Unit 3 –Wang, L. & Beasley, W. 2005. Type II Technology Applications in Teacher Education: Using Instant Messenger to Implement Structured Online Clas

This article by Lih-Ching Chen Wang and William Beasley discussed several different aspects of using Instant Messenger (IM) for the forum of a discussion class. The authors described a study complete with graduate students, where e the whole class was on IM, except for two class periods. The type of technology applications used when a discussion is on IM is called type II, which is student-centered. There are five different characteristics for type II activities, which IM includes, such as stimulate relatively active intellectual involvement or place the learner rather than the teacher in charge of the learning environment. Through observing the study of graduate students and different research, Wang and Beasley saw both positive and negative aspects of using IM. One example of something positive that came from discussing over IM was that students were able to use other computer programs at the same time and share their data or finds (word projects or excel). One example of something negative that came from discussing over IM was that students could have private conversations or be doing something else during the discussion. Overall, if someone is really organized and does not think that discussions need human to human contact, IM discussion will work.
After reading this article, I definitely would not implement IM discussion into my classroom. There is too much opportunity for students to be off task and nothing would get done. Also, students could be having inappropriate side conversations and I would have a very difficult time monitoring it. Using IM seems like it would work best in a college setting, but definitely not in a high school mathematics classroom setting.