A Guide To the ADLsphere : Over Eighty Academic Discussion Lists

A Guide To the ADLsphere§:
Over Eighty Academic Discussion Lists With Links
To Their Archives & Search Engines *Δ †
Richard R. Hake, Indiana University Emeritus
<[email protected]>, <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
“It is not enough to observe, experiment, theorize, calculate and communicate; we must also
argue, criticize, debate, expound, summarize, and otherwise transform the information that we
have obtained individually into reliable, well established, public knowledge.”
John Ziman (1969): “Information, Communication, Knowledge,”
Nature 224 (5217): 324 online at <http://bit.ly/cNPB1d>
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOPIC
PAGE
I. Addresses, Descriptions, and Links to the Archives and Search
Engines of Over Eighty Academic Discussion Lists (ADL’s) ……..
2
II. Some Strengths of ADL’s ……………………………………………. 20
III. Some Weaknesses of ADL’s…………………………………………. 23
IV. LISTSERV utilization: ……………………………………………… 25
A. What’s a LISTSERV?....................................................................... 25
B. Subscribing and Unsubscribing…………………………………… 25
C. Monitoring Posts ……………………………………………………25
V. References ……………………………………………………………. 26
_____________________________________________________
§ Pronounced “Addlesphere” (no pun intended).
*The reference is: Hake, R.R. 2010. “Over Eighty Academic Discussion Lists With Links
To Their Archives & Search Engines,” online as ref. 61 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>.
Δ
Partially supported by NSF Grant DUE/MDR-9253965.
† I welcome suggestions, additions, and corrections addressed to <[email protected]>.
© Richard R. Hake, 10 August 2010. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is
granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, and the copyright
and its date appear. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or to place at another website (instead of
linking to <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>) requires written permission.
1
I. Addresses, Descriptions, and Links to the Archives and Search Engines of
Over Eighty Academic Discussion Lists
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
NOTES:
1. Entries give in order:
List Name [N ~ approximate number of subscribers]
list address (i.e., the address to which posts may be sent)
<archive URL>
<search engine URL> (if any)
other information
2. An asterisk * preceding a list name indicates use of the full (not “lite”) version of the
powerful LISTSERV software. The software version is indicated by [nn.n] following that name.
As can be seen from the listing, many LISTSERVs utilize version 15.X – 16.X software.
Unfortunately the defective 15.0 and 15.5 versions used by some lists fail to properly hot-link
URL’s in the archives as seen by at least some mail/server systems, e.g., my own
Earthlink/MacOSX10.6.4 system. Of course, subscribers can always copy and paste cold URLs
into their browser windows. Since the 15.0 and 15.5 versions are defective, the upgrade to the
non-defective 16.X should be free, but list managers have shown little interest in upgrading
:-(.
An “[R]” preceding a list name indicates that access to the list archives is restricted to
subscribers. However, subscribing usually takes only a few minutes.
3. All URL’s are hot linked and were accessed on 5-9 August 2010. Some URL’s have been shortened
by <http://bit.ly/>. All URL’s are surrounded with angle brackets <URL> because such brackets
sometimes facilitate hot linking across line breaks.
4. Quotations “. . . .” in this report are sometimes annotated with inserts such as “. . . .[[insert]]. . . .”.
5. BLUE text indicates entries that are not standard Academic Discussion Lists: e.g., “Carnegie
Perspectives,” “National Teaching & Learning Forum” (NTLF), “Net-Gold,” “Oil Drum,” “Preparing
and Supporting Teachers of Undergraduate Mathematics” (PSTUM), “Project Kaleidiscope” (PKAL),
“Promising Practices in After School programs” (PPAS), “Tomorrow’s Professor, ” and “TLT-SWG,”
given for completeness because they provide academic forums, even though they are not standard
academic discussion lists (ADL’s).
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
2
AERA: <http://www.aera.net/> “American Educational Research Association”
AERA - List of AERA divisions <http://www.aera.net/divisions/?id=179>.
AERA - List of SIG’s <http://www.aera.net/Default.aspx?menu_id=26&id=274>.
AERA Archives <http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera.html>
All AERA lists employ LISTSERV 16.X software (not the defective 15.0 and 15.5) still used by many
discussion lists :-( ). The archives of AERA discussion lists, unlike many lists, are freely
accessible to all. SPAM’ers are prevented from harvesting email addresses by AERA’s simple strategy
of requiring log-in by AERA members before addresses are made visible. However, posting on AERA
lists now requires AERA membership. Unfortunately, few AERA members take advantage of the fine
AERA discussion lists set up for each AERA division by Gene Glass (see pages 3-4 below and Section
IIIBf below).
*AERA- A [16.0] (Administration, Organization, & Leadership) [N ~ 250]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-a.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-a>
*AERA-B [16.0] (Curriculum Studies Forum) [N ~ 200]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-b.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-b>
*AERA- C [16.0] (Learning & Instruction) [N ~ 370]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-c.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-c>
*AERA-D [16.0] (Measurement and Research Methodology) [N ~ 530]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-d.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-d>
*AERA-E [16.0] (Counseling and Human Development) [N ~ 60]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-e.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-e>
*AERA-F [16.0] (History and Historiography) [N ~ 50]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-f.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-f>
*AERA-G [16.0] (Social Context of Education) [N ~ 180]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-g.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-g>
3
*AERA-GS [16.0] (Graduate Studies Discussion Forum) [N = 1560]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-gs.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-gs>
*AERA-H [16.0] (School Evaluation and Program Development Forum) [N ~ 140]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-h.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-h>
*AERA-I [16.0] (Education in the Professions) [N ~ 60]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-i.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-i>
*AERA-J [16.0] (Postsecondary Education) [N ~ 250]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-j.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-j>
*AERA- K [16.0] (Teacher & Teacher Ed) [N ~ 320]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-k.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-k>
*AERA-L [16.0] (Politics and Policy in Education) [N ~ 250]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/archives/aera-l.html>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera-l>
*AERA_SIG_TEACHING_ED_PSYCHOLOGY [16.0] [N ~ 250]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AERA_TEP_SIG128-FORUM>
<http://listserv.aera.net/scripts/wa.exe?S1=aera_tep_sig128-forum
[R] AP-Biology (Advanced Placement Biology) [N ~ 4020]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-bio>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-bio>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/biology>
[R] AP-Calculus (Advanced Placement Calculus) [N ~ 5070]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-calculus>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-calculus>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/calculusab>
4
[R] AP-Chemistry (Advanced Placement Chemistry) [N ~ 3110]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-chem>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-chem>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/chemistry>
[R] AP-Compsci (Advanced Placement Computer Science) [N ~ 1910]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-compsci>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-compsci>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/compscia>
[R] AP-English (Advanced Placement English) [N ~ 6340]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-english>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-english>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/englang>
[R] AP-Econ(Advanced Placement Economics) [N ~ 1730]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-econ>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-apecon>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/econmacro>
[R] AP-EnvSci (AP Environmental Science) [N ~ 2080]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-envsci>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-envsci>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/envsci>
[R] AP-Geog (Advanced Placement Human Geography) [N ~ 1200]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-geog>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-geog>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/humangeo>
[R] AP-GovPol (Advanced Placement Government & Politics) [N ~ 2600]
<ap-govpol @lyris.collegeboard.com>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-govpol>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum= ap-govpol>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/govpolus>
[R] AP-Physics (Advanced Placement Physics) [N ~ 2420]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-physics>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-physics>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/physicsb>
5
[R] AP-Psych (Advanced Placement Psychology) [N ~ 1480]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-psych>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-psych>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/psych>
[R] AP-Stat (Advanced Placement Statistics) [N ~ 3620]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/?forum=ap-stat>
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/search/advanced?forum=ap-stat>
homepage <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/stats>
All AP Forums
<http://lyris.collegeboard.com/read/all_forums/>
To subscribe to a subject list click on “Subscribe” in the right-hand column.
[R] American Philosophy (Philosophy and Philosophy of Education) [N ~ 140]
<[email protected]>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/American-Philosophy>
<http://yhoo.it/bLJLHB>
Managed by Paulo Ghiraldelli <http://chaerophon.blogspot.com/>, formerly co-editor of
the journal Contemporary Pragmatism <http://www.rodopi.nl/senj.asp?SerieId=CP>
ARN-L (Assessment Reform Network) [N ~ 280 – as indicated by Eric Crump in an ARN-L post of 6
August 2010]
<[email protected]>
<http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives.html>
subscribe at <http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/subscribe.html>
no search engine :-(
information at <http://fairtest.org/get_involved/k-12>
Sponsored by FairTest <http://fairtest.org/>
* ASSESS [14.4] Assessment in Higher Education) [N ~ 1090]
<[email protected]>
<http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/assess.html>
<http://lsv.uky.edu/scripts/wa.exe?S1=assess>
Astrolrner [NASA Center for Astronomy Education’s (CAE’s) academic discussion group
for those interested in improving astronomy teaching and learning.] [N ~ 850]
<[email protected]>
<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/astrolrner/>
<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/astrolrner/msearch_adv>
6
[R] BIOLAB (Issues and information related to college biology teaching) [N ~ 600]
<[email protected]>
No automatically compiled archives! :-(
Homepage: <http://biology.clemson.edu:591/biolab/home.htm>
The homepage states: “Messages posted to Biolab are the intellectual property of
their authors. Please respect the rights of Biolab contributors: do not reprint or repost messages without the author's permission.” Thus the list manager has chosen to
disregard the fair-use provision of U.S. Copyright law – see Section IIIAb.
Information File: <http://biology.clemson.edu:591/biolab/info.htm>
Very heavily moderated
*BIOPI-L [14.5] (Biology Teacher Enhancement) [N ~ 230]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.ksu.edu/archives/biopi-l.html>
<http://listserv.ksu.edu/web?S1=biopi-l&X=->
The heading at <http://listserv.ksu.edu/archives/biopi-l.html>: Secondary Biology Teacher
Enhancement PI is evidently of only historical interest. Judging from the posts, the current list is
devoted to Biology Education generally.
Carnegie Perspectives (“A different way to think about teaching and learning”)
<http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/perspectives/>
List of conversations is at:
<http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/perspectives/index.asp?key=92> - see, e.g., Gomez (2010).
One may add her/his comments to more recent entries.
See also Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
<http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/>
*Chemed-L [15.0] (Chemistry Education Discussion List) [N ~ 900]
<[email protected]>
<http://mailer.uwf.edu/archives/chemed-l.html>
<http://mailer.uwf.edu/listserv/wa.exe?S1=chemed-l>
COMMUNITARIAN ECONOMICS [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
<https://hermes.gwu.edu:443/archives/comnetse.html>
The last posts were in November 2005. This list is probably dead.
*CRTNET [15.5] (Communication Research and Theory Network) [N ~ 7300]
<[email protected]>
<http://lists1.cac.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=CRTNET>
<http://lists1.cac.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=CRTNET>
heavily moderated
CRTNET is a bitnet magazine about Communication Research & Theory. It is edited and
distributed by T3B@PSUVM (Tom Benson)
7
*Dewey-L [16.0] (John Dewey Discussion List) [N ~ 230]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.sc.edu/archives/dewey-l.html>
<http://listserv.sc.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=dewey-l>
[R] DieOff (Intelligent and informed discussion regarding the coming dieoff/peak-oil crisis.) [N ~ 1020]
<[email protected]>
<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/the_dieoff_QA/>
“This list was founded by Jay Hanson as a forum for intelligent and informed discussion regarding
the coming dieoff/peak-oil crisis. This is a scientific list which aims to be consistent with modern
science and history -- especially modern biology. It was specifically established for the five percent
of the population who are scientifically literate. *This is a POLITICALLY INCORRECT group. If
you just don't like political incorrectness, then go somewhere else. *This list attempts to remain
consistent with conventional science (and evolution theory!). If you want to discuss metaphysics, go
somewhere else. *If you are interested in energy, visit <http://www.theoildrum.com/> *If you don't
believe in limits to growth, evolution theory, overshoot, or peak oil, then go somewhere else. The
list owner reserves the right to edit or reject messages, and remove members whenever he chooses.”
*DrEd [15.5] (Medical Education Research and Development) [N ~ 1400]
<[email protected]>
<http://list.msu.edu/archives/dr-ed.html>
<http://list.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=dr-ed&X=->
EDDRA2 (Education Disinformation Detection and Reporting Agency - 2) [N ~ 70]
<[email protected]>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDDRA2/>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eddra/msearch_adv>
“This email list-serve is an attempt to continue the tradition of the late and irreplaceable Gerald
Bracey, who began the original EDDRA in 1991. If you don't know, Jerry was a tireless analyst and
critic of the all-too-common disinformation that is being passed off as fact in the area of education.
Quoting Jerry, ‘EDDRA is dedicated to analyzing reports, dispelling rumors, [and] rebutting lies
about public education in the United States.’
For clarity, here are some examples of those lies:
* Students in charter schools always out-perform their counterparts in normal public
schools.
* Teacher unions, veteran teachers and tenure are the main cause of massive failure in
inner-city public school systems.
* Standardized test results are the best (or only) way to measure success or failure in the
public schools.
* American public schools do much worse than those in __________ (other country –
take your pick).
* American public schools are total failures.
* If we make the learning and evaluation standards harder, then students will
automatically learn more. (And teachers will start doing their jobs.)
* and so on...
8
My intention is to avoid polemics, ad-hominem or nasty attacks, excessive invective, and opinion
pieces. The emphasis should be on facts and the exchange of pertinent information, rather than
personal anecdotes or philosophy. Humor is OK, but is not the major goal. Though at times it will
be hard to distinguish between fact and opinion, let us try to be civil and factual. Please REFLECT
before hitting the "send" button. Try to trim your emails so that you are only quoting the relevant
parts of the emails that you are responding to. . . . .[[Well said !! – consistent with “Fourteen
Posting Suggestions” (Hake, 2005)]]. . . .
This list will be moderated as necessary. To prevent spammers from joining, all memberships
will need to be approved. Please join us, and assist us in eschewing obfuscation! It's important!”
*EdResMeth [15.5] (Educational Research Methodology) [N ~ 670]
<[email protected]>
<http://bit.ly/b1PMo4>
Clicking on <http://bit.ly/b1PMo4> will elicit a dire warning: “The certificate for this website is
invalid. You might be connecting to a website that is pretending to be ‘[email protected],’ which could put your confidential information at risk. Would you like to
connect anyway?” Evidently the certifying body makes money by charging fees for “certifying,” but
EdResMeth does not wish to pay for “certification.” As far as I know, it’s perfectly safe to click on the
“Continue” button. For a Phys-L discussion on “certification” see <http://bit.ly/anIU3T>.
[R] *EDSTAT-L [15.5] (Teaching and Learning Statistics) [N ~ 300]
<[email protected]>
<http://lists.psu.edu/archives/edstat-l.html>
<http://bit.ly/9vGSgI >
List manager Dennis Roberts (now retired <http://bit.ly/a6SwiZ>) is virulently opposed to crossposting – see e.g., his covertly cross-posted post "Re: Fourteen Posting Suggestions" [Roberts
(2005)] and my response “In Defense of Cross Posting” [Hake (2005b)].
Epistemology [N ~ 1980]
<[email protected]>
<http://groups.google.com/group/epistemology?lnk=srg>
Search engine at top of above archive page
<http://groups.google.com/group/epistemology/about>
“You are invited to join our group to discuss epistemology and give your view on questions such as:
What is science, what is knowledge and what is logic? Are there absolute and universal rules? Is
quantum theory superior? Is there just one universe? How does research influence its outcome?”
*EVAL-SYS [16.0] (Systems in Evaluation) [N ~ 280]
<[email protected]>
<http://lists.evaluation.wmich.edu/archives/eval-sys.html>
<http://lists.evaluation.wmich.edu/scripts/wa.exe?S1=eval-sys>
[R] *EVALTALK [15.0] (American Evaluation Association Discussion List) [N ~ 2640]
<[email protected]>
<http://bama.ua.edu/archives/evaltalk.html>
<http://bama.ua.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=evaltalk&X=->
9
*FYA [16.0] (First Year Assessment) [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.sc.edu/archives/fya-list.html>
<http://listserv.sc.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=fya-list&X=->
heavily moderated
Google Groups <http://groups.google.com/>. A search engine is at <http://bit.ly/am46z6>. Since anyone
can set up a Google group free of charge, many Google groups are not “academic” in the sense of
“relating to education and scholarship,” and some are loaded with SPAM and crank messages.
See also “Google Groups Versus Yahoo Groups” [Stewart (2007)].
H-Net (Humanities and Social Science) <http://www.h-net.org/>
“H-Net is an international interdisciplinary organization of scholars and teachers dedicated to
developing the enormous educational potential of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Our edited
lists and web sites publish peer reviewed essays, multimedia materials, and discussion for colleagues
and the interested public. The computing heart of H-Net resides at MATRIX
<http://www2.matrix.msu.edu/>: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences Online,
Michigan State University, but H-Net officers, editors and subscribers come from all over the globe.”
[R] *HoPoS [16.0] (History of the Philosophy of Science) [N ~ 1040]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.vt.edu/archives/hopos-l.html>
<http://listserv.vt.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=hopos-l&X=->
Homepage <http://www.hopos.org/>
“The International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, is devoted to promoting
serious, scholarly research on the history of the philosophy of science. We construe this subject
broadly, to include topics in the history of related disciplines and in all historical periods, studied
through diverse methodologies. We aim to promote historical work in a variety of ways, but
especially through encouraging exchange among scholars through meetings, publications, and
electronic media.”
IFETS (International Forum of Educational Technology & Society) [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
Evidently No automatically compiled archives :-(
<http://ifets.ieee.org/search_engine.html> [a test search by typing “Kinshuk” (without the
quotes) into the “Search discussion archive” yielded 4371 hits on 3 Dec 2008, but none
of the first 200 were dated later than 2003.]
Homepage <http://ifets.ieee.org/>
(Endorsed by IEEE Technical Committee on Learning Technology)
10
[R] *ITFORUM [Listserv SoftwareVersion ??] (Instructional Technology Forum) [N ~ 2340]
<[email protected]>
<http://www.listserv.uga.edu/archives/itforum.html>,
<http://www.listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=itforum&X=->
Homepage <http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/index.html>
The list manager has chosen to disregard the fair-use provision of U.S. Copyright law – (see Section
IIIAb).
Very heavily moderated with an aversion to posts by those outside the insular IT community.
[R]*JourNet [15.5] (Discussion List for Journalism Education) [N ~ 430]
<[email protected]>
<http://bit.ly/9k95nl>
<http://bit.ly/bY1vvs>
K-12 System [N ~ 582]
<[email protected]>
<http://bit.ly/ccSpvH> [This is not the standard LISTSERV archive but is provided by
the "Creative Learning Exchange" <http://www.clexchange.org/>. For information see
<http://bit.ly/9AtJ2a>.]
LSET Group (Learning Sciences and Educational Technology Group) [N ~ 90]
<[email protected]>
<http://groups.google.com/group/learning-sciences/topics?hl=en>
About this group: <http://groups.google.com/group/learning-sciences/about?hl=en>
“Unofficial discussion and announcements forum for people interested in the Learning
Sciences: researching teaching, learning, and the design of learning environments and
educational technology.” Most of the posts are by Doug Holton (see his EdTechDev Blog
at <http://edtechdev.blogspot.com/>).
This group may have recently been disbanded – a sad loss to the ADLsphere.
*LRNASST-L [15.5](Learning Assistance Professionals) [N ~ 1380]
<[email protected]>
<http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/lrnasst-l.html>
<http://www.lists.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=LRNASST-L>
User Guide <http://www.teachingcenter.ufl.edu/lrnass>
*MathEdu [14.4] (An unmoderated distribution list discussing teaching and learning of post-calculus
mathematics) [N ~ 30]
<[email protected]>
<http://mathforum.org/kb/forum.jspa?forumID=185>
<http://bit.ly/aSYmol>
To find all the posts by someone whose last name is, say “Mathguru,” see under “Math “Discussion
Lists at MathForum-Drexel” below.
11
MathEDCC (Sponsored by MATYC, the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges.
Created by the Technology in Mathematics Education Committee (TiME); dedicated to discussions of
all topics relating to mathematics education) [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
<http://mathforum.org/kb/forum.jspa?forumID=184>
To find all the posts by someone whose last name is, say “Mathguru,” see under “Math “Discussion
Lists at MathForum-Drexel” below.
[R] Math-Learn [Courteous discussion (unlike Math-Teach) about the teaching of mathematics]
[N ~ 610]
<[email protected]>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/math-learn/>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/math-learn/msearch_adv>
[R] MathTalk (Math Education –managed by math reformer Michael Paul Goldenberg) [N ~ 370]
<[email protected]>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MathTalk>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MathTalk/msearch_adv>
Math-Teach (Discussion of teaching mathematics, including conversations about the NCTM
Standards – Math Wars battlefield with no holds barred!) [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
<http://mathforum.org/kb/forum.jspa?forumID=206>
<http://bit.ly/aHFnat>
To find all the posts by someone whose last name is, say “Mathguru,” see under “Math
“Discussion Lists at MathForum-Drexel” below.
Jerry Becker regularly posts valuable copyrighted news and journal articles on this openarchive list, in accord with the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law (see Section IIIAb).
12
Math Discussion Lists at MathForum-Drexel
<http://mathforum.org/kb/forumindex.jspa>
To see all the posts by someone whose last name is, say, “Mathguru” on any mathforum discussion
list, say “X” (there may be an easier way - please let me know if there is one):
(a) click on the search engine URL <http://bit.ly/aHFnat> and then:
(b) type “Mathguru” (without the quotes here and below) into the “Search Terms” slot; select:
mathforum discussion list “X” in the “Discussion(s)” slot and “All” in the “Date Range” slot;
leave the “Username or User ID” slot blank; then click on the “Search” button;
(c) find a post by “Mathguru” and click on it’s title to:
(d) obtain a page with “Mathguru” at the top left corner of the gray-shaded region; then click on
“Mathguru” to obtain:
(e) “Mathguru’s” profile, wherein “Mathguru’s” “UserID” is displayed; copy “Mathguru’s”
“UserID” for use in step “g” below,
(f) click on the search engine URL <http://bit.ly/aHFnat>;
(g) paste “Mathguru’s” “UserID” from step “e” into the “Username or User ID” slot, leaving all
other slots blank; then click on the “Search” button to finally obtain links to all “Mathguru’s”
posts.
Compare the above arduous MathForum search for all posts by “Mathguru” with the easy
LISTSERV search – using, say, POD’s search engine at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=pod>: To find all the posts by “Mathguru” simply type
“Mathguru” into the “Author's Address” slot! (Of course, this fails if “Mathguru” doesn’t
place her/his last name in her/his email address.)
[R] *Multilevel Modeling [N ~ 1560]
<[email protected]>
<http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/multilevel.html>
<http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?S1=multilevel&X=->
“This list is for people using multilevel analysis (multilevel modelling; hierarchical data
analysis) and any associated software (e.g. MLn/MlWin, HLM, VARCL, GENMOD). It aims to
promote discussion, mutual support and the spread of information (e.g. conferences, workshops,
new software).”
[R] National Teaching & Learning Forum (NTLF)
<http://www.ntlf.com>
James Rhem, Ph.D. Executive Editor
If your institution does not have a subscription, then, in my opinion, it should.
Usually the feature article of each issue may be freely downloaded – for the latest volume 19(4)
it’s Ed Nuhfer’s “DEVELOPER`S DIARY: A Fractal Thinker Designs Deep Learning Exercises:
Metacognitive Reflection with a Rubric Wrap-Up - Educating in Fractal Patterns XXIX, Part 4”;
online as a 127 kB pdf at <http://bit.ly/azvrUi>.
13
NaturalMath [N ~ 310]
<[email protected]>
<http://groups.google.com/group/naturalmath?lnk=srg>
Search engine at top of above archive page
<http://groups.google.com/group/naturalmath/about>
“We discuss ways to help individuals and groups create mathematics together. We are changing the
culture to where children and adults will make mathematics beautiful, useful, meaningful and fun.”
For list manager Maria Droujkova’s rule against “meta-discussion” see <http://bit.ly/cWhsEY>.
Maria writes: “Meta-discussion is the discussion about discussion, for example, about participants,
discussion platforms, discussion rules and styles. Just like self-referential statements in logic lead to
paradoxes (‘This sentence is a lie!’), meta-discussion can be very disruptive, particularly in textonly environments.” I hope that Maria does not wish to prohibit mention of posts on other
discussion lists (please correct me if I’m wrong).
NetGold (Resource group) [N ~ 1040]
<[email protected]>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold/>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/msearch_adv>
“NetGold is a RESOURCE group with a specific purpose: sharing by its members of important,
informative and useful Internet and sometimes other resources for learning and improvement of
skills.”
Oil Drum (Discussions about energy and our future.) [18,600 “readers”]
<http://www.theoildrum.com/>
<http://www.theoildrum.com/special/archives>
“The Oil Drum's mission is to facilitate civil, evidence-based discussions about energy and its
impact on our future. We near the point where new oil production cannot keep up with increased
energy demand and the depletion of older oil fields, resulting in a decline of total world oil
production. Because we are increasingly dependent upon petroleum, declining production has the
potential to disrupt our lives through much higher prices and fuel shortages. The extent of the
impact of this supply shortfall will depend on its timing, the magnitude of production decline rates,
the feasibility of petroleum alternatives, and our ability to curtail energy consumption.”
*PBL[16.0] (Problem Based Learning) [N ~ 220]
<[email protected]>
<http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/pbl.html>
<http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?S1=pbl>
Peirce-L (Peirce Discussion Forum) [N ~ 520]
<[email protected]>
<http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/?forum=peirce-l>
<http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/search/advanced?forum=peirce-l>
Peirce-L homepage <http://www.cspeirce.com/menu/people/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm>
Joseph Ransdell’s homepage <http://www.cspeirce.com/homepage/ransdell.htm>
ARISBE: The Peirce Gateway <http://www.cspeirce.com/welcome.htm>
14
Phys-L (Physics Education) [N ~ 700]
<[email protected]>
<https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/archives>
Clicking on <https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/archives> will elicit a dire warning: “The certificate
for this website is invalid. You might be connecting to a website that is pretending to be
‘carnot.physics.buffalo.edu’, which could put your confidential information at risk. Would you like
to connect anyway?” Evidently the certifying body makes money by charging fees for “certifying,”
but Phys-L (rightfully) does not wish to pay for a useless “certification.” As far as I know, it’s
perfectly safe to click on the “Continue” button – for a Phys-L discussion on “certification” see
<http://bit.ly/anIU3T>.
Search widow at top of archives
Phys-L Homepage <https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/>
Phys-L/Physhare Subscriber Websites are at <http://bit.ly/amVF7g>.
[R] *PhysLrnR [14.5] (Physics Learning Research List) [N ~ 520]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/physlrnr.html>
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=physlrnr&X=->
[R] *Physhare [15.5] (Secondary physics education) [N ~ 550]
<[email protected]>
<http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=PHYSHARE>
<http://bit.ly/bchVZg>
Physhare FAQ (Homepage) <http://www.geocities.com/physhare/>
[R]*PHYSOC [14.5] (Education about physics-related social topics) [N ~ 260]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.uark.edu/archives/physoc.html>
<http://listserv.uark.edu/scripts/wa.exe?S1=physoc&X=->
*POD [15.5] (Professional & Organization Development Network in Higher Education) [N ~ 1440]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.nd.edu/archives/pod.html>
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=pod>
POD Homepage <http://www.podnetwork.org/>
[R] *PPAS [15.5] (Promising Practices in After School programs) [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.aed.org/archives/ppas.html>
<http://bit.ly/bnbBMr>
This list has evidently been transformed into a one-way channel for posts by Oscar Medrano of the
AED (Academy for Educational Development). At <http://www.aed.org/Projects/afterschool.cfm>
it is stated that the former “Promising Practices in After School programs” is no longer active.
15
Project Kaleidiscope (PKAL) [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
<http://discuss.pkal.org/pipermail/all-pkal/>
no search engine :-(
Information page <http://discuss.pkal.org/mailman/listinfo/all-pkal>
PSTUM (Preparing and Supporting Teachers of Undergraduate Mathematics [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
<http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/pipermail/pstum-list>
no search engine :-(
Managed by clicker guru Derek Bruff <http://derekbruff.com/site/>, now at Vanderbilt, who
evidently initiated the list when at Harvard.
[R] *PsychTeacher [15.0] (Society for Teaching of Psychology Discussion List) [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
<http://list.kennesaw.edu/archives/psychteacher.html>
<http://bit.ly/bMymau>
Info at <http://teachpsych.org/news/psychteacher.php> and
<http://teachpsych.org/news/psychteacherrules.php>
Very heavily moderated with an insular aversion to posts by non-psychologists.
[R] QUE (Quality in Undergraduate Education) [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
homepage <http://www.gsu.edu/que>
Restricted Lists for Biology, Chemistry, English, History, & Math. QUE is a “project
sponsored by the Education Trust & the National Association of System Heads in
association with Georgia State University.” It promotes “standards based” education.
At <http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwque/communications.html> it is stated that “ We encourage
you to subscribe by sending an e-mail to <[email protected]> with no title and
text of the message being only, e.g., “subscribe quemath Firstname Lastname.”
However, so doing on 5 August 2010 yielded a “Mail delivery failed” message. Therefore this list
may be inactive.
RUME (Research in Undergraduate Mathematics) [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
<http://betterfilecabinet.com/pipermail/rume_betterfilecabinet.com/>
No Search Engine :-(
General information about the list is at:
<http://betterfilecabinet.com/mailman/listinfo/rume_betterfilecabinet.com>
heavily moderated
SCI.Econ Group (The science of economics)
<[email protected]>
<http://groups.google.com/group/sci.econ?hl=en>
16
*SCLISTSERV [15.5] (Precision Teaching/Standard Celeration Charting) [N ~ 270]
<[email protected]>
<http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=SCLISTSERV&X=&Y=>
<http://bit.ly/bXwppH>
“Precision teaching is basing educational decisions on changes in
continuous self-monitored performance frequencies displayed on
standard celeration charts."
Ogden Lindsley (1992), a disciple of B.F. Skinner, is evidently the founder of Precision
Teaching and inventor of the “Standard Celeration Chart.”
Lindsley, O.R. (1992). “Precision teaching: discoveries and effects,”
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 25: 51-57, online at
<http://www.fluency.org/lindsley1992a.pdf> (476 kB).
For other references see <http://www.fluency.org/>
[R] *SEMNET [15.0] (Structural Equation Modeling) [N ~ 2140]
<[email protected]>
<http://bama.ua.edu/archives/semnet.html>
<http://bama.ua.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=semnet&X=->
*STLHE-L [16.0] (Forum for Teaching & Learning in Higher Education – based in Canada) [N ~ 710]
<[email protected]>
<https://listserv.unb.ca/archives/stlhe-l.html>
<https://listserv.unb.ca/cgi-bin/wa?S1=stlhe-l>
Talking Measurement (History, philosophy, and application of measurement)
<talking-measurement @googlegroups.com>
<http://groups.google.com/group/talking-measurement/topics>
Search engine at top of above archive page.
<http://groups.google.com/group/talking-measurement/about>
“Talking measurement is a discussion group for researchers of all disciplines who are interested in
the history, philosophy, and application of measurement. A core focus is the state of 'measurement'
in the social sciences and how it relates to the physical sciences.”
TAP-L (Technical Aspects of Physics Labs and Lectures) [N ~ ??]
<[email protected]>
<http://lists.ncsu.edu/cgi-bin/digest?list=tap-l>
Rudimentary search engine at top of archives.
*TeamLearning-L [15.5] TBL (Team-Based Learning) [N ~ 350]
<[email protected]>
<http://list.olt.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/wa?A0=TEAMLEARNING-L>
<http://list.olt.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/wa?S1=TEAMLEARNING-L&Y>
Very heavily moderated with an insular aversion to posts not directly related to the technicalities of
TBL.
17
TIPS (Teaching In the Psychological Sciences) [N ~ 560, private communication of 25 July 2010 from
list manager Bill Southerly]
<[email protected]>>
<http://www.mail-archive.com/tips%40fsulist.frostburg.edu/>
Rudimentary search engine at top of archives.
Homepage <http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm>
Archive intro <http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/archive.htm>
[R] *TLT-SWG (Teaching, Learning, Technology- S.W. Gilbert - formerly AAHESGIT
<http://listserv.nd.edu/archives/tlt-swg.html>
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=tlt-swg&X=->
last listserv post in Nov 2006 – evidently used primarily for announcements by Gilbert
homepage <http://www.tltgroup.org/>
Blog at <http://tlt-swg.blogspot.com/>
Tomorrow’s Professor Mailing List (“Desktop Faculty Development, 100 times a year”
<http://ctl.stanford.edu/Tomprof/postings.html>
Discussion center: “The Tomorrow’s Professor Blog,” at
<http://amps-tools.mit.edu/tomprofblog/>
heavily moderated
*TrDev-L [15.5] (Training and Development List) [N ~ 400]
<[email protected]>
<http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=trdev-l&X>
<http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=TRDEV-L&D=0&T=0&X>
*Twain-L [14.5] (Mark Twain Forum) [N ~ 400]
<[email protected]>
<http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/twain-l.html>
<https://listserv.yorku.ca/cgi-bin/wa?S1=twain-l>
moderated
[R] *UGMATHEDU [14.5] (Undergraduate Math Education) [N ~ ?]
<[email protected]>
<http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/ugmathedu.html>
[R] *WBTOLL-L [15.5?] (Web Based Training Online Learning Discussion) [N ~ 1210]
<[email protected]>
<http://hermes.gwu.edu/archives/wbtoll-l.html>
<http://hermes.gwu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=wbtoll-l&X=->
18
[R] WilliamJames (William James Group) [N ~ 200]
<[email protected]>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/james_william/>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/james_william/msearch_adv>
See also:
William James site <http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/james.html#chats>
William James Society <http://www.pragmatism.org/societies/william_james.htm>
Pragmatism Cybrary <http://www.pragmatism.org/default.htm>
Pragmatism Discussion Lists
<http://www.pragmatism.org/internet/discussion.htm>
Yahoo Groups <http://groups.yahoo.com/>. A search engine is provided at that URL. Many Yahoo
Groups are not “academic” in the sense of “relating to education and scholarship.” Since anyone
can set up a Yahoo group free of charge, many Yahoo groups are not “academic” in the sense of
“relating to education and scholarship,” and some are loaded with SPAM and crank messages..
See also “Google Groups Versus Yahoo Groups” [Stewart (2007)].
19
II. Some Strengths of Academic Discussion Lists (ADL’s)*
A. ADL’s Allow Tunneling Through Interdisciplinary Barriers
As emphasized in “What Can We Learn from the Biologists About Research, Development, and
Change in Undergraduate Education?” [Hake (1999)], ADL's provide an effective but seldom-used
mechanism for tunneling through interdisciplinary barriers, caused in part by the traditional
departmental structure of universities. This underutilized potential is schematically indicated by a
cartoon on page 3 of that article, online as a 204 kB pdf at <http://bit.ly/brgk1E> and reproduced
below:
Fig. 1. A schematic illustrating the thus-far unrealized potential of discussion lists for promoting
interdisciplinary synergy and thus hastening the glacial pace of education reform: “Change requires
ongoing interaction among communities of people and institutions that will reinforce and drive reform.
……. educators need to form 'invisible colleges’ resembling the national and international research
communities.” From Analysis to Action [NSF (1996)].
________________________________________________________
*Based in part on material in “Over Two-Hundred Education & Science Blogs” [Hake (2009b)] and “Re: The value
of email discussion lists” [Hake (2009d)].
20
B. In “Over Two-Hundred Education & Science Blogs” [Hake (2009b)] I wrote:
Discussion lists running on the popular LISTSERV <http://www.lsoft.com/> software feature
excellent archives and powerful search engines that allow searches by keywords, author, subject
title, date, or any combination of those. I know of no such search engines in the Blogosphere.
C. Amitai and Oren Etzioni (1997) in "Communities: Virtual vs. Real" wrote (paraphrasing):
“Virtual on-line communities complement and reinforce ‘real’ off-line communities and have
several advantages over the latter, e.g.:
1. easy communication over national borders and time zones;
2. inclusion of homebound (aged, ill, or handicapped) people;
3. accommodation of more individuals than off-line meeting rooms;
4. strong memories;
5. high safety;
6. allowance for exploration of new relationships and identities – as documented by
MIT's Sherry Turkle (1997), and
7. indifference to physical appearance and off-line identity.” Who would read the present report
if it were known that I’m a bloodhound?
R.R. Hake
D. Gerald Grow (2009) of the JourNet list, in his post “The value of email discussion lists”
perceptively listed the following advantages of ADL’s (slightly edited):
1. They provide "push" technology. . . .[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push–pull_strategy]]. . . . .:
You check your email anyway, and listserves push the discussion to your attention then. You don't
have to log into a separate location to reach a listserve. . . . .[[but some who subscribe to
LISTSERVs prefer to use ADL’s as “pull” technology: they subscribe to LISTSERVs in the
NOMAIL option allowing them to post as any time, then monitor posts (see section IVC) on the
archives when time allows, thus saving time, hard drive space, and sanity]]. . . . .
2. They are interactive: You can participate, contribute, respond.
3. They are generative: You can create articles, posts, comments. You can originate a discussion
thread.
4. They are user-modifiable: You can change the settings on when and how you receive them.
5. They are social networking: People connect with people of similar interests, in groups with
focused purposes.
6. Listserves are collaborative: People discuss, form teams, work together on projects, exchange
work products.
21
7. They are linked: People on listserves regularly provide links to other sources.
8. They are fast: While Web 2.0 sites are often graphics-intensive and server-intensive and can at
times become slow, listserves can run on any software rarely slow or falter. They work, they work
well, they are reliable.
9. They are contextual: When there is no activity . . . . you don't get any messages. When there is
activity, you do. . . . . . .[[but as pointed out above, on LISTSERVs one can maintain sanity and
hard-drive space by subscribing in the NOMAIL option, thus receiving NO MAIL from the list
while being free to browse the archives and post at one's leisure]]. . . . When members consider a
topic significant, it gets lots of responses. When members consider it insignificant, it gets few.
There is a kind of gatekeeping by consensus. . . .[[but my experience has been that (a) the
"gatekeeping" sometimes tends to favor the trivial over the substantive; and (b) a post that initiates
few if any responses may nevertheless attract considerable attention, as judged by the number of
clicks on URL’s contained within that post – see e.g. “Information Propagation in the ADLsphere
(Hake, in preparation)]] . . . . . .
10. On top of that, listserves are cheap, low-maintenance, comparatively low-tech, efficient methods
of targeted communication.
11. And, unlike most Web 2.0 technology, they can be carried out without the support of
advertising. . . . . . .
D. Internet guru Dave Dillard (2009), manager of NetGold, in “Re: The value of email discussion
lists,” wrote (paraphrasing):
1. Unlike blogs, ADL’s are participative and not limited to an owner making comments on whatever
topic and others then posting responses.
2. One can follow any post on any ADL with comments about any other topic.
3. It’s important to realize that ADL’s are not limited to those using LISTSERV software. . . . [[see
Section IVA “What’s a LISTSERV” below”]]. . . . . Google Groups <http://groups.google.com/>
and Yahoo Groups <http://groups.yahoo.com/> are very extensive collections of groups run in a
manner similar to that of LISTSERV. . . . . .[[but, since anyone, for free, can set up a group, many
Goggle and Yahoo groups are not “academic” in the sense of “relating to education and
scholarship,” and some carry posts that are loaded with SPAM and crank messages]]. . . . . On
Yahoo lists, one can also run a links collection, a photograph section, and have public or private
sections as the list owners wishes.
4. One vital and very important aspect of a discussion group is the availability of its content
publically on the web. For private groups and social networking groups such as Facebook,
MySpace, LinkedIn, etc., there has been no indexing of content by search engines. . . .[[and, more
seriously, Allan Badiner (2010) has accused Facebook of selling the private information it collects
to marketers.]]. . . . .
5. For example, one interested in the post about Listservs by Gerald Grow (2009) can easily search
Google <http://www.google.com/> for ["gerald grow" journet] (with the quotes “….” but without
the square brackets [….]) to obtain 778 hits (as of 5 August 2010 10:11:00-0700) at
<http://bit.ly/cUGXnR>
22
6. . . . . [[LIST OWNERS TAKE NOTE!!]]. . . . It is a good idea to back up one’s list on more than
one server, given my experience with Yahoo Groups in May 2004 when NetGold permanently
disappeared. This is just good insurance that the valuable contributions to an ADL will be less likely
to be permanently lost.
7. Having an archived discussion group also provides the opportunity for indexing its content
through the use of search engines as I. . . .[[Dillard]]. . . . have done for NetGold at
<http://bit.ly/aDlxq3> and, more importantly <http://bit.ly/bnvW9c>.
8. Applications such as “5” and “7” above are examples of why ADL’s are very likely to remain a
strong and important part of the internet scene and culture. Those who join and participate in such
groups strengthen this method of communication.
III. Some Weaknesses of Academic Discussion Lists (ADL’s): Many ADL’s Fail to
Foster Growth of a Community’s Capability*
In my opinion, many ADL's fail [paraphrasing Roschelle and Pea (1999)] “to move beyond forums
for exchanging insular tidbits and opinions, to structures which rapidly capture knowledge-value
and foster rapid accumulation and growth of the community's capability . . . providing tools to allow
contributors to share partially completed resources, and enable others to improve upon them.”
Among reasons for the failure are these nine (three due to list owners; and six due to subscribers or
potential subscribers):
A. Some ADL list owners:
a. Regard cross-posting as sinful rather than synergistic, evidently wishing their lists to remain
inbred and isolated – outstanding examples are EdStat-L, ITForum, PsychTeacher, and
TeamLearning-L - see, e.g. : “Cross-Posting - Synergistic or Sinful?” (Hake, 2005a); "In Defense
of Cross Posting" (Hake, 2005b); “The Insularity of Education Research” (Hake, 2005c); and
“Cognitive Science and Physics Education Research: ‘What we’ve got here is a failure to
communicate’ ” [Hake (2007a)].
b. Do not recognize the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law as provided for in section 107 of
the US Copyright Law, Title 17), according to which copyrighted material (including discussion-list
posts) can be distributed, if it’s done so without profit, to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information
see at <http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> and “Is Permission Required to Place
EDDRA Posts On Other Discussion Lists?” [Hake (2007b)]. Examples of lists for which “fair use”
is not recognized are BIOLAB and ITFORUM.
c. Utilize antediluvian software that does not provide useful archives and/or search engines.
_________________________________________________
*Based in part on material in “Over Two-Hundred Education & Science Blogs” [Hake (2009b)] and “Re:
The weaknesses of email discussion lists” [Hake (2009c)].
23
B. Some ADL subscribers or potential subscribers:
a. Ignore common-sense posting suggestions [Hake (2005d,e)] that would facilitate efficient
communication;
b. Are unfamiliar with the technical and social aspects of ADL’s as addressed by Dan MacIsaac
(2000) in his valuable article “Communities of on-line physics educators.” A cursory Google search
failed to uncover counterparts for other disciplines, although a listing of Chemistry discussion lists
was found at Indiana University’s CHEMINFO (2003);
c. Fail to utilize definitive academic references which recognize the invention of the internet, or to
even notice such references in posts, except to inveigh against them as “busywork” [Eckel (2003)];
d. Do not take advantage of hot linking - a prime but drastically underused capability of the internet,
see e.g., “Re: Non randomized and non regression discontinuity studies on governance programs”
[Hake (2010a,b,c)] – why are inhabitants of the ADLsphere (ADL’ers) so reticent to accept the
precious gift of physicist-turned-computer-scientist Tim Berners-Lee
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee > that allows material to be brought to the computer
screens of others with the click of a mouse?
e. Fail to operationally define pedagogic terms – see e.g., Hake (2010d,e) – even despite the “antipositivist vigilantes [Phillips (1995, 2000)].
f. Appear reticent to engage in discussions of educational research, development, or assessment –
the outstanding example being most of AERA’s 25,000 members, even despite: (a) the excellent
AERA ADL’s set up by Gene Glass for each AERA division, and (b) the fact that membership is
described at <http://www.aera.net> as composed of “educators; administrators; directors of
research; persons working with testing or evaluation in federal, state and local agencies; counselors;
evaluators; graduate students; and behavioral scientists.”
For a discussion of “f” above see “Why Aren’t AERA Discussion Lists More Active?” [Hake
(2005f)].
24
IV. LISTSERV utilization:
A. What’s a LISTSERV?
LISTSERV is a trademark of L-Soft <http://www.lsoft.com/>. Although many discussion lists (e.g.,
AERA lists, EvalTalk, PhysLrnR, POD, and others - see those preceded by an asterisk in the
APPENDIX ) utilize L-soft software and may properly be called "listservs" a more general term is
"discussion lists" (DL's). Incidentally LISTSERV software provides marvelous archives searchable
by keyword, author, subject, date, or any combination of those. Why do some Academic Discussion
Lists (ADL's) forego use of easily searchable archives by utilizing antediluvian software? Probably
because LISTSERV software is relatively expensive (whereas lists can be set up for free on Google
and Yahoo groups. For a catalog of LISTSERV lists see <http://www.lsoft.com/catalist.html>.
B. Subscribing & Unsubscribing
For LISTSERV archives it takes only a few minutes to subscribe and then unsubscribe by clicking
on (a) the archive URL, and then (b) "Join or leave the list." If you’re an irregular user, rather than
unsubscribe after using the archives, it's easier to subscribe in the first place using the "NOMAIL"
option under "Miscellaneous." Then, as a subscriber, you may access the archives and/or post
messages at any time, while receiving NO MAIL from the list, thereby conserving time, hard-drive
space, and sanity.
C. Monitoring Posts
1. To monitor posts on the newer LISTSERV 15.X and 16.X software [whose advantages are
explained to list managers at <http://www.lsoft.com/products/listserv_150.asp>,
<http://www.lsoft.com/products/listserv_155.asp>, and
<http://www.lsoft.com/products/listserv_160.asp>, and to subscribers who click on the “?” button
near the top right of the screen:
a. click on the archive URL,
b. click on the month and year of interest,
c. in “Options” at the top of the page select “Show Table of Contents,”
d. under “Subject” the subjects will be listed in alphabetical order with posts under each subject
in chronological or reverse chronological order in accord with the clickable word “Subject” in
the column heading,
e. to order ALL posts in chronological or reverse chronological order (SO AS TO EASILY
MONITOR POSTS), click on the word “Date” in the third from left column heading.
f. scan the titles and authors of posts that have arrived since your last visit, and examine only
those which appear worthwhile.
2. To monitor posts on the older LISTSERV 14.X software
a. click on the week(s) or months of interest,
b. arrange the posts chronologically by clicking on "Date" in the "Sort by" menu at the top of the
page (or in some cases the icon second from the left with the sheets numbered #1,2 ).
25
V. References [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/>; all URL’s accessed on 5-9 August 2010].
Badiner, A. 2010. “How Facebook Betrayed Users and Undermined Online Privacy: Facebook has
collected loads of private information about their users - information that is being sold to marketers,”
AlterNet, 9 Aug; online at <http://bit.ly/cPwi2H>.
Chasteen, S. 2010a. “Blogs and Twitter feeds for Physics Education Research (PER)-Related Topics,”
online at <http://bit.ly/dstorl> - may be updated by users. For Stephanie’s profile see
<http://www.diigo.com/profile/schasteen>.
Chasteen, S. 2010b. List of social media bookmarks, online <http://bit.ly/dsZe9y>.
Chasteen, S. 2010c. “Facing Facebook: Social Media In and Out of the Classroom,” talk at the AAPT
Portland Meeting, 20 July, online at <http://bit.ly/bJ3SWs> by means of PREZI <http://bit.ly/bJ3SWs>.
CHEMINFO. 2003. “Listserves, Discussion Lists, and Newsgroups for Chemistry,” online at
<http://www.indiana.edu/~cheminfo/listserv.html>.
Dillard, D.P. 2009. “Re: The value of email discussion lists,” JourNet post of 14 Nov 2009 09:19:190500; online at <http://bit.ly/a2OY3E>. See also Grow (2009). To access the archives of JourNet one
needs to subscribe, but that takes only a few minutes by clicking on <http://bit.ly/cGsot6> and then
entering one's email address and a password of one's choosing.
Eckel, E. 2003. “Re: The bad effects of physics first.” PhysLrnR post of 23 Nov 2003 08:06:45-0500;
online at <http://bit.ly/aoM4Md>.
Etzioni, A. & O. Etzioni. 1997. "Communities: Virtual vs. Real,” editorial, Science 277: 29 and (as befits
the theme) online at <http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/etzioni/E30.html>.
Networked Improvement Communities: the Time is Right for the Ties that Bind,” Carnegie Perspectives,
April; online at <http://bit.ly/bbROaS>
Gomez, L. 2010. “Networked Improvement Communities: the Time is Right for the Ties that Bind:
Carnegie Senior Partner Louis Gomez explores the tools and routines of networked communities for
educational improvement,” Carnegie Perspectives, April; online at <http://bit.ly/bbROaS>.
Grow, G. 2009. “The value of email discussion lists,” JourNet post of 14 Nov 2009 08:09:52-0500; online
at <http://bit.ly/daJ7bp >. See also Dillard (2009). To access the archives of JOURNET one needs to
subscribe, but that takes only a few minutes by clicking on <http://bit.ly/cGsot6> and then entering one's
email address and a password of one's choosing. I thank Dave Dillard, manager of NetGold for calling
my attention to this post. Gerald Grow’s valuable Home Page is at <http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow/> see especially “How to Write Badly” at <http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow/Badly.html>.
Hake, R.R. 1999. “What Can We Learn from the Biologists About Research, Development, and Change
in Undergraduate Education?” AAPT Announcer 29(4): 99 (1999); online at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/WhatLearn-013100g.pdf> (204K). Fig. 1 on p. 16 of the present
report is taken from p. 3 of that report.
26
Hake, R.R. 2003. “Re: Lively Academic Listservs,” online at
<http://bit.ly/b7QGC0>. Post of 5 Dec 2003 16:02:18-0800 to POD, PhysLrnR, & Physhare. The
APPENDIX contained a list of academic discussion lists, now superseded by the present list.
Hake, R.R. 2005a. “Cross-Posting - Synergistic or Sinful?” Post of 1 Nov 2005 08:37:12-0800 to
ITFORUM and AERA-L; online at at <http://bit.ly/arFlkd>.
Hake, R.R. 2005b. “In Defense of Cross Posting,” online at <http://bit.ly/9V0LtO>. Post of 24 Jul 2005
21:54:34-0700 to AERA-C, AERA-D, AERA-G, AERA-GSL, AERA-H, AERA-I, AERA-J, AERA-K,
AERA-L, ASSESS, BioLab, Biopi-L, EvalTalk, Math-Learn, PhysLrnR, POD, STLHE-L,
TeachingEdPsych, & TIPS.
Hake, R.R. 2005c. “The Insularity of Educational Research,” online at
<http://bit.ly/9jlvFg>. Post of 21 May 2005 12:11:27-0700 to AERA-L and PhysLrnR. URL's of
interesting discussion lists are given in the APPENDIX – an augmentation and updating of the list given
in "Re: Lively Academic Listservs" [Hake (2003)], but now superseded by the present list.
Hake, R.R. 2005d. “Fourteen Posting Suggestions,” online at <http://bit.ly/b1H20Y>. Post of 23 Jul 2005
11:38:29-0400 to AERA-C, AERA-G, AERA-GSL, AERA-H, AERA-I, AERA-J, AERA-K, AERA-L,
ASSESS, EvalTalk, Math-Learn, PhysLrnR, POD, STLHE-L, TeachingEdPsych, and TIPS.
Hake, R.R. 2005e. “Fourteen Posting Suggestions (was Extraneous, arrogant, stupid, grossly-misinformed
computer OS comments...)” online at <http://bit.ly/bEKBeL>. Post of 25 Jul 2005 16:25:2-0700 to APPhysics, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, Physhare, and Physoc.
Hake, R.R. 2005f. “Why Aren't AERA Discussion Lists More Active?” online at <http://bit.ly/bNU4FQ>.
Post of 11 Jun 2005 11:44:58-0700 to AERA-C, AERA-D, AERA-G, AERA-GSL, AERA-H, AERA-I,
AERA-J, AERA-K, AERA-TchEdPsych, and PhysLrnR.
Hake, R.R. 2007a. “Cognitive Science and Physics Education Research: What We've Got Here Is Failure
to Communicate,”submitted to the Journal of Learning Sciences on 10 October 2007; online as s 588 kB
pdf at <http://bit.ly/azCRG8> and as ref. 51 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>. “What We’ve
Got Here Is Failure to Communicate,” is a famous line from 1967 film Cool Hand Luke
<http://bit.ly/dufmjz>.
Hake, R.R. 2007b. “Is Permission Required to Place EDDRA Posts On Other Discussion Lists?”
EDDRA post of 1 Jun 2007 11:18 am, online at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eddra/message/3400>.
Hake, R.R. 2008. “Language Ambiguities in Education Research,” submitted to the Journal of Learning
Sciences on 21 August but rejected – proof positive of an exemplary article; online at
<http://bit.ly/bHTebD> and as ref. 54 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>.
Hake, R.R. 2009a. “Academic Discussion Lists: Faculty Lounges, Collective Short-Term Working
Memories, or Academic Journals?” Hake’sEdStuff blog post of 20 May 2009, online with provision for
comments at <http://bit.ly/aACiur>. See also Grow (2009) and Hake (2009b,c,d)
Hake, R.R. 2009b. “Over Two-Hundred Education & Science Blogs,” 30 March; online as a 2.6 MB pdf
at <http://bit.ly/adz77c> (2.6 MB). See also Chasteen (2010a,b,c).
27
Hake, R.R. 2009c. “Re: The weaknesses of email discussion lists,” online on the OPEN! AERA-L
archives at <http://bit.ly/bfsPut>. Post of 25 Nov 2009 20:22:25 -0800 to AERA-L, JourNet, & NetGold.
Hake, R.R. 2009d. “Re: The value of email discussion lists,” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at
<http://bit.ly/bEB8XV>. Post of 23 Nov 2009 12:07:47-0800 to AERA-L, JourNet, & Net-Gold.
Hake, R.R. 2010a. “Re: Non randomized and non regression discontinuity studies on governance
programs #3,” EvalTalk post of 10 Jul 2010 08:05:09-0700; online at <http://bit.ly/alxED6>.
Hake, R.R. 2010b. “Re: Non randomized and non regression discontinuity studies (International English
Version)” EvalTalk post of 10 Jul 2010 10:05:52-0700; online at <http://bit.ly/alxED6>.
Hake, R.R. 2010c. “Re: Non randomized and non regression discontinuity studies on governance
programs,” POD post of 20 Jul 2010 15:36:57-0400; online at <http://bit.ly/diWCNa>.
Hake, R.R. 2010d. “Education Research Employing Operational Definitions Can Enhance the Teaching
Art,” invited talk, Portland AAPT meeting, 19 July; online as a 3.8 MB pdf at
<http://bit.ly/aGlkjm> and as reference 60 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>. See also Hake
(2010e).
Hake, R.R. 2010e. “Helping Students to Think Like Physicists in Socratic Dialogue Inducing Labs,”
submitted on 28 June 2010 to the Physics Education Research Conference; Portland, OR; 21-22 July;
online as a 365 kB pdf at <http://bit.ly/cjvxzP> and as reference 59 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>.
MacIsaac, D.L. 2000. "Communities of on-line physics educators," Phys. Teach. 38(4): 210-213; online
at <http://physicsed.buffalostate.edu/PHYS-L/TPTApr00art.pdf> (196 kB). Discusses technical and
social aspects of discussion lists and gives reference information on four major physics education lists:
Phys-L, Physhare-L, PhysLrnR, and TAP-L.
NSF. 1996. National Science Foundation Advisory Committee. Shaping the Future, Volume II:
Perspectives on Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and
Technology, Advisory Committee to the National Science Foundation Directorate for Education
and Human Resources, chaired by Melvin George, online as a 1. 8 MB pdf at <http://bit.ly/9X4Nh9>
(1.8 MB). This report is one of the few that emphasizes the crucial role of higher education in determining
the quality of K-12 education.
Pea, R. 1999. “New Media Communications Forums for Improving Education Research and
Practice,” in E. C. Lagemann and L.S. Shulman, eds., Issues In Education Research (JosseyBass, 1999); online as a 3.2 MB pdf at <http://bit.ly/bltdGn>. For other publications and colloquia see
<http://bit.ly/cgV9kY>.
Phillips, D. C. 1995. “The good, the bad, and the ugly: The many faces of constructivism,” Educational
Researcher 24(7): 5-12; online to subscribers at <http://edr.sagepub.com/content/vol24/issue7>. Also
reprinted with some changes and additions as Chapter 1 of Phillips (2000).
28
Phillips, D.C. 2000. Expanded social scientist's bestiary: a guide to fabled threats to, and defenses of,
naturalistic social science. Rowman & Littlefield; publisher’s information at
<http://bit.ly/9wZRcV>. Amazon.com information at <http://amzn.to/cstR0B>. See also Phillips (1995)
and Phillips & Burbules (2000).
Phillips, D.C. & N.C. Burbules. 2000. Postpositivism and Educational Research. Rowman & Littlefield;
publisher's information at <http://bit.ly/brOjw3>. Amazon.com information
<http://amzn.to/aaykDj>. See especially “Mistaken accounts of positivism,” pp. 11-14.
Roberts, D. 2005. "Re: Fourteen Posting Suggestions," online at <http://bit.ly/d7R5tC>. Post of 23 Jul
2005 19:49:42-0400 to AERA-D, and covertly cross-posted to AERA-C and EvalTalk.
Roschelle, J & R. Pea. 1999. “Trajectories from Today's WWW to a Powerful Educational
Infrastructure,” Educational Researcher 8(5): 22-25, 43; online as a 28 kB pdf at <http://bit.ly/9FsP5T>;
see also Pea (1999).
Stewart, C. 2007. “Google Groups Versus Yahoo Groups,” entry online at <http://bit.ly/cHv2vM> in
“Associated Content from Yahoo” <http://www.associatedcontent.com/>,“ an open publishing platform
that enables anyone to earn money by sharing their knowledge with an online audience of millions.” A
search engine is provided at <http://www.associatedcontent.com/subject/advanced/>.
Turkle, S. 1997. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. Simon & Shuster. Amazon.com
information at <http://tinyurl.com/984l8u>. Note the “Look Inside” feature. For more on Turkle's work
see her web page at <http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www/>.
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