From [
Serious Instructional Technology]:
The Secret Life of Bees: Questions for the Author.
Quote: "Dear Students,
It is an exceptionally nice honor to have you reading my novel in your Modern American Literature class! I'm extremely impressed with your weblog, which I've been following. What fun for the author to listen in on your discussions and see the wonderful and provocative artistic interpretations that you've created. The experience has opened my eyes to new ideas about my own work!"
Comment: ...and the author responds. Is that cool or what?
Wow. What a great idea; imagine how discussion boards could be used in, say, political science or social studies classes. Students could aggregate questions for a journalist (say, the columnist for a local newspaper) or local politicians, and then get their own responses--what a great way to get kids engaged! Or, imagine a class of 4th graders with the equivalent of a penpal class, except in a different country--they could trade notes about what they read, what they like to do, and etc...
And who knows. It's been a long time since I've been in the educational world. Maybe this story isn't unusual, and maybe this is already happening regularly.
