I've encountered difficulties with some students participating
on mailing lists and the like when they don't have computers. Granted
there are computer labs all over campus and students should take
advantage of this wonderful free service offered to them. but
I have noticed that students who have 24 hour a day access to
computers tend to be the strongest participants in newsgroups
or mailing lists. Let's face it, its quite nice to be able
to sit down in front of our computers with a cup of coffee and
write away. We do need to bear in mind I think that
not all of us are on line. Then the question becomes: What happens
to those students in "traditional classroom settings" that don't yet
have access to these resources. How can we be sure we don't exclude
by finances, cause it very often the poorer students who don't have
computer access.
I think if we're going to shake things up in the manner you
suggest, and btw I love your ideas, we really need to tread carefully
and be sure that our students do not fall by the wayside because
they don't have access to technical stuff, and most importantly
that we don't unconsciously discriminate against those students
who can't afford to have this stuff. This one hits close to home
as I sit here writing on my mac classic, wishing I could
afford a better computer so I could have more than text access to
the www. And I'm one of the lucky ones, because even with
an almost obsolete system, I can still participate on this wonderful list.
Tricia Christensen