1. How much technology or computer know-how is needed for me and my class to participate?
2. Does the class need to be taught in a computer environment?
3. How much time needs to be devoted to teaching the use of technology?
4. How should I connect the IEDP to other class activities?
5. What other kinds of assignments go well with the IEDP?
6. How are the IEDP posts used in the class?
7. Is a face-to-face meeting required?
8. What occurs at the face-to-face meeting and how do I set it up
9. Do instructors participate in the students’ forums?
10. How do I track the students’ posts and how are these evaluated?
11. Can I participate in the faculty e-mail discussion list if I am not teaching a course in the IEDP?
12. How many weeks of my course should I allot to IEDP participation?

1. How much technology or computer know-how is needed for me and my class to participate?

The IEDP requires fairly common Internet technology and skills with which many students are now familiar. You and each of your students should have an email account and access to a web browser to reach the World Wide Web and the IEDP home page: http://www.trincoll.edu/prog/iedp/

Basic email and web-browser skills are all that are needed to participate, although some faculty have students build their own websites as special IEDP projects.

2. Does the class need to be taught in a computer environment?

The class does not need to be taught in a computer environment (although such an environment may facilitate students’ posting to the forums). Students’ reading and writing to the forums may be done outside of class and from any computer that has access to the Web. Furthermore, students may copy and save their posts either as a computer file or in hard copy so that they may track their own writing and share it with the class.

3. How much time needs to be devoted to teaching the use of technology?

The amount of time you need to spend teaching the use of technology will vary, of course, depending on your students’ familiarity with computers and the Internet. Some students may need no assistance whatsoever, while others may need a lot of help with basic computer functions and with overcoming computer anxiety. At the same time, many students may be more familiar with such technology than are their instructors, and they may be able to assist other students with acquiring the few computer skills necessary to participate in the IEDP. Such interaction is in keeping with the collaborative dynamic of many classes today.

Keep in mind that the computer skills necessary for participation--accessing, reading, and writing to a web site--may now be considered part of basic literacy for college students and, therefore, may have a natural place in a writing class. Furthermore, the more important emphasis and challenge in teaching with the IEDP should not be on computer skills but on communication skills within a computer-mediated environment. That kind of communicative action needs our expert attention and teaching.

4. How should I connect the IEDP to other class activities?

5. What other kinds of assignments go well with the IEDP?

6. How are the IEDP posts used in the class?

The IEDP posts may be used in any number of ways as befits the learning goals of the class. They may constitute weekly (or more) writing or argument assignments in their own right. In such instances, some faculty also ask for pre-writing analysis, planning, and/or drafting to occur as part of that weekly writing assignment. In other classes the writing of IEDP posts may occur more spontaneously during class time. Also, many faculty have students study a particular thread and then analyze it for specific features, such as for the presence of particular argument strategies and fallacies, for the rhetorical features of logos, pathos and ethos, or for other topical or cultural discourse features or markers, and so on. Such analyses help students to write posts in a manner that deepens the conversation and move beyond repetition or other less productive discourse. In addition, in-class analysis of the posts may also help students identify subject matter for other writing assignments, and it may help to prompt reflective analysis among students about the nature and sources of their own beliefs and assumptions.

7. Is a face-to-face meeting required?

A face-to-face meeting with other participating IEDP classes within regional proximity is not a requirement for IEDP participation, but it adds significantly to the IEDP experience. Many faculty have found that the face-to-face meeting has several benefits: It adds a degree of excitement to IEDP participation, it extends the range of relevant activities, and it provides opportunities for students to turn their internet deliberations into public action with peers and in the larger community. Participating faculty have found that their institutions are proud of their participation in an inter-institutional project like the IEDP, and the face-to-face meeting is a public occasion of such participation.

For more information about the benefits of the face-to-face meeting see the chapter entitled: "The Students’ IEDP Experience: Public Deliberation via the Internet & the Face-to-Face Conference," in the section entitled "Information about the Face-to-Face Conference" (pg. 15).

8. What occurs at the face-to-face meeting and how do I set it up?

The face-to-face meeting can be as simple as a convening of two classes in the same institution or it may include more classes within or beyond one institution. A variety of activities may occur at the face-to-face meeting, including such things as student presentations, round-table discussions, poster sessions, guest lectures, etc. These activities are valuable in themselves, and they are also in keeping with the deliberative and presentational learning activities of the IEDP.

To locate interested colleagues and set up a face-to-face meeting, IEDP instructors usually promote the project among interested colleagues within their own institutions, and they send inquiries to appropriate email lists to reach faculty at other institutions. Both strategies have worked well for IEDP instructors. Once interested colleagues are located, the location, goals and activities for the face-to-face conference can be decided (or alternatives to the conference are considered, including a telecommunications conference with a participating class, etc.).

For more information about setting up a face-to-face meeting, see the chapter entitled: "The Students’ IEDP Experience: Public Deliberation via the Internet & the Face-to-Face Conference," the section entitled "Information about the Face-to-Face Conference" (pg. 15) and "Advice and Information about the Face-to-Face Conference from IEDP Faculty." (pg. 16).

9. Do instructors participate in the students’ forums?

Participating IEDP instructors have their own discussion list where they exchange e-mail on a variety of topics, including:

Instructors may also choose to participate in student forums, and many have chosen to do so, although often in a low-key manner so as not to dominate the students’ discussions. (Faculty who are interested in the IEDP may join the instructor email list even if not teaching a class in the IEDP; contact Beverly Wall, beverly.wall@trincoll.edu.)

10. How do I track the students’ posts and how are these evaluated?

Faculty may track the posts simply by reading the discussion forums as the students do. However, the software used to host the IEDP forums usually allows faculty to sort the posts in a variety of ways that enable efficient reading of posts by one student, all students, or on one thread, etc. Another approach is to make students responsible for keeping track of their own posts. An electronic portfolio system can be set up, or a simple series of assignments can be given to students requiring them to report on their activities on-line and analyze the quality of their posts.

Evaluation of the posts (and of students’ contribution to a thread) should be tied in with the learning goals of the course and with the students’ increasing proficiency with the discourse and analysis derived from those goals, especially as these relate to communicating and persuading an audience, respect for a diversity of opinion, and an understanding of the rhetorical and communicative challenges of our new electronic democracy. For evaluation purposes, some instructors treat students’ posts as informal writing and give a single grade for participation, similar to a grade for class discussion or participation.

11. Can I participate in the faculty email discussion list if I am not teaching a course in the IEDP?

Faculty who are interested in the issues, themes, and questions of the IEDP are welcome to join the faculty email discussion list at any time. Faculty do not have to be teaching a course in the IEDP to participate in the list or to participate in face-to-face meetings. Interested faculty should send an email to Beverly Wall, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, USA: beverly.wall@trincoll.edu.

12. How many weeks of my course should I allot to IEDP participation?

There are many ways for a class to participate in the IEDP. Participation may constitute the work of a small unit or portion of a course, or it may shape the entire structure of a course. Classes have participated in the following ways with the following time commitments.

(a) Students do a wide range of assignments or projects as well as the Internet exchanges and face-to-face conference, and all of the assignments relate to the IEDP (see "Sample Syllabuses" and "Assignments and Handouts" in this Handbook). Time commitment = entire semester.

(b) Students participate in the Internet forums and the face-to-face meeting in addition to other, unrelated projects. Time commitment = one-third to one-half of the semester.

(c) Students participate in the Internet forums (without the face-to-face conference) in addition to other, unrelated projects. Time commitment = one-quarter to one-third of the semester.

(d) Students participate on the Internet forums for specified number of weeks, usually capped by an assignment to write a paper reflecting on their experience or using the experience and information gained to report on an issue. Time commitment = approximately 3 weeks.

In all cases, the nature of the participation should be tied to the learning goals for the course. Learning goals will prompt the most appropriate ways for students to participate and the amount of time they will require.

Importantly, instructors need to decide how much time their students will need to enter, understand, and enjoy the dialogic, rhetorical, and community experience available to them.