Computer Advocacy Computer Advocacy[Ed: Links to web pages and/or e-mail addresses which have become inactive since the publication of this article have been enclosed in curly brackets { }. Replacement links have been provided where possible.]
As we all know, a lot of learning here at NYU is happening outside the classroom. People learn in the library, or in a study lounge, or over the telephone. I find that I get the most out of a class when I talk to instructors or friends about lectures and we explain difficult ideas to each other. Most professors understand this, and occasionally break large classes into small discussion groups to foster this type of interaction.In a large university environment such as ours here at NYU, students live in many different places and have very different schedules. Some live in dorms, others commute from other states. As a result, it can be difficult to schedule a study group that accommodates many students.
Fortunately, we can look to the Internet for a solution to this problem. In fact, collaborations much like this were the basis of the first Internet. Students can communicate, exchange ideas, ask questions and help each other. Now, instead of classes full of small, disparate study groups, there is one large group that still can feel like a small one. When a student in the group has a question, he or she will get a thorough answer, because the knowledge of the entire group is pooled together by this electronic medium. The best part is that this can all be done with the convenience of a computer terminal at any time of day.
Which electronic medium is the best for this type of communication and collaboration? More options exist today than there were when the first academic networks were established. In addition to e-mail there are newsgroups, Internet Relay Chat, Web boards and video conferencing. While some of these technologies are not completely practical, they are all feasible.
A class-sponsored newsgroup is an interesting option for classes. Unfortunately, the NYU-NET community doesn't use newsgroups very much. Perhaps this is because the tin or rn newsgroup interfaces on the IS machines are not particularly user-friendly. Most people do not realize a powerful newsreader is built into most web browsers such as Netscape Communicator. Newsgroups can act as a good environment for discussion because all messages are automatically kept in threads. This means they are sorted by subject, so separate discussions can be followed easily. In addition, messages are archived, which is helpful when you forget what was discussed at the beginning of the semester.
ACF offers special class accounts with separate access from the public newsgroups, so discussions can be kept more private.
Web-based conferencing, or web boards, are very similar to newsgroups. Instead of using a difficult interface, everything can be done within your web browser. The whole system is built from web pages which most people are familiar with. This technology is still in its infancy, and there are many different implementations of these web boards around. Currently, different adventurous classes are experimenting with different systems. As NYU-NET continues to mature and more services are offered via the Web, I anticipate that this will become a popular medium for discussion groups.
E-mail and CC lists are probably the easiest and most commonly used method of electronic class discussion. Students and faculty have access to e-mail, and most have experience sending and receiving it, so everyone can jump right in. Typically, an instructor will collect students' NetIDs and add them to his mailer's address book. Instructors will then send announcements to the list. When students reply, discussions begin.
While this works well for small groups, if the list grows to 20 or more people, it can become very cumbersome. All the recipients e-mail addresses are carried on each message, which raises privacy issues. If a discussion strays off-topic, it is difficult for the moderator to control it.
The best way to go, in my opinion, is mailing lists, or list servers (see {www.nyu.edu/its/lists} Replacement URL: http://www.nyu.edu/its/forums.html for information and online registration). Members can be manually or automatically subscribed by the list's moderator, and the list of e-mail addresses is kept on a server maintained by ACF. When someone wishes to send an e-mail to the group, the message is addressed to the list server in the form "listname"@lists.nyu.edu. If members find the number of messages too overwhelming, the server can combine the messages into a single daily mailing, called a digest.
One example of a class mailing list is Science-Help, a list I recently established, with the help of John W. Draper Chemistry Society, the Chemistry Department and Computer Advocacy, so my classmates can help each other with science questions. Among the hundreds of subscribers, there are professors, teaching assistants and students. Discussions have covered undergraduate research opportunities, tips on choosing classes for the fall semester, homework topics and more.
ACF is working to improve the technology behind online collaboration available on NYU-NET. Available software combines list servers, web boards and newsgroups, making your decision to start an online discussion much easier. This extremely flexible software allows people to participate in the same discussion using a web browser, a newsreader or e-mail. This exciting solution is currently being tested and evaluated, so I would expect to see this offered in some form in the near future. ![[ C ]](../icons/CSmFall98.gif){kind=icon}
Posted October 5, 1998. Last reviewed November 30, 2005.
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