So, today I took a plunge.
As part of the process of developing students’ research skills, I had them e-mail experts in their topics. I tried to protect them a little. I required them to find pages at universities related to their topic, and to contact the official personnel responsible for keeping up the website’s content; and the content itself had to have been recently-edited. I figured that way they would be spared from disappointment.
But I’m kind of excited about what they might turn up. There’s huge potential here, and if I can get them confident and excited about communicating with experts on the things they’re studying — well. That’s a huge step forward for many of them.
My hope is that something comes of all of this. I’ll keep you informed.
