UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums General Suggestions and Feedback A Big New Feature Suggestion

I was trying to figure out why "full moderation" before the fact did not excite me.
The reason is I have mostly built member based sites and academic classrooms.
What would help us would be the following features for clarity i will describe it on a academic model.:
So imagine this-- I have some university wide open boards and then I want boards open only to members of certain classes or certain departments, or faculty collaborating on some research....

So this would require the following additions to WWWThreads Pro:

1. The ability for folks to sign up for membership in particular "classes"
(This would need to be done easily like by a class name or code that students would put into a web form)
2. As a teacher or administrator of a board, department or classroom...I would want to be able to get a list of students or members of THAT class or conference
and send private mail to all or to selected members.
3. I would want students to be able upload documents from in microsoftword and have students view them in html
(or at least have a feature where I can enter text documents (like syllabi) into
a web based form with Title and Subject and Date on top and have it displayed in html by a view documents pull down menu of something)
4. Same as 3 but would allow students to submit assignments this way--
5. 3 and 4 would optimally include options for the "class administrator or teacher" to make submitted documents public or private b(only viewable by TA's)
6. Teacher could in admin choose to allow or not allow student to edit their document.
7. It would be nice but not essential if who's online could also allow specification by "class" or message board" to encourage chat interactions among students or colleagues

Just my dream....
But if it happened I'd help sell it to universities (grin with fingers crossed)

Hi,

I'm working on an idea for a concept similar to the one you described in your post. Perhaps you'd like to discuss your ideas further?

Well, there are two conferencing systems worth a look at for such features...
MOTET (the KING of systems 9ahh that is till Scream develops HIS $500 system)
http://www.motet.com

and nicenet http://www.nicenet.org

The reason I like these systems better than stuff like Web X is that they create the sort of atmosphere that keeps students engaged between classes.
The academic web conferencing scene is a riot.
<RANT>
Administrators desperately want instructors to get on the web--
College Instructors are for the most part resistant--they think it will mean less contact tome with students and eventually their jobs.
So adminstrators listen to hackers (who are wonderful as far as knowing how to write programs and include neat features--but do not necessarily have much clue about how these would actually play out in classroom use)
What (we) college instructors should do is fight for input and make these things function to actually improve *inclass* education rather than let the geeks and administrators deliberately or unintentionall to dumb it down and take away jobs. </RANK>

I have found that when I use the conferences in the right way classes bond much more strongly, they come to office hours regularly (isn't that interesting it increases rather than decreases face to face contact) and learn more.

example: Students having trouble reading post their thoughts online BEFORE class.. I can intervene and help them learn how to read and have a good sense of where a lot of them are at when I go to the classroom.

Plus students post their web pages, chat with each other, quieter folks who would not talk in class become vociferous online...etc...

But it takes 1. a good tool
2. A real sense of dynamic classroom teaching
3. a sense of how to use the tool to draw students into the subject matter
4. making some funny posts on occassion:>

renee

ps what are you working on....I hope your not competing with OUR scream?!

Hi Renee,

I'm not competing, I'm researching. I'm also interested in the academic use of the web to enhance the learning experience. Do you use the web actively in addition to your classes, or as a replacement?

It's interesting you mention the issue of resistance. What do you think the main reason for this resistance is? Are college instructors typically computer illiterate, or is it because they don't really understand the medium.

I personally agree that discussion groups are a great way to encourage communication - especially for quiet students. Students can also use the web to discuss homework with other students without having to physically attend school. They're having fun -- and learning -- what more could we ask for?

The problem could also be the generation gap. Students accept the web far easier than instructors, possibly because they've grown up with computers and the Internet. Perhaps if you encourage all students to get online, their instructors will follow, reluctantly at first, but soon with acceptance.

-- John G.

Hi John,

I use it in addition to my classes. As I mentioned above far from "replacing" face to face contact-- my use of the web has resulted in *increased* office hour visits from my students.

I am not suggestinng that this result is automatic. Simply putting up a discussion board or even the "best" educational software product will not produce this result. (Just as business are discovering that putting up a beautiful professionally designed website does not increase profits) There really is an art to understanding how to teach on the web in a way that really adds to the classroom.

The fear that the web will replace class contact is not realistic. When distance education programs and television and cable first became a mediums for teaching the same concerns surfaced.

Which brings up the resitance issue. The main reason I would say has little to do with the medium itself. Educational institutions are undergoing an identity crisis. Due to financial problems they have increasingly adopted corporate models of organization. There is a tension between their role as educators, and the realities of their position in the marketplace. This tension often plays out
in mistrust and battles between faculty and administration.

In regards to educational technology:
Administrators want it...Usually they see it as enabling some combination of the following:
1. Fewer class hours thus freeing up much needed space in buildings
2. More potential paying students.
3. Larger Classes
4. Fewer faculty
5. Staying competitive with other institutions.
6. Ability to develop a new major (information technology) that will attract paying students.

They do not see its educational value. So they adopt the wrong model even to achieve the goals which are possible-- and which would not interfere with its educational mission. (I would say these are 1,2,5 and 6)
They hire a webmaster or Instructional Technology person who has a BA or MA
in computer science or information technology. They have this person both oversee the general web operations of the school, develop educational technology and interact with faculty on getting online.

This is why you will see odd choices of costly software being made by schools.

This of course increases faculty resistance. Faculty are often concerned with 1.smaller classes,
2. keeping their jobs,
3 reducing their workload
4. Liberal arts faculty are very much concerned about the loss of what a core curriculum--literature, philosophy,history, etc .
5. Faculty also want to be treated as professionals. They are used to doing a good deal of governance themselves and are very opposed to any further encroachment on their collegial self governace by administrators.
6. They do not want to be told by administrators what they *must do*
(I think they will sometimes have to give up 1, but that the web can help them in 2,3 and 4---and if THEY get involved in the development of instructional technology resources they can help gear it to preserve liberal arts learning AND avoid #6. I left out #5. Unfortunately I do not think web technology will have much affect on this :<

**Bottom Line** What is they need to hire is to hire me
(or someone like me (lol))
What administrators need is someone that understands the educational situation, know what is involved in good classroom teaching, knows how to use the web for educational purposes and what resources are out there...and so can best work with faculty, administration and webstaff and webdevelopers in developing a plan, selecting software and training folks on how to implement their web instructional programs successfully.

Renee
(I would have put a smilely face up there)