IELP - II Homepage || IELP - II Workshop
Computer and Internet Training
Workshop
Internet Skills for English Language Teaching Professionals
Cairo, Egypt: April 3-8, 1999
EMAIL LISTS
Definition || Vocabulary &
Concepts || Getting Started ||
Tips || Applied Use ||
Extended Resources
When you join a list, you become part of a community of people from around the world who share similar interests. The list itself is hosted from a single computer. When a message is sent to the list, this computer distributes ("serves") it to everyone in the group (on its "list"). Hence the term "listserv", one of many products for managing lists. Lists are a wonderful way to share information and resources, plan events, and keep up on current activities in your field. It is possible to belong to many lists, but you will want to carefully consider the amount of time you are willing to spend reading all those messages every day.
[Top]
archive (n.), (v.) messages from a list are saved on a designated website; old message are then available through list commands, or through a webpage
digest (n.) a list function that allows subscribers to receive all the messages for the day in one "bulk" message instead of many individual messages (not available on all lists)
flame (v.) post messages of an argumentative or insulting nature; not acceptable or professional behavior on most lists
listserv (n.) one type of mailing list management software, widely used and free for non-commercial use (see http://www.lsoft.com/listserv-lite.html); Majordomo and ListSTAR are two other common mailing list software applications
lurk (v.), lurker (n., person) read messages only (not post)
moderator (n. person) as the owner of the list, you can choose to be a "filter" or "moderator" of all messages before they are distributed to everyone in the group; the list is then moderated or unmoderated (no moderator)
open vs. closed list (n.) open lists allow people to join freely; only the list owner can subscribe new members to a closed list
post (n.), (v.) send a message to a list
spam (v.) send an unwanted message to a list, usually of a commercial nature
subscribe, unsubscribe (v.) join; leave a list
[Top]
[Top]
More Lists
Each participant can also join one or more professional lists of choice. Some suggestions:
DEOS-L The Distance Education Online Symposium was established in 1991 by The American Center for the Study of Distance Education at Penn State, with support from the Annenberg/CPB Project. The symposium comprises DEOSNEWS, an electronic journal for distance educators, and DEOS-L, an electronic forum. The purpose of DEOS is to disseminate information and to support international computer conferencing through systems accessible to professionals and students in the field of distance education. Information on how to subscribe is listed at:
http://www.cde.psu.edu/ACSDE/DEOS.htmlEdupage, a summary of news about information technology, is provided three times a week as a service of EDUCAUSE, an international nonprofit association dedicated to transforming higher education through information technologies.
To subscribe, send a message to:
listserv@listserv.educause.edu. Leave the subject area blank and in the body of the message write: subscribe educause-online.
More information is available at: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Contrib/Edupage/ElEgypt ELEGYPT is an e-mail discussion list for English language educators in Egypt to discuss use of the Internet in their professional capacities. To subscribe to ELEGYPT, send the e-mail message:
subscribe ELEGYPT Yourfirstname Yourlastname
to the following e-mail address: listserv@e-list.usia.gov
For example, the President of Egypt, if he were an English language educator, could send the message "subscribe ELEGYPT Hosni Mubarak" (without the quotation marks) to: listserv@e-list.usia.gov
After you subscribe, you will be sent a welcome message that will explain to you how to use the list. So, if you are an English language professional working in Egypt, please join us on ELEGYPT!
IECC (Intercultural Email Classroom Connections). IECC is a suite of electronic mailing lists. Teachers use these lists for finding classrooms for shared e-mail exchanges. Information available at: http://www.stolaf.edu/network/iecc/intro.html.
Neteach EFL/ESL teachers discuss using technology and the Internet for education. A Few Useful Commands which can be sent to listproc@ukans.edu
- Subscribe to the list
- sub NETEACH-L Firstname Lastname
- Unsubscribe from the list
- unsub NETEACH-L
- Postpone messages
- set NETEACH-L mail postpone
- Receive all messages once a day in a single message.
- set NETEACH-L mail digest
- Restart messages after postponing or discontinue digest
- set NETEACH-L mail ack
TESL-L is the most widely recognized list for TESOL professionals. With more than 10,000 subscribers from around the globe, it really gets you in touch with all kinds of people and interests. You start by subscribing to TESL-L. After that, you have the option of also subscribing to one or more of its special interest sub-groups, e.g. TESLCA-L for computers. We will look at ways to manage the high flow of messages.
[The following is adapted from I-TESL-J's Quick Guide to Useful TESL-L, see Extended Resources below.]
Commands are sent in the body of an email message to: LISTSERV@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
- Send this command to subscribe to TESL-L:
- SUB TESL-L yourfirstname yourlastname
- To subscribe to a branch of TESL-L:
- SUB TESLxx-L yourfirstname yourlastname
- Send this command if you prefer to get all the messages once a day merged together in a "digest":
- SET TESL-L DIGEST
- To revert to regular mail and stop the "digest", use this command:
- SET TESL-L MAIL
- You can temporarily quit receving mail with this command:
- SET TESL-L NOMAIL
- When you want to start receiving mail again send this command:
- SET TESL-L MAIL
- To unsubscribe, send this:
- UNSUB TESL-L
SLART-L is a network for those involved in or interested in second or foreign language acquisition research and/or teaching (SLART). This list is intended as a means of forming a "community of scholars" in SLA. Individuals may choose to discuss research in progress, "publish" papers for feedback, solicit advice on teaching methods, etc. Anyone interested in issues in second or foreign language acquisition is encouraged to join. For information on how to subscribe, see: http://www.neosoft.com/internet/paml/groups.S/slart-l.html
- Keep a copy of the "Welcome" message when you join a list. It will tell you how to manage and unsubscribe from the list, as needed.
- Lurk (read only) for awhile in order to observe what and topics list members are discussing, and how they interact with each another.
- If possible, set busy lists to "digest" format so that all the messages arrive in one longer message just once a day.
- When replying, always use the original poster's subject, and include a copy of the original message. Be careful to send replies of a personal nature to the poster only (not to the whole list).
- When away from your email, set lists to "nomail" in order to avoid building up too many messages in your email in box.
Many other commercial list services are available (similar to e-groups), including:
Following are some resources to explore. Focus questions are suggested as "food for thought". Information from these sites and any related sites will be good information to discuss with your workshop keypal (through email) or with a group of workshop participants (face-to-face, through the workshop list, or through the workshop web board).
Electronic Mailing Lists in Linguistics, University of Rochester
http://www.ling.rochester.edu/links/lists.html
Question: Can you find any lists with an Egyptian, Arabic or English focus?International Student Lists, conversation lists for ESOL students of all levels. Student Lists were established in February 1994 to provide a forum for cross-cultural discussion and writing practice for college, university and adult students in English language programs around the world. There are currently nine student lists. Information available:
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~wings/studentlists.html
Question: What is the name of the e-zine (electronic magazine), and who edits it?Linguistic Funland, Automatic Subscription Service If your browser supports forms, you will be able to subscribe to the lists you want by entering your name and email address, then selecting the radio button next to the list:
http://www.linguistic-funland.com/tesllist.html
Question: What are the advantages and limitations of a service such as this one?TESL: Discussion, from ITESL-J Very helpful guides for TESL-L and its subsidiary lists:
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/links/TESL/Discussion/
Question: What can you find of use in the TESL-L Archives (scroll down the page to the "T" section)?ListTool, a search tool for lists:
http://www.listtool.com/
Question: When you type in a topic that interests you, how many lists are identified? How would you go about determining whether any of them are worth joining?
Definition || Vocabulary & Concepts || Getting Started || Tips || Applied Use || Extended Resources
Website Information:
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ielp/
This site established:
21 February 1999
Last revised:
31 March 1999
Webmasters:
Deborah Healey, Email: Deborah.Healey@orst.edu
Leslie Opp-Beckman, Email: leslieob@oregon.uoregon.eduThis project is funded by USAID, and is administered by the Academy for for Educational Development (AED) and Amideast. Copyright 1999 Deborah Healey and Leslie Opp-Beckman. Permission to copy and distribute for in-class, non-profit use only. This site may not be mirrored without authors' permission.