Hi Cem

I think we need to distinguish between annual short-life lists such as this and year-round lists such as our 'ilearn' list on Learner Independence: http://groups.google.com/group/ilearn2.

Here, people all around the world flit in and out, some for longer periods and more regularly than others, people lurk, may not have set up an account, etc., but apart from perhaps the organising group at IATEFL, or active SIG folk, or people who can attend the conference, there is no community as such - or that's how it seems to me. I mean, no on-going comittments to lists, or to list members, no continuity.  It's also quite a leap of faith to post here if you don't know people on the lists and if you don't know the moderators - how they organise, their agenda for the list, their personalities. Sure, we can get lots of ideas here which support our teacher autonomy, and also download presentations to use for PD, but in a few weeks it will all die down. We get good ideas and learn about new tools and approaches, maybe make some contacts for the future, but there isn't the ongoing year-round support.

The 'ilearn' list was created in a community where quite a few list-members know each other (and I believe the same is true for Dennis' Newson's CTEFL-L list-serv) so we kind of had a community already, which then went online - so people had the confidence to post and ask for help. As new people joined, they caught the supportive spirit and joined in - I think - maybe you can comment on that as you are on the list, I think. (In fact, why not post this on ilearn?) And, we are there all year round and are committed to supporting people on a regular basis on and off the list. For example, if you read the messages in the last week about my Second Life adventures, you'll see how people have chipped in for all over the place with advice, tips and comments. 

I get a lot out of IATEFL Online as it's good to hear about experiences elsewhere, it's networking - I get to 'meet' new people and get inspired to try new things. Like last year, I took a look at SL after IATEFL, this year it inspired me to join Twitter. It gives me ideas for things that maybe we haven't investigated here, so I can then put them out for discussion on our list or share tips I read here.

I don't know if I've answered your question!

Cheers

Heather

Hi
Its really a wonderful platform for teachers like me to attend sessions of great people like Penny Ur and interact with teachers around the world.My sincere thanks to Ms Penny Ur.
But I do face a problem right now..I have been trying to listen to a session but it stopped soon after it began .I don't know why it happens ..would be very happy if any one could assist me in this regard.
Regards
Abdul

hi heather

soory that it took so long to respond to your message, 

sure, you have answered my question very well. My point is, discussion lists whether they would be short or long, have a at least I believe, have a great impact on teacher autonoym for several reasons. The most useful one is that thy might pose certain questions for teachers, which, without doubt, leads them to csearch for the answers. More imporantly, the teacher has a chance at evaluating herself/himself on what s/he has done or not. Likewise, they can be used a kind of reflection that help teachers to identify their strneghts/weaknesses. 

how about other possible effects? 

I encourage other folks to comment on this issue with their own experiences 

cheers 

ce  m