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Teacher's Net

Lesson 1: Communications, Part One

Message Boards and Forums

About Message Boards and Forums

"Online forums allow discussions to take place over a long period. It is asynchronous. You don't have to be online at the same time. Participants can read and reflect on postings and seek out further information before making a response.Discussions are moderated and online guests can be invited to contribute. Postings stay on the discussion board for as long as the moderator wants. Discussions are viewed in threads. Each discussion may have a number of threads made up of an initial posting (which starts the thread) and replies to that posting (which build up the thread). Users can edit their own comments. Moderators can edit all comments." (see source 3)

In other words, a forum is like a bulletin board, where someone will post a comment and others pin up their responses to that comment.

Pro's of Message Boards and Forums in an Educational Setting

Because forums are moderated, it is a safe way for students to read other people's views and to respond to them. It's also easier for students to share their own views, as they are essentially "anonymous" in this environment. There are so many types of forums, in every subject imaginable, that a student's education can be greatly improved in a matter of minutes. Integrating technology into Reading, Writing, and Communication becomes one and the same when it comes to forums, making it possible to mask the entire reason that students are allowed to use them in the first place.

Con's of Message Boards and Forums in an Educational Setting

It can be easy for students to get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of posts, and the amount of information available. Setting up specific plans and guidelines on how to find information and what to do with that information will help with this. It's also possible to stumble into a thread which is inappropriate for a student, but by using educational-centered forums and boards, this possibility is next to nil.

Safety and Security

Students should be strongly taught about the risk of sharing personal information, in any Internet Communication medium. Because forums are a semi-permanent record, though, it's most important that they not share personal information here. In lesson 5 of this course, we will be creating a Student Safety Plan, which will go more in-depth on this topic, and which is highly recommended for use as you begin introducing students to the Internet.

Assessment

The assessment of forums should be performed on specific threads as well as the forum center itself. Print the worksheet as many times as you need and use this to guide you.

Integration

Some quick ideas for integrating Message Boards and Forums into the classroom and lessons:

Locate and direct students toward a specific forum that relates to the topic they're learning, instructing that a certain number of new threads and responses be part of their grade (Post one new thread and respond to 3 other threads, for example).

Create a forum for your classroom use, creating a thread for each step of the lessons they're working on. For example, one thread each for research, drafts, final product, and student comments.