[Yr7-10it] Cross-school online discussion

[Russell Edwards]

Dear List,

   partly motivated by level 6 of VELS ICT for Communicating, I'm  
looking at introducing an ongoing unit to my elective 9/10 IT next  
semester on, basically, internet skills and citizenship--- search  
strategies, net history, useful sites, evaluating reliability of  
information, nettiquette, intellectual property, etc etc. As a  
learning strategy and for assessment the kids will have to actively  
take part in online discussions of the issues raised in the unit.

  Last night I had a thought -- it would be more engaging and  
stimulating for the students if they were really interacting with  
people they didn't have face-to-face contact with.  I think it would  
be excellent if two or three schools could buddy up and participate  
in combined discussions.

Would anybody be interested in doing this?  Is this sort of thing  
being done already?

How I'd envisage it working is as follows. Teachers would agree to  
cover, in class, selected topics around the same time. Once a week or  
so they would post one or two new threads in the forum, inviting  
discussion on a particular point. Students could pick and choose  
which threads they get involved in. As long as they make a meaningful  
contribution to, say, five or more threads, they meet the VELS  
requirement that students

"communicate regularly online with peers, experts, and others,  
expressing their messages in language appropriate to the selected  
form of communication, and demonstrating respect for cultural  
differences. "

Looking forward to your responses,
Russell


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