Post-Institute Connections: Implementation and Outcomes of a Diffusion-Based Electronic Mail Instructional Model.

Electronic mail's capability to provide opportunities for language exchange, establish ties with other cultures, and facilitate contact with other educators makes it an excellent medium to introduce foreign language teachers to the power of computer-based technologies in education. This study describes diffusion-based electronic mail instruction integrated into the four National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center 1994 summer institutes that 86 foreign language educators attended. Instruction was designed to introduce institute participants to electronic mail to provide them with a means of communication as they completed post-institute collaborative projects. Results of this study suggest that the diffusion-based instruction was effective in encouraging participants to use electronic mail. Participants who received electronic mail instruction used electronic mail significantly more than comparable foreign language teachers who did not attend the institutes.

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