[Air-l] The Internet Is Changing The Way Canadians Socialize

[DJ Smith]

I have been reading the posts on how college students communicate...and 
listen to many others talk of how the next generation will take 
technolgy for granted. My college, an adult distance institution, offers 
80% of the distance learning courses online. Ancedotal evidence is that 
adult learners enter a course, participate in a discussion (newsgroup), 
post assignments, ask questions etc, mostly as one "glob" on a weekend 
night...they are too busy with the rest of their f2f lives to 
continually be "in" a course participating every other day or so.

The same seems true of discussion groups established for specific 
students. We started an online discussion database for Community & Human 
Services students and it died on the vine for lack of participation. 
Unless there's a "payoff" in terms of the grade, adult students do not 
frequently use technology that requires they "pull" information or go to 
an online area.

Even faculty we find, are more likely to discuss topics in email than a 
newsgroup posting--a clear case of Push vs Pull technology. --djs

Holly Kruse wrote:

>Please pardon the typos in the message I just posted.
>One problem with the internet for me is that my
>tendency not to have my brain and hands fully engaged
>with each other when typing can be quickly made evident
>to hundreds of people when I send messages without
>proofreading!
>
>
>Holly
>
>
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