k12.ed.math charter

Charter for k12.ed.math

Outline:

1. Rationale for converting group to Moderated status
2. Charter: Purpose of this newsgroup
3. Policy: How a message gets posted to k12.ed.math
4. Additional Resources and Information

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1. RATIONALE:

By confining traffic in k12.ed.math to pertinent topics, we hope to stimulate a rich and thought-provoking discussion pertinent to kindergarten through twelfth grade mathematics.

Moderating k12.ed.math will make participation in this group suitable for classroom use, for which K12Net was originally intended. Moderating will eliminate offensive messages, such as spams, ads for adult materials, pyramid schemes, flames and the like.
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2. Charter: Purpose of k12.ed.math.

The purpose of k12.ed.math is to provide a discussion forum for issues pertaining to kindergarten through twelfth grade mathematics. Appropriate posts could address such issues as curriculum, assessment, classroom practices, suggested assignments, help on particular problems, grading practices, requests for advice, history of mathematics and the like.

Individuals who would benefit from participating in this newsgroup would include: k-12 mathematics teachers and their students, math tutors, parents, and others interested in k-12 mathematics.

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3. Policy: How a message gets posted to k12.ed.math

On Aug 1, 1997 k12.ed.math was converted to moderated status. At this time, there are two ways to post a message to k12.ed.math:

(i) Participants can post to k12.ed.math in the same manner that they would post to any newsgroup. Messages posted to k12.ed.math are forwarded automatically by e-mail to the moderator without any special action on the part of the author.

(ii) E-mail your message to the submission address directly, at k12math@k12groups.org
(Note: submission address changed April 22, 2003.)

The moderator determines if each message meets the guidelines (which follow). If it does, the moderator posts it to the newsgroup. If not, it is rejected. No confimation message or receipt will be sent by the moderator to authors of approved posts. Rejected posts may or may not be returned to their author, depending on the reason for rejection. See below.

Messages approved for posting in k12.ed.math would most likely conform to the following guidelines:
a. Be directly pertinent to k-12 mathematics
b. Not contain material inappropriate for k-12 classrooms
c. Have a Subject: field that is descriptive of the message's content
d. Model constructive conversation and debate, rather than inflammatory attacks
e. Follow up articles would not contain excessive quoting. A good guideline is that there should be more reply text than quoted text.
f. Advertisements for products and services would be directly related to k-12 mathematics. Such ads would be brief, possibly indicating where more detailed information is available, and they would be posted infrequently (no more than once a month).
g. Preferably not cross-posted. Cross-posts are approved at the discretion of the moderator. See below for more specifics.

The following will cause a message to be automatically rejected:
a. Clearly off-topic (i.e. spams, adult topics, pyramid schemes)
b. Cross-posted to many newsgroups (more than 5).
c. Cross-posted to other moderated newsgroups.

These posts will not be returned to their authors, nor will the author receive notification from the moderator.

Posts rejected for other reasons (personal attacks, excessive quoting, containing copyrighted material without permission, excessively long posts, questions answered in the FAQ--see 4. Additional Resources--or other things which could be corrected), will be returned to the author with a note explaining the reason for the rejection. The author can then have the option of editing the message and re-submitting it to the moderator for approval.

Moderators for this newsgroup are appointed by the K12Net Council. The first moderator of k12.ed.math will be Sheila King (sheila@thinkspot.net). Sheila has previously moderated this conference for K12Net from 1992-95.

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4. Additional Resources:

In addition to the change in status of k12.ed.math from unmoderated to moderated status, there is also another change to the newsgroup currently in progress. The newsgroup k12.ed.math is being re-linked to its originating conference, K12_Math_Ed, which is an electronic discussion forum in another network, namely K12Net.

For more information about the origin of the k12.* hierarchy of newsgroups, and the gateway between the two networks which together comprise the K12Net discussion groups, see the message with the subject: Upcoming changes in k12.ed.math, which has been posted to this newsgroup recently.

There is also a list of Websites at the end of this document, where you can go to learn more about Usenet, moderated usenet newsgroups, K12Net and FidoNet.

It is the intention of the first moderator, Sheila King, to develop a FAQ for k12.ed.math. Volunteers are requested to help in composing articles for the FAQ. Please contact the moderator at kem-moderator@k12groups.org if you have any input for a FAQ document. After a FAQ document has been prepared, it will be posted monthly in k12.ed.math.

[revised 8/23/99]: Visit the current version of the Periodic Posting at
http://www.thinkspot.net/k12math/faq.html
Also, visit the k12.ed.math website at
http://www.thinkspot.net/k12math/

Comments or questions about this charter may be posted as follow-up articles to k12.ed.math or e-mailed to the prospective moderator, Sheila King, at sheila@thinkspot.net.

K12Net Council contact: George G Perkins ggperk01@homer.louisville.edu

Website Resources:

Moderated Newsgroups FAQ:
http://www.swcp.com/~dmckeon/mod-faq.html

The website for news.newusers.questions (information about newsgroups for new users of Usenet):
http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/usenet/

Website for K12Net (a bit out of date, but still has useful philosophical and historical info):
http://www.ggw.org/freenet/k/K12Net/index.html

To learn more about FidoNet, of which K12Net is a subset, visit these sites:
http://www.fidonet.org/

Usenet FAQs. (good explanatory material about many facets of the Net!):
http://www.landfield.com/usenet/usenet.html

Usenet references Website (points to many FAQs, other helpful documents and software):
http://www.faqs.org/usenet/

last updated 4/23/03 Sheila King sheila@thinkspot.net

END OF CHARTER

Subject: Upcoming changes in k12.ed.math

This notice is to inform all participants of upcoming changes in the newsgroup k12.ed.math.

There will be two changes occuring in the next few weeks:
1. Re-linking the gateway between the newsgroup k12.ed.math and its counterpart in K12Net.
2. Conversion of the status of the newsgroup k12.ed.math from unmoderated to moderated.

Please read the rest of this post for more information on these upcoming changes, the reasons for them, and where you can find out more.

ORIGIN of the k12.* hierarchy in Usenet:

In September of 1990, K12Net was formed as an electronic network using the modem-to-modem Fidonet distribution system. K12Net was, at that time, independent of Usenet, and the k12.* hierarchy of newsgroups did not yet exist.

K12Net had more than 30 conferences with a curricular focus, intended to provide discussion opportunities as extensions of the classroom. K12Net was international in scope. In 1991, to provide greater access to these electronic discussions, the K12Net Council decided to create the k12.* hierarchy of newsgroups on Usenet and gate messages between K12Net and the corresponding k12.* newsgroups. In October 1995, the gateway between the two networks was closed, due to the resignation of a member of the K12Net network. Since that time, the K12Net Council has desired to re-link the two networks.

Such an interchange between Usenet and FidoNet BBS users will have many beneficial effects. It will broaden the base of participation in K12Net. It will increase the volume of messages in both the Internet newsgroups and the FidoNet BBS conferences. It will increase the range of people who participate to include more schools, teachers, graduates, and general educators.

The target date for the re-linking of the Usenet newsgroup k12.ed.math and its FidoNet counterpart K12_Math_Ed is mid-July.

Comments or questions about this announcement may be posted as follow-up articles to k12.ed.math or e-mailed to the prospective moderator: Sheila King sheila@thinkspot.net

Additional Information:

For discussion of the change in status of k12.ed.math from unmoderated to moderated, please look for a message with the subject: k12.ed.math Charter to be posted within the next few days.

Websites you can visit to find out more about FidoNet (the network of which K12Net is a subset), the history and philosophy of K12Net, and Usenet:

Website for K12Net (a bit out of date, but still has useful philosophical and historical info):
http://www.ggw.org/freenet/k/K12Net/index.html

To learn more about FidoNet, of which K12Net is a subset, visit these sites:
http://www.fidonet.org/

The website for news.newusers.questions (information about newsgroups for new users of Usenet)
http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/usenet/

Moderated Newsgroups FAQ:
http://www.swcp.com/~dmckeon/mod-faq.html

Usenet FAQs. (good explanatory material about many facets of the Net!):
http://www.landfield.com/usenet/usenet.html

Usenet references Website (points to many FAQs, other helpful documents and software):
http://www.faqs.org/usenet/

posted 7/9/97 last modified 4/24/04 (updating email addresses and links)
Sheila King, moderator of k12.ed.math kem-moderator@k12groups.org

END OF TEXT

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