Reply to "I'm a fan of forums"

Although the idea of a forum in classroom is very interesting, I am not sure that it can always work in a classroom environment. It was mentioned in Mark Miller's blog that a long-term project can be introduced to the students, bringing them to communicate to each other and get help from each other. Even though this is a very interesting idea that could bring a lot to the class over time, I am not sure that the students will actually participate actively to the project. It seems that students often participate only if they get points for participating or if there is a penalty for not participating. A good example of this is the blog, forum and wiki sites done in this class. I would be interested to see what percentage of the class would actually participate in a forum if it was for personal interest only.
However, forums can become a great tool for the students if we, as teachers, manage to communicate the value of such a tool and help them become responsible for their own learning. I think students don't need us to teach them how to use forums, blogs, and wikis as much as they need us to give them our passion for learning and to help them become responsible for their own progression in school. If we are able to show them the importance and value of learning strategies and technology, it is possible that forums such as the one described by Mark Miller might actually work without the teachers having to penalize students for not participating.

Computer lab classroom management

In my computer applications in ESL teaching,while talking about classroom management in computer lab, Mark Miller, our teacher, mentioned that it is better to help the student develop their sense of responsability rather that simply control and stop them from having access to mature material or simply to programs disturbing them from doing their work. I really found this approach interesting. Most of the time, teachers simply control the students and block access to certain sites on the internet. If this may work for a certain time, students eventually find a way around the blocking programs. Also, we must realise that the teachers won't always be there to watch and control the students.
When we try to responsabilise the students, we invest on a much longer term. Even though it is much difficult to control the students on short term and that it demands more time with the students, we are investing on their future and making them better human beings. We are teaching them the importance of responsability and of self-control. This will be useful in all their life, in their post-secondary studies and will help them with their work ethics.