Introduction
Web-based conferencing allows a group of people to conduct a
focused discussion using an interactive web page. You can do this
from any web browser; it is a simple text-based system and does not
require multimedia equipment. It does require, though, that you log
in with your user name and password and that you take the time to
visit the site regularly to keep up with the discussion. It will not
come to your e-mail account; you must login from the web to see what
has been going on and to post your own contributions. This sheet
summarizes the basic steps to participation.
Entering the Conference
The web site http://caucus.hamline.edu/caucus/Minnesotasowncivilwarsummer2002
hosts the conference for our course. Each time you want to
participate in class discussions, go to this address or click on the
link to the Conference Center on the course home page or other lesson
pages. You will be asked for your user name and password. Enter our
user name, which is your first initial and all of
your last name. So, for me, Fred Johnson, my user name is
fjohnson. The password for everyone is the same:
hist6026. If you already have a use name and password from a
previous Hamline course, please use it.
How to Participate in your Class Conference
Conference discussions are based upon items, which are
general topics, and responses, which are postings commenting
on the items.
On the main page of our class conference, you can choose to read any of the listed items of discussion by clicking on it. At the end of all the postings in each item will be a box in which you can type your own posting, called a response. When you have finished typing your response, click post + view to see how others will see your response or post + go to simply post it and move on. If you do not wish to post a response, click the "Pass" button.
You may want to click on the green "Help" button at the top of the Conference page to find out more about how the Conference Center works.
Leaving the Center
Be sure to click the Quit button when you are finished
reading the conference. You can then go back to browsing other web
pages.
Visit the conference often to keep up with discussion and feel free to join other conferences that interest you at the Center.