March 1999 — Features

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EdNet@UMass: Providing Quality Professional Development via the Internet

By Robert A. Reilly, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Mass.

Educators have historically been an isolated community in many ways. They have been isolated even from each other by the classroom walls of their own buildings. Educators are "islands of excellence with no ferry service" to connect them with each other or to groups of their peers. Outstanding practices that have been developed by educators who have been unable to travel to conferences or contact special interest groups have, until now, been lost to others in education.

However, with the advent of the Internet, this "Berlin Wall of isolation" has quickly eroded. Since 1991, EdNet@UMass was an early innovator in providing online collegiality among educators who desired to share ideas, philosophies, pedagogues and promising practices. EdNet@UMass is a sterling example of a virtual professional convention &emdash; and it occurs each and every day of the year in a way that can be accessed when one's busy schedule allows.

Mechanically speaking, EdNet@UMass is an online mailing list supported by Web-based resources (see www.umass.edu/ednet), which is financially supported and managed by the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Community Lab located in the Psychology Department of University of Massachusetts Lowell. The EdNet@UMass has evolved into a premier educational Internet and Web resource with a subscriber base of several thousand educators scattered throughout the world. Dot Snesrud, an elementary school teacher in Nebraska, notes that "[EdNet] is a great place to read a variety of ideas and opinions about education."

There are three distinct operational facets of EdNet@UMass. The first consists of the "Ol' Soap Box" in Anderson Hall (named for G. Ernest Anderson, the UMass faculty member who sponsored EdNet@UMass). Members of the EdNet@UMass community post messages of all sorts here. These postings are, in turn, sent to all those who have subscribed. The second facet consists of the "Conference Center," which hosts rotating monthly activities such as the Guest Speaker series, Discussion Group seminars, Field Trips and Food for Thought seminars. The third facet is the "Administration Center." The Administration Center primarily deals with the management of the Listproc and WebBoard software. 

EdNet's Virtual Community

EdNet@UMass is composed of educators from the United States and 29 other countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Uruguay.