It seems to be a common opinion that MOOs are good for communications and writing skills. The distance education and global community perspective are also well represented in the survey responses.
According to Michael Day, MOO crosses local boundaries which can all too often stifle intellectual pursuits. Many people at a given site are simply isolated in their locality and, heretofore, have had to rely on print publications for a sense of interconnectedness with others working in the same areas. We are no longer held to parochial boundaries:
Michael Day of ManyMOOs
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Benefits? Heck, I gotta life of the mind not really possible with my colleagues here.
I envision MOO as just another workspace that allows folks to chat and brainstorm in writing. (Survey 7)
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Eric Mercer talks about different kinds of advantages using MOO, and he also gets into the theoretical foundation:
Eric Mercer of Diversity University
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among the first truly effective tools for applying constructivist
learning approaches to post-elementary school education (Survey 10).
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In her survey response Claudine Keenan talks about the ability to maintain close relationships over distance.
Claudine Keenan of Media, DaMOO, VOU, Bliss, DU
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Interaction, collaboration, decentralization--all in one place. Where can you get a more powerful educational tool? (Survey 17)
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Janice R. Walker mentions the human cost effectiveness of sharing resources:
Janice R. Walker of MostMOOs
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We are sharing physical and human resources in a way never before possible (Survey 18).
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And think about the advantages for deaf students, which can also be applied to other groups of disabled students. As Evelyn McClave notes:
Evelyn McClave of DaMOO
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The major advantage for deaf students is that the class can be conducted entirely in English (Survey 19) .
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