The bulk of the following material is from TCH-ECON.  They are 
preserved in chronological order with the originator provided.  The basic 
subjects include: issues related to student partiicpation on the list, 
e-mail communications with students, the use of Internet (originally 
gopher) to distribute class materials, and finally to the current state 
of affairs which includes extensive use of web pages, even the 
requirement that students create their own pages for posting class 
assignments.

TCH-ECON

	The first reference detected by this author which connected the net to 
course work was in June 1993.  Not until June 1994 did a lengthy exchange 
on Internet teaching related issues arise, though still somewhat 
obliquely.  Interestingly, the exchange originated from disagreements 
with respect to advertising and access on the net (and list).  A student 
on the list injected a comment on the thread, which then raised an 
objection to student participation.  This generated a new thread which 
revolved around the potential of plagiarism from the net, especially if 
academic files could be so easily transferred.  The issue of student 
participation on the list seemed to die a natural death (and a deserved 
one in this author's opinion).
	The next month (8/8/94) Richard Maesell posted an inquiry on 
using the net as a vehicle to sustain student interests in economic 
education.  This lead to a few exchanges that day.  One was by Nick 
Williams who commented that he had begun requiring students to search out 
labor statistics on the net, and he had set up a class gopher.
	By autumn of 1994 and continuing to the present there has been a 
steady stream of messages describing creative uses of the Internet in 
teaching econmics courses.  The following are examples.

October 1994
	M_hoerneman: Had begun Internet assignments and projects for 
principles students.
	Ed Day: Implemented exercises requiring accessing the CIA 
Factbook to learn about LDC's.
	Other exchanges: Concerns raised on the idea of peer reviewing 
exams over the net with respect to student "monitoring" the list.  
Another view was that this represented a comparative advantage of such 
interested students, and should not be frowned upon.   

November 1994
	Richard MacMinn: Relayed that he had used gopher to distribute 
class materials since the spring of 193.
	Steve Greenlaw: Dissemination of syllabus, course materials, 
class notes (after session).  Announces assignments via e-mail.  Notes 
that students like this appraoch and plans to expand the approach.  A 
reply to this message mentioned the alternative that class notes were 
distributed before the class session.
	Thom Kerr: "My experience is that students like using gopher....  
It empowers them to offer input into the production of the class in a way 
that is not threatening as speaking in the classroom itself.  It also 
gives them alternative ways to teach each other."
	Hal Varian: Mentioned that he collects news items from Clarinet 
and posts them to a web server for class access and discussion.

January 1995
	Richard Maesell: Pointed out the problems he encountered with all 
students not having access to e-mail.  Other messages described a case 
whereby an independent study was conducted exclusively via e-mail, with 
the important dimension that a history of e-mail transmissions could be 
easily maintained by the faculty member and student.
	T.T. Nguyen: "Students are happy since they know that, on top of 
the traditional stuff, they pick up some new skills which they can put on 
their resumes.  Besides, they have access to me at their schedules....  
[Commenting on experience with an internetal discussion list]..."The hard 
part is to find relevant, meaningful, and stimulating questions related 
to course materials."  [Indicating that list messages often degenerate to 
trivial matter] 
	Ric McIntyre: "I require students to submit weekly reading 
summaries to me via e-mail."
	Hannah McKinney: Having used discussion list for two years, "I 
post the name of an article or editorial from the Wall Street Journal 
each week along with one or two questions.  The students then discuss the 
article and answer the questions.  In the past I required all students to 
psot a response each week.  This quarter I decided to make discussion 
extra credit."
	Donald Coffin: Posts objective questions which required 1-2 
sentenances to explain the answer.  This was done on a bonus point basis, 
less than half the class participated.
	Jim Barbour: Has had students in teams grade one another and send 
in grades via e-mail.

February 1995
	Numerous exchanges took place which illustrated that web pages 
had come into their own as an applied teaching tool.  The primary 
participants were Loren Rice, Paul Gommes, Dick Stratton and Bob Parks.  The 
was also an inquiry from Britta Stuecke, who was writing a text, "Hypertext 
in Econmics."
	Ann Fender: [Students use Mosaic] ... "to put together individual 
home pages, within the class homepage, that connect to relevant materials 
on the Internet, to their critiques and the critiques of their 
classmates, and to each other's mosaic."

August 1995
	Frederica Shockley: Assigns bonus points for e-mail responses  to 
assignment questions.  Also, downloads Lexis-Nexis material and 
attaches it to a text file and asks students questions.  "Generally, 
students who send more e-mail are better students."
	David Ross: Remarks on the "...time shifer benefits of 
e-mail...lowers the cost to the student of student-faculty interaction.  
All else equal, that has to raise the quality of education."  Also 
remarked the necessity of devoting more time for a speedy response.  Ross 
noted experience of using a web browser in class, and the need for laptop 
backup if the server goes down.  He also pointed out that students still 
liked handouts.  "There's a strong externality/critical mass 
issue...enough students with an interest in posting so that a)there's 
usually something new posted whenever a student checks in and b) students 
get responses from classmates or instructors...."
	Linda Manning: "One of the best parts of using e-mail with 
students for me is that I have time to consider my response before I  
make it..."
	Bob Parks: Requires principles students to construct a web page.  
Had much  better success the second year with in-line gif's.
	Robert Waples: "To help attain a critical mass in student 
discussion groups some textbook publishers are setting up discussion 
groups for all the students using a certain text.  One example is the 
intro text I'm using this semester--Parkin.  Details are given on the 
back cover of the third edition."
	Bob Parks: Responding to an earlier inquiry, Parks mentions that  
he had students evaluate lectures and send comments via e-mail on what 
worked and did not work in class.  "I learned more about my teaching and 
the book and confusion in economics with this method than all the others 
combined in 25 years."  On a different matter, Parks responds to another 
inquiry from KimMarie McGoldrick concerning the time requirement to 
develop these approaches and materials, particularly with respect to 
priorities for untenured faculty.  Parks responds, "Depends on what your 
department and dean...will consider production for tenure.  Most of the 
world considers this a toy and would not be doing this.   PERIOD."   
However, one option pointed out in a response by Linda Manning was that 
she had managed to combine the Internet teaching approach with her 
research agenda to get a higher payoff.
	By this point references were also being made to a one unit 
course developed on the "Economics on the Internet."  [Linked in this 
document.]