Submitted by:
Ray Boehmer
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
University of Illinois
1310 S. 6th St.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
v: (217) 244-0537
f: (217) 244-7620
e: r-boehmer@uiuc.edu
Categories:
Education, K12; Education, higher; Research, academic
Keywords:
Innovative or improved ways of doing things; More equitable access to technology or electronic information; Creation of new ideas, products, or services; Leverage of public funding; Partnerships between public and private sector
Supporting Documentation (contact author for more information):
Other: electronic mail messages
The Story:
This story was collected as part of the “Teaching Teleapprenticeships” research project at the University of Illinois, sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
In the fall of 1992, we provided electronic mail accounts to 15 students in a non-majors biology course. Students chose a biology challenge from a list of topics that were obtained from several electronic sources such as TheNews. They then used electronic mail to research the topic and communicate with the originator of the challenge or question.
Five mathematics methods students received Macintosh Powerbook computers to use in their course. With e-mail accounts, they were able to communicate with each other and their methods instructor. The students maintained a journal of activities along with personal thoughts about their experiences.
They shared those writings on a regular basis with the instructor via the network. They also shared lesson plans, teaching ideas, problems they were having in their classrooms, as well as notes on presentations they attended at a professional mathematics meeting.