Cal Pryluck wrote:
 
>When I was asked to once again teach the course it occurred to me that
>e-mail might be a useful adjunct to the way I had been teaching the
>course.
>
>My thought is to set-up a private listserv group whose members are students
>in this course.  Technically and administratively this is possible on
>my campus.  Now What??
>
>In the olden days I urged/required students to read VARIETY with mixed
>results.  There was no clear mechanism to enforce this requirement.
>Perhaps now I can ask students to post something they found interesting
>from a current issue of VARIETY.  This in addition to the usual discussion
>group chit-chat, flaming, etc. however that develops.
>
>Can anyone offer wisdom, cautions, encouragment?  Better ideas?  Or shall
>I just forget the whole thing?
>
>Cal Pryluck, Radio-Television-Film, Temple University, Philadelphia
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        For the first time this semester I'm having students in my radio
Production class use their computer account (which they've paid for anyway!)
and start off with Email. This forces them to open their account, use their
password, etc. then get comfortable with an editor. I require within the first
week that they send ME an email message.
        There are on line "magazines" and services that they'll read.
Their reaction has been: "What does all this mean" (some students want to
be spoon fed). Another student said: "This has a bunch of questions and
no answers..." (I told him it was up to HIM to come up with the answers).
        Why not have your students subscribe to THIS listserv? (I'm
assuming this is a film related class). After they've looked over our
shoulder for awhile, encourage someone to come up with a good question
and submit it to the list...then watch the sparks fly. That's the
essence of learning and encouraging independent thinking (it's a wierd
concept in academia...but we hope it catches on!).
        There are MANY other ways students can learn to integrate
computers with course work, especially in a more creative vein, but this
might be a start.
        Good luck!
 
 
Dave Spiceland                                 Appalachian State University
Communication Department                 Boone, North Carolina  28607  (USA)
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