The CoverWeb is a complex document. Many voices have joined together to examine educational uses for MOOs and MUDs and each contributor has a different thesis, different HTML coding styles, and a different purpose in writing for the CoverWeb. There are also a variety of different hypertext styles represented in the CoverWeb. It is easy (too easy) to get lost where a reader may not want to be lost. There are three layers of organization of the CoverWeb which will be explained here:
The editors suggest readers start with Michael Day's OverView and MOO history. Not only informative, it contextualizes each individual contribution. For an introduction to the CoverWeb concept, see Michael Salvo's LoggingOn piece about the promises and pitfalls of multi-vocal academic texts. If you have questions, problems, concerns, and even if you have good things to say, please use the mailto: link under the navigation bars.
The Kairos CoverWeb Bridge Page:
The CoverWeb Bridge Page serves many of the functions of the title page and table of contents of a print classic book or journal. There are links in the left-hand column of this page to Michael Day's CoverWeb OverView. In the right hand column are a list of links to each individual contributor's web.
The CoverWeb Bridge Page contains the complete title and a link to each contributor's web. However, once inside the CoverWeb Overview, everything available on the Bridge Page is available in the CoverWeb Navigation Bar.
Serving as the transition from Kairos' web space to outside servers, The CoverWeb Bridge Page is the launching site for forays into the CoverWeb -- return to the Coverweb to re-orient yourself. However, the Navigation Bars in the CoverWeb OverView contain all the Bridge Page information and more.
Go to the Bridge Page
The CoverWeb OverView by Michael Day
Michael Day's OverView contextualizes each contribution to the CoverWeb. At the bottom of each node in the OverView are the Navigation Bars which are explained below.
Because each contribution has a different focus and target audience, Michael's commentary will help each reader decide which web meets her or his needs. The first node of the Overview contains some of Michael's personal commentary and experience with educational MOOs. Serving as Kairos' first CoverWeb Coordinator, Michael's challenge has been unique. Not only is he one of a growing number of educational MOO experts, he is also the only expert in the new field of CoverWeb Coordination (^_^).
Go to the CoverWeb Overview
The CoverWeb Navigation Bars
The navigation bars have, in condensed version, all the information on the Bridge page plus links to each of the OverView nodes. The top bar, labelled Mday's OverView, has links to all six introductory nodes. There is also a Help! link which brings up this document in the bottom frame (or in a new window if you are not using a browser capable of using frames). The bottom bar, labelled Contributor Webs, have links to all seven CoverWeb Contributions. In the top Navigation Bar, the titles have been shortened so that the table will fit in an average browser window.
If, for any reason, you wish to return to the CoverWeb Bridge Page or to the CoverWeb OverView, there are direct links to these pages between the two tables. There is also a mailto: link under the tables. Please use this mailto to ask questions, suggest improvements, or join the professional discussion of which this CoverWeb is only part. What is the future of virtual classroom spaces? How have and how can MOOs and MUDs be utilized as learning contexts? These are some of the questions the CoverWeb aims to raise -- and contributors try to answer some of them.
Mday's OverView:
Classes
in MOOTuesday
CafeVirtual
ConferenceInternat'l
& K-12Getting
StartedMOO
ResourcesHelp!
Contributor
Webs:Pedagogical Reality
@go tuesday
TCC On-Line
Comp & Lit
More than Writing
You Wanna MOO?
Wading through MUD