There's a new kid in town

I just paid a visit to aed (seems pretty slow, really) and popped into a thread entitled, Real discussion needed. Looking for people with valuable input. This leads to a new DL forum which has apparently just been started (I mean BRAND NEW!) It uses the same format as this forum, whatever that is called, so it will look familiar (although green). It seems to focus more on vocationally oriented schools/programs. Give it a look.
Jack

 

Please post the link here so I don't have to search for it. I don't even know where "aed" is.

 

Collegehints.com




Tom Nixon

 

Sorry for my presumption. aed is alt.education.distance, a usenet group dedicated to distance education. Prior to degreeinfo it was THE place to be for DL information and discussion. It was taken over by degree-mill terrorists for a while and that'show degreeinfo was born (thanks again you guys!). I get there through google. Go to the main google page and click on groups. Click on "alt," click on "education" (in the drop-down menu) and then "distance." You're there. It's pretty quiet these days and that's why I don't go there much anymore. The FAQ is quite informative and searching the archives can be a hoot. Check it out.
Jack

 

I just visited Collegehints, and the first thing I saw was a banner link ad for Kennedy-Western. Not a good sign.

I'm curious who is behind this one......

 

"Round up the usual suspects!"
Jack

 

Sometimes I miss the old a.e.d. days with Emir, Ray Chasse, Les Snell, and Steve Levicoff posting regularly. It was chaotic at times, but also entertaining.

I much prefer it here, though.


Bruce

 

Now, Bruce, I suspect you like it anywhere you get to tell people what to do.




Tom Nixon

 

It was more fun in some ways, but I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop; every now and then someone would do something wacky like post someone else's physical address or the like, and I'd kind of wish it was moderated. You folks run a pretty tight ship here, I'll give you that, but it's a much different culture--maybe not necessarily due as much to moderation as to the shift in medium from a newsgroup to a web forum (just as newsgroups were vastly different from their predecessors, FidoNet echoes). Someone should do a dissertation over in Curtin's Internet studies program about this sort of thing.


Cheers,

 

It's been a few months since I posted my original message to start this thread and so I went back to collegehints just to see how they're doing. Pretty poorly, it seems. It's mostly two or three guys talking to each other . . .
guy#1 - Hey, where is everybody?
guy#2 - I don't know. Where do you think they all are?
guy#3 - ZZzzzzzzz
It's too bad, I guess, but it does suggest that there's simply not any need for another forum.
Jack

 

Nah-h-h... a.e.d. was a lot more fun; kind of a wild-west show filled with all kinds of characters (good, bad, ugly). This is more of a law-and-order cyber town.
Earon.

 

I just couldn't resist this one. I'm actually doing my dissertation (at U. of Tilburg in the Netherlands) on the goings on in e-communities (and degreeinfo and its predecessor a.e.d. is one of three case studies). I have also published a 20-page book chapter on some of our interactions at degreeinfo (without directly mentioning degreeinfo and changing the names of all the usual suspects including myself). The paper will be available on my research website shortly (http://communities-of-practice.changeconstructs.ca), and I will be issuing progress reports and inviting feedback on a regular basis.

The research only looks at social processes (as opposed to "who" does what, and respects confidentiality). A project F.A.Q. will also be posted shortly explaining everything.

I'll post the website info very shortly. Thanks for the tip on the Curtin program. Can you tell me more about Curtin (where located, URL, etc.)

Thanks,
Earon

 

Isn't hard to do objective research with subjects you are passionately involved with?

 

Didn't that also hapen to the other "unaccredited" forum that got started up by Pete French? There just didn't seem to be enough people. I haven't looked in on that one for awhile.
Earon

 

They closed up shop awhile ago.

 

If you mean Distancedegree, where Peter was an administrator, it's dead. It never controlled degreeinfo spammers and everyone became afraid to post because of ridicule. Gus Sainz was finally banned but was reinstated very shortly before it died.

 

Hi Dave,
That's a very good question (and a well received point, I might add). The F.A.Q. for the project makes it clear that we are not interested in being objective. If anything, we are making a claim for being non-objective. We are more interested in dialogue and multiple realities/ opinions and how can they exist in the same space. I (and my profs) look at research as socially constructing social realities (e.g., group-held beliefs about the nature of things, what is real and good, etc., etc.). This research, rather, is about the processes of people constructing such realities in their interactions. And I'm expected to include myself in that process.

And I certainly have given your point about my passion in this area a lot of reflection (months and months of it). I think degreeinfo (and its predecessor a.e.d.) are great subject areas because we are all passionate about distance/ed alternative/ed for a whole lot of reasons. And there are multiple views here. If anything there seems to be a lightening of the orthodoxy (well placed in many cases) this year. For example, some have shifted their position a little on unaccredited degrees (while acknowledging less utility - that's a shift). There also seems to be more reflection going on here - for example, just yesterday I read some posts about abuseive behavior here ( Gus was reflecting with others on whether he was abusive or not). That's a recent development here. The focus has usually tended to be outside (on what's good or bad) rather than the speaker putting the focus on his own behavior and asking questions.

Thanks,
Earon

 

Actually there was until several people got run off for bizarre reasons ie supporting-RA, sexual preferences, etc. As a group they/it was so diverse that it ultimately didn't work.

 

Hi Earon

Thanks for the reply. My knowledge of research procedures is very limted. Again, thanks!

 

Hey Dennis,
Are you suggesting there was spamming going on there from degreeinfo regulars?

I remember there were some degreeinfo regulars who seemed supportive, and wanted to see how it would develop as maybe an alternative (because there was a spoken perception from some that virtually no fair treatment of unaccredited degrees existed on degreeinfo). I remember there was some conflict surrounding some posts from Gus.

I also remember a couple of people contacting me privately and saying they were leaving. In my case someone anonymously contacted me and told me he contacted Heriot Watt (where I was taking some courses) and told HW that I was a phony. I told him "go ahead - I already outed myself long ago".

But do you think there was a lot of orthodoxy being exported to that site from some at degreeinfo?

And if so, do you now see a lessening of such orthodoxy here?

I'm really curious about your opinion on this.

Thanks,
Earon