[Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class

[Mark D. Johns]

Dr. Steve Eskow wrote:
> ...
> Do most faculty members here require class attendance?

Yes, absolutely. I take attendance and take away points for unexcused 
absences. But once in awhile I will declare that our class will have a 
"silent discussion." Everyone sitting in the classroom is told to log 
into a Moodle chat session, and I pose a question by typing it into the 
chat. It's an interesting dynamic. And sometimes instead of typing "LOL" 
they really *DO* laugh out loud.

The classroom IS an information environment, just as the chat room is. 
Both spaces have different characteristics that can be exploited for 
learning. It's always fun to talk about the differences between what 
kind of interaction takes place online and how it differs from F2F.
-- 
Mark D. Johns, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Head of the
  Department of Communication Studies
Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA
http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/
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"Get the facts first. You can distort them later."
     ---Mark Twain