COLLABORATIVE ONLINE LEARNING

FORUM

What Is Online Forum?

Online forum is an online bulletin board where people can post, participating and discussing topics. It also may cultivate social bonds and interest groups for a topic made from the discussions. Most online forums require registration to post.

Dont's In Online Forum

In online forum, user should avoid this 2:

1. Troll -  Repeatedly and intentionally breaches netiquette, often posting derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages about sensitive topics in an established online community to bait users into responding, often starting flame wars.
2. Spamming - A breach of netiquette where users repeat the same word or phrase over and over, but differs from multiple posting in that spamming is usually a willful act which sometimes has malicious intent.

Forum Structure

• User groups - Registered user of the site(Unregistered user known as guest or visitor). They are given privileges administrator where they can access to all functions that do not require database alterations or breach privacy.
• Moderator - Users of the forum who are granted access to all posts and threads of all members for the purpose of moderating discussion and also keeping the forum clean. They respond to user's concerns, questions and complaints about the forum.
• Administrator - Manage the technical details required for running the site. They act as moderators, promote members to moderators, manage the rules, create sections and sub-sections, as well as perform any database operations.
• Post - User submitted message enclosed into a block containing user's detail and the date and time it was submitted. Members are usually allowed to edit or delete their own posts. The first post starts the threads; this may called the TS (thread starter) or OP (Original Post) while posts that follow in the thread are meant to continue discussion about that post, or respond to other replies.
• Thread - Collection of posts displayed from oldest to latest (can be configurable). It is defined by title and can contain any number of posts, including multiple posts from the same members.
• Private Message - A message sent in private from a member to one or more other members used for personal conversations.
• Emoticon - Symbol used to convey emotional content in written or message form.

WIKIS

What Is Wiki?

Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. It is a combination of a CGI script and a collection of plain text files that allows users to create Web Pages "on the fly." It also supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly. Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.

Editing Wiki Pages

The structure and formatting of wiki pages are specified with a simplified markup language known as "wikitext". The style and syntax of wikitexts can vary greatly among wiki implementations, some of which also allow HTML tags. Wikis therefore favor plain text editing, with fewer and simpler conventions than HTML for indicating style and structure. By clicking " Edit" link, the script sends the raw text file to the browser in an editable form, allowing user to modify the content of the page and pressing "Save" button sends the modified text back to the wiki server, which replaces the existing text file with the changed version 

PODCASTING

 

 Podcasting In Education

The use of podcasting in educational context is varies from:

• Short language lessons, or other lessons that help students develop listening and speaking skills
• News/updates
• Guest lectures
• Student presentations
• Student-produced podcasts
• Feedback/evaluation of student work
• Supplementary  material such as speeches, music, or other audio recordings

SECOND LIFE

What Is Second Life?

Second Life, is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab where participants use avatars, virtual selves that reflect the creators' personalities, to interact with one another within the online environment.

Second Life In Education

Second Life is used as a platform for education by many institutions, such as colleges, universities, libraries and government entities. Instructors and researchers in Second Life favor it because it is more personal than traditional distance learning.

"80% of UK universities used Second Life in the development, teaching and/or learning activities"