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Hello, thanks for visiting the EFI Writing for Webheads site.  However, you’ve reached an old version of our site.  It has been necessary to move these pages to Homestead because Tripod.com is not visible from China.  Some of the links may work here, but they are not being updated.  If the page you are viewing is stored at Tripod, chances are it’s not the current version of that page.

The current address of this page is: http://www.homestead.com/vstevens/files/efi/reports.htm
You can always find the most recent version of the Webheads pages by using our netword: http://www.netword.com/webheads

Click on either of the links above for the most recent additions to Writing for Webheads: An experiment in international friendship through online language learning – August 11, 2000 (Vance)

Reports, Studies, and Research on

WFW: Writing for Webheads

Writing for Webheads is a cyber-social phenomenon.  It is a case study in community building on the web.  Participants in the group “found” each other online as early as 1998 and have since drawn gradually together, becoming a close-knit community of friends who have never met face to face, with many participants well past their anniversary in the course as of this writing, in May 2000.

The ostensible purpose for the group is English language study, but for most participants it is a bit more than that.  The nature of that “more” is what the following studies all examine.

International conferences where Webheads have presented or been invited to present:

Note time change, one hour earlier àWe are scheduled to present from 10:30-12:15 GMT (3:30-4:15 p.m. at Zayed University in Dubai) on Thursday May 11, 2000, at the May 10-11, 2000 conference, Current Trends in English Language Testing 2000. 

·        The conference website is at http://dbm.hct.ac.ae/sponsors/ctelt2000/info.html

·        The conference is sponsored by the TESOL Arabia's Testing and Teacher Education SIG (Special Interest Group): http://taesig.8m.com/;

·        Streaming Real Media video feeds of keynote addresses from the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dubai: http://imtcsamba.hct.ac.ae/ctelt2000/ . 

·        Anyone wishing to join our presentation online can do so by joining us in voice chat at http://www.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/hearme.htm, text chat at http://www.homestead.com/vstevens/ , or in The Palace, efi.virtualscholar.com on port 9998 between 10:30 and 12:15 GMT, May 11, 2000. 

·        See https://members.tripod.com/vstevens/efi/software.htm or http://www.homestead.com/vstevens/files/efi/software.htm (mirror) for further instructions.

·        Vance’s presentation handout is at http://www.netword.com/vance@ctelt2000.

Webheads presented in Abu Dhabi on May 3, 2000, at the Military Language Institute’s Teacher to Teacher Conference 2000 “Tools of the Trade” held May 3-4, 2000 at Al-Nahyan Base, Abu Dhabi, UAE.  http://t2t2000.cjb.net/.  The handout for the presentation is at http://www.netword.com/vance@t2t2000.  Webheads present were Maggie and Moral at the Palace, and Maggie and Nicia in the voice chat.  Maggie was also at the Homestead Chat.  Teacher Webheads included Shabana from Dubai, Claudia from Austria, Jason at ESADE in Spain, and Chi-Chin in Illinois, all at the voice chat site.

Michael Coghlan has written a report on Writing for Webheads to accompany his presentation with Vance at the Fifth Annual Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference, April 12-14- Michael’s report is at: http://www.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/TCC2000.htm.  The official version of Michael’s paper on the TCC2000 website will be linked >here (sorry, I’ll find it eventually)<.  At this presentation, besides Michael and Maggi and Vance, there were also Gloria, Ying Lan, MaggiE, and Dave Kees, or dk on the lists, from Guangdong.  DK had become interested in our class through his interactions with Vance on TESLCA-L, where he had learned that one of our students, Maggie, was from Guangdong as well. A log of the presentation was also made (see below)

·        The conference site is at http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/tcon2k (tcc2k, kona-2k)

·        Chat rooms are at http://naio.kcc.hawaii.edu/run.biapchat

·        The log of our chat is at http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/tcon2k/forum/hon04131300coglanm.html (tcc2k, kona-2k)

·        And on this site, the log with all urls hyperlinked been preserved at tcc2klog.htm

·        Post conference threaded discussion is available in sitio at http://lehua.kcc.hawaii.edu:8080/~tcc2000-writing-teams/login (tcc2k, kona-2k)

·        And on this site, you can find the discussion pertaining to our presentation at tcc2k_tl.htm

The annual TESOL Conference in Vancouver, March 2000 - Vance presented at several sessions on topics related to Webheads.  Most were discussion sessions and cameo appearances at other people’s presentations, but one was a presentation on the community building aspects of the class, and there was also a live and online demonstration as part of an invited presenters session.  Michael, Maggi, Ying Lan, and Moral performed online before an audience of around 100. The handouts and reports can be found at http://www.netword.com/vance@tesol2000

Presentation on Writing for Webheads at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, March 2000 – WFW was the subject of a demonstration held live and online in Abu Dhabi.  After cameo appearances at web fairs mentioned below, this was the first time the Webheads appeared at a conference presentation live and online as a session in their own right.  Michael appeared at the Palace and in the voice chat along with Ming.  The handouts and writeup are at http://www.netword.com/vance@tesol2000zu .

Questionnaire research done on the class - In February, 2000, Michael Coghlan and Vance Stevens collaborated on a 3-part study designed to elicit opinions from the students on what they liked about the class and why they stayed with it for so long.  You can find the Questionnaire data and crude analysis here.

This site was featured at the Fourth Annual Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference, April 7 - 9, 1999. Click here for a revised version of the paper, Writing for Webheads: An Online writing Course Utilizing Synchronous Chat and Student Web Pages. The log of the presentation (given on WebChat) is at http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/tcon99/chatlog/Stevens_V_040899.html If this link dies, try this one.

This site featured at the New York TESOL '99 Web Faire, March 10, 1999, CALL-IS Electronic Village, at http://www.ilc.cuhk.edu.hk/english/TESOL99/presenters.html. Maggi and Michael both appeared at the Palace and chatted with passers-by.  Student reactions:

In 1998, this site was the subject of a study by EdD candidate Jerry Bicknell.

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For comments, suggestions, or further information on this page, contact Vance Stevens, page author and webmaster.

Last updated: May 10, 2000