ABSTRACT
Online seminars offer new possibilities for faculty and students beyond the placebound, face-to-face seminar. They allow participants to be anywhere they choose, and because the interaction is in writing, faculty can more easily assess each student’s participation. At present, asynchronous discussions appear to be the norm. Because they are designed with questions posed by the faculty member, I do not categorize them as seminars. In these discussions students use a “writing voice.” They use third person pronouns, state points rather than framing them as opinions, and rarely ask questions. Students have a great deal of time to respond, and this also allows multiple threads or topics to develop. Online seminars, on the other hand, are centered on students’ questions, and held at an appointed time with everyone present. Responses are more spontaneous than in asynchronous discussions, and students need to respond quickly to ideas. In these, students use the “talking voice.” They use first person pronouns, state opinions and personal experience, and ask questions (Campbell, 2003). In some ways, then, online seminars are similar to face-to-face ones because students raise their own questions and they come together at a particular time. For that reason, I will focus on online seminars in this chapter.
