Re: instructional design

Linnda R. Caporael (caporl who-is-at rpi.edu)
Fri, 17 Oct 1997 11:28:55 -0400

Fatemeh,
I'm sorry not to repond earlier--I'm still behind in email. Your study
sounds interesting. Do you have hunches about what differentiates the
course.newsgroups discussions and seminar discussion? We have the same
setups here, although I don't believe that anyone at Rensselaer has
looked at them. Chis Bose, in the Department of Language, Literature,
and Communications has studied gender differences in compputer-mediated
class discussions. (Briefly, she found that all male groups rapidly
became locker room discussions; one female changed the nature of
discussion.)

BTW, if you are teaching social psychology, then you must know Warren
Thorngate, who was my collaborator, a long time ago, on a JSI volume
titled something like, "Computers: Prophecy and Experience." (Well, a
long time ago, the title did make sense!)

Thanks fot the reference to Scott Althaus.
Linnda

Fatemeh Bagherian wrote:
>
> I hope you are not receiving this e-mail for the second time, and if so, I
> do apologize for the inconvenience.
> >My interests are more along the line
> of 1) how does the
> >technology get inserted in the social relationships among teachers and
> >learners, and 2) how does technological design reproduce
> >culture--especially "old" notions such as the authority of the teacher,
> >the interchangeability of students, etc. Part of this agenda is to
> >understand how more humane--culturally and environmentally aware--values
> >can be incorportated into the design of technopedagogy (see below). This
> >entire area is fairly new to me. I'd like to know if anyone is doing
> >research related to technopedagogy at the post high-school level.
>
> > >
> As a lurcker of xmca, I found your interest and your questions relevant to
> what I am trying to do for my thesis. My thesis is going to be an
> evaluation of computer-maediated-communication technology at university
> level and its usefulness for undergraduate courses. There are locations
> on Internet called coursenewsgroups at Carleton University net that allow
> students and instructors to discuss about their course materials. My study is
> an investigation of what is going on in these net discussions and compare
> them with traditional discussion groups or seminar classes. I am trying
> to find out how much the potential benefits of the communication
> technology has been realized and used at university level and how
> students and instructors think about its usefullness.
> To add the experience of the use of technology in education, I am running a
> discussion group via computer-communication for a social psychology course
> that I am the TA for as well. As mentioned by perhaps Linnda or Mike, there
> are few research in this area at post hight school level. The one I found
> interesting is the one by Scott Althaus published in Communication
> Education just in July 1997.
>
>
> Fatemeh Bagherian
> Carleton University

-- 
*************************
Dr. Linnda R. Caporael
Department of Science & Technology Studies
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180
voice: 518/276-8519  fax: 518/276-2659