that this is very valuable in my endeavor to be a reflective teacher. By allowing student concerns to be a two-way or multi-way dialogue, it creates an open and flexible class environment.

Types of Forums (Listservs or Web Bulletin Boards?)