The Online Con aka The Online Role Play

I have to admit, I love these things! I sometimes get a bit too into them, which is a bit odd considering that when I have the choice as to what side of a debate I will be in one of these things, I purposely choose the one with which I disagree. It forces me to look at the other side of things.

I started out this role play be trying to be very academic, professional, and formal by citing research and staying relatively low key in my tone. I noticed, quickly, that most others were doing the same thing. At least those on my side, so I went the other direction and focused more of my energy on emotional appeal through anecdotal evidence, which was actually all true. This seemed to work better because people began referencing my posts and even responding to them! I was most pleased when I received a rather rude reply to something I stated. I figured I must be doing something right!

It seemed pretty clear that most people were not going to change their minds, so I took the Sarah Palin approach: There is no bad press (at least that's the approach she seems to be taking).

Throughout the whole thing, I felt like I had very little power. It was hard for me to decide who really had it at all, but it definitely wasn't me. This made me realize, quite sadly, that we as teachers don't have nearly the level of power we should in deciding issues such as this. People always listen to "experts." I guess I was out when those that work in the field all day, every day were deemed incompetent.

In the end, I left the role play still feeling that coeducational classes are a good thing, but I wouldn't be opposed to trying a single gender approach in at least a few. A colleague has told me numerous times that she loves "how super laid back [I am]" because I'll try anything once. If it doesn't work, I won't do that again!