As internet access becomes increasingly universal, the professional
newsgroups can anticipate a deluge of questions from students. Until now
limited access to the internet has meant that postings to the BIOSCI
newsgroups have been limited to professionals and graduate students. This
situation is changing, and there is now an increasing number of posts by
undergraduates, high school students and middle school students who are
working on papers and other projects. In some cases student questions are
thoughtful, and it is clear that the student has made a real effort to
answer the question on his own before posting. In many cases, however,
the questions are naive or general, reflecting little preparation on
the student's part. If nothing is done about this situation, I anticipate
that many professionals will abandon the public newsgroups, thereby
substantially diminishing the potential for promoting free and open
exchange of information among professionals.
A couple of easy solutions to the probable increase in postings of student
questions have come to mind. One is to insist that teachers have their
students begin the subject line with the words "Student Post". That way
kill files could be used by those who are not interested in examining such
posts. A better solution might be to establish tutorial newsgroups, e.g.
bionet.tutorial.general, bionet.tutorial.neuroscience, etc. Tutorial
newsgroups might also encourage peer-to-peer interactions, since the
students would know that they are posting to a group dedicated to
teaching.
--
Terry Viancour, Biological Sciences | inet: viancour at umbc7.umbc.edu
Univ. Maryland, Baltimore County Campus | phone: (410) 455-2267, 455-3800
Baltimore, MD 21228-5398 | FAX: (410) 455-3875
