======================== HES POSTING =================== 
 
[NOTE:  Nancy Wulwick's Spring semester History of Economics students were 
all subscribers to the HES email list.  I asked her to provide some 
descriptive report.  (None of the student subscribers submitted traffic to 
the list.)  -- PW 
 
Responses from others who have used (or are contemplating using) the  
Internet or email in their History of Economics courses are welcome. --  
RBE] 
 
------ 
 
From: Nancy Wulwick <[log in to unmask]> lightly revised by HES asst.editor Paul Wendt <[log in to unmask]> 
 
Report:  History of Economics Class Assignments on the Internet 
------ 
 
During the Spring 1997 semester, I used two internet assignments, worth 7% 
of the course grade, in my undergraduate history of economics class (which 
helped meet the university's writing requirements).  Two aims of the 
net-assignments were to familiarize the students with a new mode of 
communication and with the liveliness of history of economics as a 
profession.  
 
SUNY-Binghamton naturally provides students with ready access to personal 
computers.  Many classes like mine have e-mail groups to which each class 
member belonged.  The e-mail groups enable students to reach me easily 
outside of class and office hours.  Students also ask for clarification of 
assignments, especially tests, through the group, and often the answers 
come from other students rather than from me.  I find that debates about 
course material are infrequent on the e-mail groups for history courses, 
as opposed to macroeconomics.  
 
This Spring, we spent one class meeting (one hour and 15 minutes) in a 
computer lab to ensure that everyone knew how to access the e-mail groups 
and the sites on the web.  I received permission for each of the 28 
students to subscribe to the HES e-mail list during the semester. 
 
One net-assignment was to write a precis (of 1-1.5 typed, double spaced 
pages) of a debate on the HES list.  The minimal precis summarized an HES 
editorial and a response to it.  The students could discuss a debate that 
occurred "live", in the Spring, or an older debate that appears on the HES 
Web site.  
 
The other assignment was to write a precis (again 1-1.5 pages) of one of 
the lesser known texts that appear on the history of economics site of 
McMaster University 
        <http://www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~economic.ugcm/3ll3>, 
        where 3113 has two lower-case Ls. 
The texts I chose would be relatively hard to locate in the libraries to 
which the students had ready access.   
  
The preces had to be fresh summaries that did not stay too close to the 
texts.  Those few students who did not put the ideas into their own words 
received a second try.  The students seemed to recognize the reasons that 
I set the assignments.  The preces were pretty good.  I would set the 
assignments again.  
 
Nancy Wulwick 
 
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