COLLABORATIVE ONLINE LEARNING

ONLINE FORUM

Definition 

An internet forum, or massage board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted message. They differ from chat rooms in that message are not shown in real-time, to see new message the forum must be reloaded.

Wikis

 

• Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. 
• Wiki is a combination of a CGI script and a collection of plain text files that allows users to create Web pages “on the fly.”
• Wiki 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

PODCASTING

 

 

• A podcast is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and downloaded through web syndication.
• Podcasting is a method of publishing audio files (usually MP3s) to the Web, which are then made available through subscription and automatically downloaded to a personal computer or portable MP3 player.
• The mode of delivery differentiates podcasting from other means of accessing media files over the Internet, such as direct download, or streame webcasting.
• Commonly used audio file formats are Oggy Vorbis and MP3. 

Podcasting could be used for:

• news/updates;
• guest lectures;
• student presentations;
• student-produced podcasts;
• interviews with guest experts;
• tours/fieldwork;
• internships/residencies;
• feedback/evaluation of student work;
• supplementary material such as speeches, music, or other audio recordings; and
• short language lessons, or other lessons that help students develop listening and speaking skills.

Second Life

• Second Life enhance social presence that can support collaborative online activities and enrich interpersonal understanding among their participants.
• In terms of educational practice, this virtual world allows for a reimagining of the classroom as one that meets the new needs of online instruction while providing students with a sense of belonging to a learning community.
• For example, Second Life allows for online interactions that mimic the face-to-face conversations of the campus classroom while minimizing the formality that usually prevails in academic discussion forums.
• New educational institutions have also emerged that operate exclusively within Second Life, taking advantage of the platform to deliver a high quality service to a world wide audience at low cost.

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.
• Research has uncovered development, teaching and/or learning activities, which use Second Life in over 80 percent of UK universities.