The conversation about blogs as a pedagogical device has been intriguing and useful. I was particularly taken by the allusions to the skill sets necessary to carry out online conversation effectively. I'd like to contribute to this part but first some background: I teach a course called the Sociology of Cyberspace in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Lehigh University. The first eight weeks of this course is taught entirely online with topics for each week. I offer a case study and a set of questions for them to ponder. Usually, they end up adding questions of their own. I have them spend two weeks in different "cyberenvironments": the discussion board on their course web site which is part of BlackBoard, two weeks blogging, two weeks in a Facebook group and two weeks in Second Life (thus, three asynchronous environments and on synchronous). They "specialize" in one of the topics and write a paper about around either one of my questions or one of their own and also end this part of the course choosing (by majority vote) a cyberenvironment in which to converse about the pluses and minuses of the different environments for learning. In the last part of the course, we are preparing a video documentary on the Internet in Everyday Life with Lehigh as the case study (I know, I know, not representative but readily available). Many of my colleagues at the University have creatively integrated online mechanisms into their teaching. One of these individuals, Dr. Edward Gallagher, in the Department of English, has thought deeply about the skills necessary to conduct effective online discussion. He has prepared a set of documents which I use as a basis for evaluating the work of students, as well as their intellectual contributions. His central idea is that online discussion is a conversation and that posts to such a conversation should add value. For example, "me too" posts add little value but "me too" plus an additional idea or thought on the subject does, particularly if it keeps the conversation going. He has provided ways of operationalizing these skills in a series of online documents which, with his permission, I am posting here. Perhaps the lesson here is that we need to work both on teaching students about the Internet, however we come at this, and at the same time, teaching them the skills necessary to be an effective participant in an online discussion/conversation. Labor intensive? you bet! Cheers, Bob Rosenwein Lehigh University Department of sociology and anthropology rer6@lehigh.edu 610 758-3815 Gallagher documents: http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/shaping-culture-conversation http://www.lehigh.edu/~indiscus/ http://www.lehigh.edu/~indiscus/documents/Gallagher-VKPessay.pdf