[comp.edu] Any interest in an 'education' group

duncan@geppetto.ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan) (12/23/88)

In article <552@ur-cc.UUCP> in comp.edu msir@cc.rochester.edu (Mark Sirota) writes:
>Here are the official descriptions of these newsgroups:
>
>comp.edu		Computer science education.
>soc.college		College, college activities, campus life, etc.
>
>Please pay attention to these.  An astouding number of articles here would
>be more appropriately placed in soc.college (e.g., "Posting grades",
>"Student preparedness", "Student and Course Integrity", etc.)
>
>Thank you for your cooperation.
>-- 
>Mark Sirota - University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
> Internet: msir@cc.rochester.edu
> Bitnet:   msir_ss@uordbv.bitnet
> UUCP:     ...!rochester!ur-cc!msir

I've just checked out soc.college and the three main topics seem to be a
discussion of racial issues, a discussion of Boston University's policies
for coed dorm life, and cross-posts of the issues above.  Almost no posts
on the issues of education (college or otherwise) seem to be in soc.college.

On the other hand, Mark is correct in that the subject matter of these dis-
cussions may have strayed too far from computer science education, per se.

I have not bee able to uncover any other newsgroup with deals specifically
with issues of educational philosophy, practice, etc.  I am, therefore,
asking if this is something people would be interested in seeing?

Being ignorant of what it takes to start a new group (technically as well
as administratively other than some sense of a voting procedure), I hope
others more informed about this, and equally interested, will take up this
subject (or enlighten me by email as to what needs to be done or where I can
find this out).

Speaking only for myself, of course, I am...
Scott P. Duncan (duncan@ctt.bellcore.com OR ...!bellcore!ctt!duncan)
                (Bellcore, 444 Hoes Lane  RRC 1H-210, Piscataway, NJ  08854)
                (201-699-3910 (w)   201-463-3683 (h))

reggie@pdn.UUCP (George W. Leach) (12/27/88)

In article <12932@bellcore.bellcore.com> duncan@ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan) writes:

>On the other hand, Mark is correct in that the subject matter of these dis-
>cussions may have strayed too far from computer science education, per se.


    Whenever we approach the beginning of a new semester, some postings
come along that touch upon subjects that are not restricted to computer
science education.  They often touch off long discussions on general
educational topics such as the ones we currently are discussing.

>I have not bee able to uncover any other newsgroup with deals specifically
>with issues of educational philosophy, practice, etc.  I am, therefore,
>asking if this is something people would be interested in seeing?


     I think if we set such a newsgroup up, then there will be a lot less
traffic in this newsgroup.  When is the last time you saw a discussion
specific to computer science education in this newsgroup?



-- 
George W. Leach					Paradyne Corporation
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Phone: (813) 530-2376				P.O. Box 2826
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jiii@visdc.UUCP (John E Van Deusen III) (12/28/88)

Having 'n'ed through an astounding number of articles that have been
cross-posted to almost every sci group but are, in fact, items of
interest only to students, I conclude that many students are only
allowed to post articles to sci newsgroups.  Creating another news group
that is inaccessible to its constituency will not solve the problem.

A new version of the news software is needed, with provision for article
selection PRIOR to data transmission.  Instead of the network being
"flooded" with material that the originator thought was relevant to the
needs of the recipient, material should be transmitted only if
requested.  The standard forms of selection criteria such as KWIC and
citation index could be augmented by a polling scheme to collect
statistics on the articles read and what the thousands of people who
spent money transmitting this material thought about it.

leigh@unibase.UUCP (Leigh Calnek) (01/04/89)

I think it is important to recognize that there are more
educators using the network than just computer science
teachers.  With the introduction of our gateway to the
FrEdmail system, we now have the opportunity of including
postings from a wide range of subject area teachers.
Clearly, as the composition of the group changes to include
more non-computer science teachers, the nature of the
discussion will change.  If we see comp.edu as a forum for
discussing the use of technology in education in the broader
sense, then there is room for all.  However, if we are going
to get "up tight" from a lot of postings that stray from the
computer science theme, then indeed we do need to look for a
new discussion group.


Leigh Calnek                 Co-ordinator, Education Technology
3002 Harding St. E.          Saskatchewan Education
Regina, Sk. Canada           2220 College Ave.
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phone: home (306)789-9007    S4P 3V7
       bus. (306)787-9448
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