Online Discussions as a Tool for Learning: Case Study of the Benefits of ICT Use in a First Year Teacher Education Context

This paper is a report of a qualitative case study on the benefits of online discussion for a particular cohort of pre service teacher education students in their first year of a university English programme in Australia (Simpson, 2002). It is told as a first person account of how a university educator, myself, studied a semester of online discussion. My aim was to assess the learning outcomes encouraged by such computer assisted interaction. When the data was analysed using inductive methods of grounded theory, I discovered that the use of online discussion as a teaching tool successfully addressed three of the Department of Education, Science and Technology (DEST) objectives for teacher professional development with ICT (DEST, 2001). The case study demonstrates how my students progressed through several approaches to ICT across the learning experiences of one semester that included use of e-mail, discussion boards and the www. Although my original intention when I designed the activity was to help the students learn about online literacy activities called book raps, the outcomes were richer as the students shifted their awareness from basic levels of ICT use to critical awareness of its potential. Hence, the paper raises issues about the potential of online discussions to create rich learning environments in the higher education context through interaction and engagement in collaborative learning experiences. INTRODUCTION In an increasingly technologically savvy society it is wise for us to consider what is happening to keep teachers not only aware but also critically responsive to changes. Unfortunately in many schools in Australia, Information Technology has been added to the system without systematic teacher preparation or technological support. Yet, more than at any other time in the past, ‘teachers are under great pressure to technologise learning’ (Lankshear et al., 2000, p. xiii). In such times, it is important to critically analyse the pre service training of the next generation of teachers whose responsibility it will be to teach children about e-literacy. The paper reports some principled interpretations of observations of a pre service teacher programme that I ran in an Australian university. I observed a cohort of students who were in their first semester of university experience. The unit of work they were engaged in was a preliminary English unit that taught them about the nature and development of language in young children. As one of the students’ first teachers, it was my responsibility to introduce them to the discourse of university learning as much as to teach them the ‘content’ of my course. Therefore, when I was designing the sequence of possible teaching experiences, I was very aware of the layered functionality that these sessions could serve. If discussion boards were employed as a reflective teaching process, then the students could engage meaningfully with language to learn about language and simultaneously to learn about their own learning processes. They could also work with the Internet in such a way that computer use would MOJIT Online Discussions as a Tool for Learning: Case Study of the Benefits of ICT Use in a First Year Teacher Education Context 2 become part of their teaching tool kit rather than a new technology which had the potential to undermine their confidence. Morgan (2001) warns of the danger of viewing ICT as merely a tool when it should be recognised as complex socio-cultural practice. She reminds us that technology is both a resource for communication and a context for communication. I accept her reframing of technology in this way as my study of ICT use is situated in socio-cultural theory. I acknowledge that the metaphor of ‘tool’ is limiting yet it served the purpose of introducing ICT as something that could literally be ‘handled’. In order to encourage students to view the use of technology as a kind of socio-cultural practice, I decided to incorporate a reflective component of study that would focus their attention on the way children use language on the Internet. This ICT component of their course would also serve the function of allowing them increased opportunities to communicate in groups in an online environment, the discussion board. The underlying effect of this task was to increase the possibility of their social engagements as new students that had the potential to create support networks in the early days of their study. At the unit planning stage, I thought I was only giving the students access to a new method of teaching. In hindsight, with the benefit of critical reflection, what occurred was the creation of ICT interaction where there was space for process as well as content, and room for negotiation of rules/boundaries. I recognise now the potential of this experience to bring about new opportunities for students to engage in learning about ICT also gave them the chance to act as members in and observation of online communities. They were positioned to engage with learning communities in two ways. The first mode was through the dynamic discussion board work that worked in tandem with their traditional face-to-face mode of weekly tutorials. The discussion board work offered the chance for students to interact on line, in a virtual place where tutorial times and the physicality of a classroom space did not bind the interactions. The second chance to engage with a learning community was when the students were positioned as observers of the book raps. A Book Rap is "book discussion held on the Internet under the guidance of a coordinator" (McGhee, 1998, p2). So when observing the raps students were able to read stimulus postings and responses to assess how online discussion aided the children’s understanding of a literary text. LITERATURE REVIEW As the term ‘community’ carries a wide variety of meaning in the literature, it is necessary to briefly define the use of the term as adopted in this paper. In the literature, community is seen variously as a concept based on the ‘mobilisation of social relations’ (Amit, 2002, p10). It is also viewed as both ideal and practice, ‘the negotiation of social and pedagogical relations, rules and purpose’ (Mitchell & Mayer, 2002, p2). Each of the definitions above depend on social theories of learning which posit the notion of community as being a place of inquiry where the knowledge building is made possible (Wells, 1999). This constructivist approach sees the students as active developers of their own learning as individuals in interactions with collaborative groups. The risk with this model of learning is that the students may recycle their own ignorance if insufficient teacher scaffolding is given. A virtual community is one that makes use of technology as both ‘resource and context’ (Morgan, 2001, p 38). A virtual community in this sense is a community that only exists online. Reflecting the importance of the interpersonal, Rheingold defines such communities as: ‘social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyber space’ (Rheingold in Thomas, 2003, p.115). Although my students’ experience was short, their interactions demonstrate patterns of interaction that demonstrate them making moves towards forming a community of practice (Wenger, 1998) sharing common language, a common purpose, where learning is the lived experience of making meaning in a group situation. MOJIT Online Discussions as a Tool for Learning: Case Study of the Benefits of ICT Use in a First Year Teacher Education Context 3 Another issue relevant to this study is the growing realisation of the importance of the e-moderator in the shaping of a virtual community. Research shows how the e-moderator may direct or limit student participation in a group (Salmon, 2000; Simpson & Harbon, 2004). Just as in classrooms the teacher tends to drive the learning experiences by legitimising some forms of discourse over others (Berstein 1996, Christie 2002), so the emoderator may also control patterns of interaction. In this case study, it is clear that the questions the e-moderator asks positions the students to attend to certain aspects and not others concerning the online literacy events. It is also clear that the students feel free to add in their own topics when necessary. This is discussed in more detail below when the data is analysed. The use of online discussion as a learning tool in higher education is growing as an area of interest in higher education research. University educators who have been keen to make use of WEBCT, Blackboard and other online discussion formats are also becoming aware of the risks and limitations such as large time commitments, equity of access, and the need for well designed modules to create deep learning (Breuleux et al., 1998; Salmon, 2000; Kippin, 2003). Educators of young children are equally concerned with how online discussion can aid children’s learning (Lankshear et al., 2000; Kamil et al., 2000; Zammit & Downes, 2002; Mercer & Fernandez, 2003). The International Reading Association explicitly states that it is the responsibility of schools and teachers to prepare students for new literacies and learning environments (Leu, 2002). My research is situated in this context, where universities and primary schools are both moving towards greater use of online technologies in education. The incorporation of online discussion into a teacher education programme was studied for two reasons. First, in order to discover in what ways it would lead students towards the practical skills they would need once they got in to classrooms. Second, it was also studied to see how such work could lead them towards a critique of what was already being done in classrooms. CASE STUDY The study is based on a cohort of first year university students. There were 192 students in the unit. As part of their assessment requirements they had to post to the discussion board three times. Most students posted the minimum number and some students posted more or less than their quota; the greatest number posted by one student was 13. The total number of postings was 539. The average posting per students was 2.8. The range of ICT abilities of the students was from complete novice through to students who could design their own web sites. This was one of the backgrounded rationales for running the discussion board and book rap observations, that it would increase the students’ familiarity and levels of engagement with ICT. To take part in this unit the students needed to observe Primary-aged children participating in book raps and then engage with other students from their own unit in discussion boards. My concern was to emphasise the purposeful use of technology in their lessons. The teaching experiences I created in first semester 2002 were driven by the challenge to educators to ‘integrate new technologies meaningfully and transparently into learning activities’ (Lankshear et al., 1997, p12). Note: the challenge is not just to integrate meaningfully but also transparently. That is the students should be aware of their own learning – to create a balance as the Digital Rhetorics team recommend between the operational, the cultural and the critical dimensions of learning (Lankshear et al., 1997). Rather than being taken up by the ‘hype’ of hypertext as Snyder (1998) warns us, they were to be critical users, reflecting on their own practice and that of the primary school children they were observing. Hence my choice to make book raps the focus of our online activity. Book raps are a practical means of purposefully integrating literacy and technology to an ‘e-literacy’ framework for the MOJIT Online Discussions as a Tool for Learning: Case Study of the Benefits of ICT Use in a First Year Teacher Education Context 4 classroom. They are run currently in a small number or classrooms as online book discussions run by Department of Education Science and Training and the Queensland University of Technology for wide range of audiences. They have been used successfully in Australia with children ranging from Kindergarten to year 12 to construct interactive critical literacy events with students from other communities using e-literacy skills (Simpson, 2004). They are an example of what has been termed an ‘authentic’ context of social practice (Lankshear et al., 2000, p.30) in that the activity already exists for the sake of public sharing of responses to text, it has not been created for teaching purposes alone. They would be classified as what Morgan calls the use of ICT for critical literacy practices (Morgan, 2001). I wanted to position the students as observers of children’s critical engagement with literature so students could see how teachers and students responded within the rap without actually taking part themselves. Luke speaks of how we are currently engaged in ‘abstract debate about virtual realities [which have] concrete implications for schooling’ (Luke 2000, p.69). I wanted to give my students a chance to make the abstract concrete by giving them real practice inside a virtual practicum. The rap sites provided an opportunity for the students to observe the diverse range of language demands made on the participants as they defended personal points of view, justified choices and reviewed texts. In this way they would take up a critical literacy approach to the practices of ICT (Morgan, 2001). In using the raps in the tertiary classroom I was responding to Ramsay’s request that we should be ‘designing the teacher education curriculum so that it illuminates and is illuminated by professional experience, based on changes occurring in schools’ (Ramsay, 2000, p58). I was aware of the DEST 4 point scale of typical use of ICT: 1. Acquisition of ICT skills as an end in itself; 2. ICT as a tool for learning to enhance the students’ abilities to deal with existing curriculum; 3. ICT as an integral component of broader curricular reforms that change not only how children learn but also what they learn; 4. ICT as an integral component of the reforms that alter the organization and structure of schooling itself So my aim was to move students from point 1 to 3. Therefore, the organisation of the unit was such that students would: 1. Learn and use ICT skills with e-mail and discussion boards, 2. Examine the use of ICT in English K-6 through book raps, 3. Reflect on difference between two book rap sites. In taking part in this project students were expected to log onto the Internet and examine the design of two different book raps, one run by the QUT and the other by DEST. The instructions were to discuss the site’s success in terms of classroom use, clarity of outcomes and presentation and also to respond to set questions as listed by their tutor. These discussions were to take place on online discussion boards set up by the tutor. All students had the same questions but were grouped by their face-to-face tutorial times and were only given access to the discussion thread that belonged to that tutorial. The expected consequences were that the posted discussion points would show basic operational skill with ICT through step 2 ICT as tool for learning to step 3 ICT as part of could be seen as MOJIT Online Discussions as a Tool for Learning: Case Study of the Benefits of ICT Use in a First Year Teacher Education Context 5 curricular change within traditional classroom practice. These were the ‘first level effects’ that I anticipated would follow from the use of ICT in the unit of work (Sproull & Kiesler, 1991). As expected, these steps were worked through in postings and were duly noted in my observations. After an outline of the research epistemology, I present an analysis of these observations below. THEORETICAL FRAMING This study is a kind of qualitative research where I am the educator who is participating in the education activity while observing my own students, thinking about the implications of my teaching design on their behaviour and questioning what could be done better. I have been the participant observer and written up what I saw as a case study. I could call it naturalistic after Lincoln & Guba’s (1985) model. I outline below how I have considered my study in terms of one of the four criteria which Lincoln & Guba (1985) suggest support the trustworthiness of any study of this kind. In the interest of brevity, I have selected to discuss only the category of credibility here but all criteria could be assessed for the study. In terms of prolonged engagement and persistent observation, I worked with the students for the whole of a three month semester in face-to-face tutorials once a week and in online contexts. As I designed the online discussion prompts and managed the discussion board, I was well aware of the background to the discussion. I was also cognisant of the book raps well enough to know when students were focussed on the topic and probing it for deep understanding or were giving shallow responses. Some of the data appears to be irrelevant to the task yet it is some of this material that provides extra information about how the students were taking up their roles as online discussants. I did not reject this data as it gave me a different perspective on what students saw as relevant to their group. It also shows that I am not only reporting the data that fits the hypothesis with which I started out. The data has had some triangulation verification. Although the observations have been collected from over one hundred students and there has been some validation of the findings in the literature, I was the only researcher coding the data. During the coding, I did speak to another tutor who had worked with some of the students. I discussed with them their general sense of what had happened with this cohort but this discussion was not extended to comparative coding. I have since discussed the data and findings with another peer who has carried out similar studies in her university in Tasmania. This conversation reassured me that what I saw was common to other online discussion groups. We have since worked together to confirm our general prediction and are in the process of conducting a similar small-scale comparative study (Simpson & Harbon, 2004). The text analysis methodology is also guided by the principles of Grounded Theory as described in (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). It is an inductive approach to data collection and analysis. The full set of postings from the student cohort was collected in its original groupings and threads from the discussion board and transferred to disk as tab delimited text for archival purposes. As the cohort had been divided into small online groups that matched their real time tutorials with unique passwords for the online discussion, it was possible to analyse each tutorial group separately. However, because the students created one extra group discussion that was not password protected, there was one group that was open to all. It was this group that made possible an accidental though very interesting comparison of interaction between blended members across groups as compared to own tutorial time members. MOJIT Online Discussions as a Tool for Learning: Case Study of the Benefits of ICT Use in a First Year Teacher Education Context 6 The subjects of the study, the students, approved of me carrying out research on them and their conversations. They all signed release forms to give me permission to collect their postings for analysis. As they had to submit the postings for assessment there was no overt influence put upon them by the research to contribute more than they otherwise would. The identity of all students is kept secret. Names but not spelling errors were changed on all samples quoted. I collected the data over the semester and then read and reread it and looked for open categories to emerge. When I judged that there were common themes occurring in e-mails. I grouped the data under axial themes. The groupings were expanded and then collapsed as larger or smaller numbers of examples were found for each category. The posted samples were then considered in terms of how typical they were of the themes. The themes were then described to elucidate their relevance to the study. The themes were then grouped in selective relationships in terms of how they reflected student progression through the four step model of ICT use proposed by DET. The thematic postings were then considered as first or second level effects judged on whether they had been deliberately planned as an outcome of the unit or whether they had arisen because of the students’ participation in online interaction. It was necessary at this stage to add a category that recorded the active construal of interpersonal relationships. The tool used to judge the differences amongst the postings was a simple content analysis based on the use of semantic items that indicated discussion about: computer usage, descriptive response to any of the three prompt questions, critical response to prompts and interpersonal relationships. RESULTS AS FIRST LEVEL EFFECTS One of the anticipated benefits of this unit was that students would develop operational use of ICT as an end in itself. As I knew that not all students were confident in using technology, I expected to see some postings that expressed frustration with technology from the new users. I judged them to be an indication of how students were coping with the context of their learning experience as much as of how much they were learning. Postings of this sort dealt with major issues in dealing with basic technology – access to e-mail accounts, use of passwords, negotiating discussion board, negotiating sites, and lack of computer use in the classroom. I was pleased when the students commented on what was happening in their practicum classrooms as it meant that they were transferring their attention from their own learning to what was made possible by ICT use and what negative conditions might preclude its successful use. The issue of common standards of ICT use across teacher education remains a concern. We cannot assume that systematic teacher preparation or technological support exists in all programmes. There is much work to be done. “Any professional development programme must try to help teacher’s imagine and practise a new sense of literate self in a technologically saturated environment” (Morgan, 2001, p.50). I consider that the e-mails grouped within this theme demonstrate that students’ responses to the discussion board were sometimes couched in terms of their knowledge of ICT use in authentic contexts for a university student. Wednesday, April 17, 2002 09:40 am Hey Guys, I've just signed in after a few problems with the pass word etc, etc.... Friday April 19, 2002 – 06:06 pm Hi guys just wondering if anyone knew the web sites for the Queensland and Dept of Education? Sunday April 21, 2002 – 07:39 pm MOJIT Online Discussions as a Tool for Learning: Case Study of the Benefits of ICT Use in a First Year Teacher Education Context 7 With regard to Kelly and Norma and the concern over the “laborious” signing in and out of students, I would like to reply and say not to underestimate the ability of primary school children with regard to proficiency on the computer (my brother helped me sign in to this sight) Tuesday April 23, 2002 – 12:23 pm Hi everyone, everyones msges are great! Had some problems logging on, blah, blah. Monday May 06, 2002 – 8:39 pm ... just a quick note to Alyson; I think that my first response is up on the general page!!! Sorry but I’m really in regards to computers and technology. Sorry for any trouble this may cause!! Sunday May 12, 2002 – 8:29 pm I not happy at all because I just had the best response done and then my Internet connection failed just as I clicked post and so I’m not a happy chappy. A second anticipated benefit of the unit was that the students would see ICT as a ‘tool’ for learning that could enhance existing curriculum opportunities. Postings of this sort discussed the tutorial work in terms of ICT in the school classroom allowing the use of book raps (or not). Responses were couched in terms of their observations of ICT use in English K-6 through authentic contexts for primary school children. Friday April 15, 2002 – 07:35 pm Book raps are a great way for students to exchange ideas and opinions through literature. Set texts are a great starting point – a student from Junee may have a different point of view about a book to a student from suburban Sydney (or they may find opinions in common) – It is an enriching experience. Wednesday April 17, 2002 – 08:58 pm I have to agree with all of the above people that book raps are beneficial. I agree that computers in the classroom are going to waste by not being used effectively. At my school they are used in during literacy hour but the children do similar activities each week and if they were involved in a book rap it would give them variety. I think they would be very beneficial to the students who are shy to speak up in front of a class because on the internet no one can see you and you just get responses in the form of an email. This may build there confidence if other students talk to them and agree with them. Friday April 19, 2002 – 01:57 pm Book raps are creative method which allow students to participate in conversation about literacy. I think it gives children the opportunity to interact with peers and helps develop social skills. A third anticipated benefit of the unit was that the students would see ICT as an integral component of curriculum reform that made possible not only different modes of learning but different learning content. Postings of this sort discussed the difference of presentation and or suitability of the sites for new teachers in primary classrooms as rationale for their selection of the ‘best’ model of book raps. Responses to the discussion board were couched in terms of their observation of two contrasting book raps from two State Education systems. Thursday April 25, 2002 – 11:07 pm The QLD website was simple and easy for anyone especially for teachers who are using it for the first time or not very good at computers like me. Sunday May 05, 2002 – 04:26 pm MOJIT Online Discussions as a Tool for Learning: Case Study of the Benefits of ICT Use in a First Year Teacher Education Context 8 After having a better look at the NSW site it actually made much more sense to me. I found the NSW site to have lots of information about book raps for teachers and students but I guess if I was a teacher or a student who had has lots of experience with book raps in the past I would use the NSW site definitely. Tuesday May 07, 2002 – 12:22 pm Both websites cater for different people with different levels of background knowledge on book raps. Since book raps are a new concept for me, the NSW website provided me with an overload of information. This may suite some people but I felt it was a little too overwhelming. I found the Queensland website, clear and very well structured in its approach to inform people about book raps. Comparing the range of responses in the first level effects across the postings quoted it is possible to see dimensions of operational and cultural learning (Lankshear et al., 1997). The students demonstrated: • QQQQQ Meaningful engagement: on a personal level and a critical level. They were challenged to think on different levels. It was not sufficient to respond to prompts with comments that told if a student enjoyed an experience or give a description of what they saw. Rather, the students were challenged to comparatively critique what they saw in terms of the two raps as models or contexts of learning. The non-technical students learned how to use technology effectively. • QQQQQChanges to past experience with ICT. By the end of the semester all students had presented postings and were able to provide evidence of interaction with the two different web sites in terms of their observations and critique. They had met the basic criteria of the unit that they would be able to interact with email, the Internet, book raps and be able to use their knowledge as the basis of an informative presentation to parents and/or teachers. • QQQQQQPreparedness to consider new ways of teaching/ learning. They explicitly challenged each other to take up the book rap as a way of engaging children with literature on online. Each of these responses could be related back to the 4 common types of ICT learning. At this level the ICT tutorial was a success. The students had achieved the outcomes I set. Whilst a larger study might have supported the discussion board postings with interview and other data, as this was a small research study based on the first time of introducing a discussion board teaching/learning experience it is considered to be a pilot study only. Yet to limit the description of the discussion board in this way ignores an additional set of outcomes that had significant value. As well as first level effects, Sproull & Kiesler (1991) also speak of second level effects. These are the unexpected results of using ICT in a context. They usually result in changes in practice because of the social affects on those who are involved. SECOND LEVEL EFFECTS There were changes in the context of the unit of work. These developed when cross postings enabled strong communicative links between students such that new patterns of social interaction and relationships were created. The definition of community given above is that it will be a site of enquiry where learning will take place because of the interactions that students engage in. The groups of students who connected through the online discussion could be defined by their members, their common interests/needs, their shared language and discourse. However, this would also serve as a description of the face-to-face tutorial groups that met each week. What was different about this new communication was the flow of connections. It is noted that in the WebCT environment all ‘speakers’ are equal when turns are taken. Therefore, relationships are MOJIT Online Discussions as a Tool for Learning: Case Study of the Benefits of ICT Use in a First Year Teacher Education Context 9 less formal and more ‘conversational’. Despite being written, e-mails are closer to spoken language and as such are more relaxed (Morgan, 2001). This is not central to the discussion here though definitely affected the tone of the discussions. For example, one particular student who used emoticons, pet names and other elliptical notations as found on SMS text messages to add personal voicing to his postings: Sunday April 21, 2002 – 03:12 pm Hi guys and gals, especially my little Irish lepricorn (you know who you are lol) ☺ ...heheheh lol ☺ (too much msn) As this was no longer a teacher driven/ controlled / negotiated site, this extra networking broke down group boundaries as members came and went as they wished and followed not only the teacher’s directives but their own agenda. The additional threads developed of their own accord. In fact one whole new group was created ‘by mistake’, when a student opened a new topic thread that was not limited by tute group coded access. This in effect created an ‘open system’, different to what the tutor had set up as it meant students from across all tute groups had access to the same discussion thread. Saturday, April 20, 2002 10:58 am Hi Alyson, I am talking to my tute group as well but this is an interesting discussion area because I am getting opinions & ideas from people I do not normally discuss things with. I end up getting more involved here for a couple of reasons 1. I am familiar with my tut group & kind of know what to expect but here I am getting different points of view from people I don't really know because I don't know these people, I am less worried about appearing "dumb" & to express myself more .....I imagine that book raps have a similar effect!! The postings on this rogue discussion board still discussed the target questions but there were key differences. In this group the postings commented specifically on the web use within university and in potential teaching. If a interaction is valued because of its active development of collaboration via agency, reflection and culture (Breuleux et al., 1998), then this group who communicated on their own initiative could be deemed an interactive group with a ‘social and a technological agenda’ (Thomas, 2003, p115). Wednesday, April 17, 2002 – 09:39 pm Hello again everyone. Hi to Jane by the way, loving those smiley faces ☺ Good point about the disadvantages – I agree with you Norma in the sense that it is fairly laborious signing on all students and monitoring book rap progress. Another point of consideration is access to resources – I don’t know about you guys but my prac school only has one computer per classroom – hence inhibiting simultaneous access. ... a really big step into the future of Primary school literature would be to incorporate the experience of book raps in to the syllabus – this inclusion would help promote technology in the classroom and expand the participants opinions and knowledge base about particular books. Take care guys, off to study for the grammar test(!). Sunday April 21, 2002 – 07:22 pm Hey everyone ...The whole concept of change is another point to consider – you may find many established, older teachers being a little less willing to include book raps into their structured current methods of literature teaching – from morning a week experience, it is clearly evident to me those teachers who are willing to adapt to change, and those who are so ‘set’ they are almost fearful of computer work. This is detrimental for the simple fact that students ‘pick up’ on this and are likely to adopt a similar attitude. Just a thought...Nice rating scale by the way Chas. Peace out, Kelly. Friday May 10, 2002 – 03:28 pm MOJIT Online Discussions as a Tool for Learning: Case Study of the Benefits of ICT Use in a First Year Teacher Education Context 10 In response to the questions posed by Norma in regards to what characteristics we would include in our own website, I would have to support Kelly in each point outlined, especially the ‘real time’ discussion. I would also make sure that the students would have the opportunity to go off on their own little tangent like people have for this exercise. Maybe a separate posting for general comments, or perhaps some sort of message system like MSN or something like that. So that’s it from me, for now. I shall check in later to see what other ideas we have come up with, and to find out when we are creating our own book rap!!!!!! ;) OFF ON A TANGENT Why did these e-mails seem different? What were they signalling about their purposes that contrasted with the others? The students were not ‘on task’, at least not according to the terms of the task I had set them, but they were certainly busy working at something. I suggest that what they were working on was the construction of the early stages of a learning community. This community could be seen as one in which they were active developers both socially and in terms of their own learning about book raps that went beyond the limits of the activities that I set up. It was no longer the tutor in control but the group who self-initiated the thread dealing with the issues that concerned them as learners, not me as tutor. They signalled this by challenging each other and asking questions that developed their interests. Tuesday, April 23, 2002 08:32 am Hi everyone, after reading all the messages it seems we all think that book raps are so beneficial to all students and classrooms. So i'm going to set this task to all of us when we are out on our three week block prac lets try to implement if the facilities are available in our classroom a book rap. We should take full responsibility of setting it up so that our co operating teacher doesn't have to do anything, well except that we should show them how it works so that once we are gone hopefully we would of started something that the students are so involved in it will continue. What do you think????