Collaborative Online Learning

Online Forum

Definition

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived.

Online forum is Equivalent to traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system. In a forum you can see people participating in an Internet forum may cultivate social bonds and interest groups for a topic made from the discussions. Most Online forums require registration to post.

Online Forum Structure

• User groups
• Moderator
• Administrator

In a Forum Contains

• Post
• Thread
• Private message
• Emoticon

Example of Online Forum

Wikis

Definition

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

Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.

The out come of what you type:-

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Wikitext_examples

Pod casting

Definition

A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of files (either audio or video) subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device. The word is a neologism derived from "broadcast" and "pod" from the success of the iPod, as podcasts are often listened to on portable media players.

Podcast 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


Definition

Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore the world (known as the grid), meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another.

More about second life – the 3D virtual world