Chapter 7 The Internet and Databases

Objective 2: Explain how e-mail, discussion boards, and listserves are similar and yet different.


All three communicative tools are excellent resources for students to connect with other students outside of the classroom. Allowing students access to others across the world provides an avenue for broadening ideas outside of a textbook or singular presentation.
E-mail, the most used internet service, is a “ubiquitous communication tool.” (pg. 133) It allows the user to communicate ideas and information as quickly as it is being thought about. E-mail allows the user to not only forward text, but video, pictures, and sound as well.
Discussion boards or groups allow ideas to be posted to a central location that includes a subject heading, date, time, and author’s name or e-mail. Instead of communicating about a specified topic via e-mail, a discussion board can allow a group of people to focus on a topic and have all of the information stored in one location.
List Servers are one of the earliest and most productive means of communication using the internet. Unlike discussion boards, list serves are not typically public and for everyone to view. The user must subscribe to the list serve in order to receive the information. List serves can help teachers communicate exclusively with other teachers or even students.
My question is: What is the proper way to encourage students to communicate freely and intelligently, but curb inappropriate dialogues?

Already I am excited to use e-mail, discussion boards, and list serves in my classroom in the ways I previously discussed. I am completely amazed with how the internet can enhance student learning. When I was in school the internet was never used in the classroom. In fact the internet was still too new and teachers were uncertain of how to integrate it. My favorite internet resources to use are webquests. It is still a new tool to me, but I think that it can be a great interactive tool for my students to use in the classroom.