CALL on the cheap Using services freely available on the Internet

Types of service available WWW Bulletin boards groups

Exchange letters with individual students Good way to submit assignments Becomes unmanageable with large numbers of students

WWW 1 Post lesson or course outline: students can view before or after lesson. Extends possible scope of lectures: with student preparation, even difficult lectures may be comprehensible.

WWW 2 Requires technical proficiency Can be very time-consuming: may need to keep updating site Static Non-interactive

Bulletin Boards ezBoard Post information about lectures Students ask questions or make comments Other students can read all postings True interaction: group-based learning

Bulletin Boards 2 No notification of new messages Long topics/forums with many topics can be confusing.

groups/mailing list Yahoo Groups (was eGroups) Mail automatically delivered to all members: no need to check for new messages Owner can choose whether to allow members to send messages

groups 2 Interface not as attractive as ezBoard Psychological difference: “receiving” ; and “participating in” a discussion

ezBoard details Press CREATE button on homepage and fill in details as prompted.

Board top page for students

Yahoo Group details Press CLICK HERE TO REGISTER and follow instructions

Don’t give students the “subscribe” address because they won’t be able to join from a communal computer; Use web or invitation methods!

Website details Homepage: introduction to course goals, etc; list of topics 1 page per topic or per lecture: questions; links to more information

Preparation Give students list of addresses: website, ezBoard, and Yahoo Group

Before each lecture... Make webpage in advance Create new forum on ezBoard Send message using Yahoo Groups: brief mention of topic; links to webpage and ezBoard forum

Ongoing Visit the board regularly and post replies to maintain student interest.