Announcements to Students; Distribution of Assignments to Students

Listserv/E-mail

Strengths

• E-mail nearly ubiquitous
• Can be restricted to list members only
• Passive on students' part, so delivery more guaranteed
• Communications can feel more personal since only class sees them

Weaknesses

• Attachments may be difficult to impossible to send
• Responsibilities of list owner can be time-consuming
• Server load can be severe

MOO

Strengths

• Closest to real-time interaction
• Announcements can be made into objects accessible only by certain permitted participants

Weaknesses

• Can be difficult to access given crude client and style of the environment

Netnews

Strengths

• Easy to post
• Easy to view: newsreaders widely available and widely used
• Ability for followup discussion and clarification
• No recognized resource load on servers

Weaknesses

• Students must actively search out material
• Postings inherently public, at least to the campus community
• Faculty member's posting can be forged with relative ease

WWW

Strengths

• Faculty member retains the most control over postings
• Relatively easy to author and post; good support in most schools
• Easy to make changes and corrections and have them instantaneously available
• Widespread use of WWW browsers, even moreso than netnews
• Little to no marginal server resource impact

Weaknesses

• Students must actively search out material
• Difficult to support followup and discussion