The Intercollegiate E-Democracy Project

Description
The Intercollegiate E-Democracy Project (IEDP) is a national collaboration that enables students from across the country to use the Internet to discuss social and political issues with peers at other colleges. The IEDP provides a forum where participants can engage in public deliberation and dialogue that is so crucial to the democratic process and to the solving of any community problem or issue.

In discussion forums covering a wide variety of issues, you will be able to use writing to 1) explore, expand, and develop your own views on various issues, 2) share these views with others, and 3) listen to, learn about, and respond to others' views. As well, through the numerous class activites and discussions you will analyze the online discourse (the posts made by you and others), learning more about online argumentation and deliberation. You will also have the chance to explore and gain experience with asynchronous communication forums, which are becoming more common in academic and business settings.

We will participate in the IEDP from the latter part of September until the end of November.

Assignments (See links from the Course Schedule for more details and guidelines.)
1) Participation in the IEDP discussion forums, reading and responding to the forums several times a week.

2) Participation in class discussions and activities related to the IEDP, including reading a few articles on deliberation and e-democracy and writing frequent rhetorical analyses.

3) Write your public argument essay on a topic you have been discussing in the IEDP.

States with Colleges and Universities Participating (Fall 2005)
California
Connecticut
Massachusetts
Rhode Island

North Dakota
Wyoming

IEDP Websites
General Information about the IEDP is available at: http://www.trincoll.edu/prog/iedp

The IEDP discussion forum for Fall 2005 is password protected and limited to IEDP participants. The web address is http://my.trincoll.edu