Electronic discussion lists, boards or forums' e-mail groups; online communities of practice

From LiteracyTentWiki

Ways to use discussion lists/forums/communities of practice

  • Skim message headers and read the ones that interest you
  • Skim every message and save the ones that you want to read, think about and possibly respond to
  • Respond to a message, in order to:
    • Correct misinformation
    • Agree and add other support for an argument or position
    • Disagree with/rebut a position taken by someone else
    • Add new information to a discussion
    • Ask a question to get clarification
    • Express a different point a view
  • Ask a "dumb question" (usually a question that many other also have but were afraid to ask)
  • Pose a question related to a problem or challenge in your own work
  • Use the discussion list as a way to "keep up" or "stay current" with what is happening in the adult literacy education field, or with a particular part of the field that your community of practice is concerned with
  • Use the discussion list as a sounding board for an idea, concept, model you are thinking about
  • Let colleagues know about work you have done that they may benefit from, ideally work that is available at no cost, given the limited resources in our field
  • Share an insight, theme or synthesis that you have seen but that hasn't been expressed in the particular discussion forum
  • By actively participating, become a member of a larger community of practitioners, learners, researchers, professional developers, researchers, and volunteers
  • Ask an expert. Many of the discussion lists host expert panels on topics of importance that you may be interested in. Join those discussions as they are happening, Add your questions, comments, perspectives
  • Meet people online who share your point of view, your particular perspective, or have had experiences similar to your own; realize that you are not alone
  • Listen to points of view that are very different from yours, discover that your view on the world of adult literacy education practice is not the whole world, just one (valid) piece of it, but that there are other valid pieces, too
  • Market (in the best sense of that word -- not "sell", but help people to realize that you have something that may meet their need) a publication, webinar, conference, web site, no- or low-cost, high quality presentation, or other useful resource
  • Work with other members of your community of practice to make something -- a wiki page, a web site, a presentation of some kind, a paper, that you then share with others. From this experience you broaden and deepen your knowledge and you add knowledge to the field
  • [What else?]

Ways NOT to use them

  • Don't reply to a message with just an "I agree," "yes" or "brilliant". Say why you agree and add to the discussion. Make it worth someone's while to read your message.
  • If you use a digest feature, when you reply, just quote the (part of) the message you are addressing and be sure to change the title of the message to accurately reflect the topic.
  • Disagree, but don't be disagreeable.
  • If your message is really just intended as a reply to one person, think twice about replying to the whole discussion list. Will this be of interest to more than the one person your are replying to?
  • [What else?]

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