Name:

Date:

Threaded Discussion Groups/Usenet Assignment

Instructions: Type your name and date in the spaces provided, then print this page to attach to your assignment. Next, perform the following operations. Please save and print-out your work. As always, clearly label your work.

1. Find and browse five different traditional Usenet newsgroups in any area of interest; read and print at least one message from each of these five newsgroups. You can get to these archives using either a dedicated newsreader (such as NewsWatcher), or you can use Google.com's Groups page, or one of the other web-based Usenet news services mentioned in the lesson.
   
   
2. Send a practice message to our course web-based threaded discussion group available via Moodle. Print out this message.
   
   (Note: Moodle actually has several discussion board functions. For this lesson, you may use the discussion board found on the left-hand side of the page under "Forums.")
   
   
3. Respond to the question/topic I have posted to the Moodle forum. Contribute to this "virtual discussion." The topic/question I posted may not appear until you have clicked "Older topics... ." Print out your message.
   
   
4. Now that you have tried threaded discussions in two different formats, (traditional Usenet News and Moodle's discussion group tool) discuss what you think about the two approaches. In the box provided below or on a separate sheet of paper, answer the following questions:
   
   • How did the experiences compare? What was the same? What was different?
   • Which approach did you find easier to use? Why?
   • Which approach would you prefer to use in your teaching? Why?

     (estimated length of written response, at least 1 typed page, double-spaced )