What exactly do people want from the website? A place to discuss ideas? Like a threaded discussion board?
So, what do we want? I already have a short list of requests, some of which are very general (a place to connect) and some very specific (a place to discuss certain faculty). Some other ideas:
* Share information about classes
* Share information about research and resources
* A place to meet others and share war stories
* program-specific boards
These types of needs could obviously be met by a threaded discussion board, but the HESA officers will also have to take into consideration cost (for the software and development time), moderation resources (someone has to moderate the posts and user group), and policies (can anyone see the discussion group, or just students?)
There are other tricky issues that come into play, as well ... how do you handle inappropriate posts, abuse, or defamation? How will the Extension School react to negative posts about certain professors? And would a threaded discussion board cancel the need for a listserv?
Aside from a discussion board, what other types of online resources would be useful? I think the Harvard Extension School website is already very informative, and many other Harvard departments have great online resources. But is there some other online features that would be useful for DCE students in particular?
Send along your ideas, and I will forward them along to HESA ...
5 comments:
If you want to know what the students want, tell HESA to go and check out these sites:
flyertalk.com
blackberryforums.com
phpbb.com
All of those sites are indicative of the kinds of online community that we could have.
I particularly like flyertalk and blackberryforums. Those sites have excellent information that is useful to a specific grouping of individuals and all of the content is generated by the group members.
Thanks for the suggestions, Richard. I'll check 'em out!
Another thing:
The best community forums are organic and unofficial but have some official participation in a non-official capacity.
For instance, it would be useful for there to be an independent Harvard Extension foum dedicated to HE students but NOT sponsored or controlled/moderated by Harvard Extension.
This eliminates any conflict of interest between the student body and the administration. Things like professor bashing or rumor control can be handled by the community enforcing a code of conduct among it's members rather than extending the sphere of influence of the administration to the forum itself.
We want to encourage students to participate and gain value, not provide them with an avenue for self-destruction in a Harvard Extension moderated board.
That's a good point about conflict of interest, and establishing a code of conduct. One thing I think everyone should be aware of at the outset is, establishing a discussion board/website/community forum for the Extension School is potentially a huge undertaking ... discussions like these help identify some important issues up front, that can be addressed in the planning stage.
Another thing I would like to mention: this is not a done deal. HESA already had plans for an online community, and they may listen to the discussions that we're having here, but a definite commitment has not been made. Besides planning, funding, and other resources will have to be considered.
One other thing to add ... The discussions that have taken place on this blog are limited to just a handful of people, not the entire student body. HESA should poll other students to see what they think should appear in an online community ... it may be quite different than what's been proposed here.
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