First, the ezlearners are great team players and collaborate well together. We have built-up our own social identity, which is easily visualized by the two letter acronym “ez”, in front of our first names. EZ is pronounced “easy” and reflects the current online working relationship. The group feels at ease communicating with different computer tools and online assignments are well structured and organized. Flaming is unheard of and everyone has a sincere interest at heart. The ez-ies are so diverse that each member can contribute with his or her strengths; deadlines are met and assignments well presented both orally or written. We have techies on board, professional writers, teachers all contributing to each group assignment.
In the previous assignment the group’s task was to discuss different online communication tools using the group’s forum. The assignment was clear the roles were quickly identified and volunteers were at hand. The forum discussion on online communication tools was a good exercise to conduct using a forum. The topic was not too complex in nature, thus creating a lively and an embracing discussion with nicely flowing posts. The responsibilities of each team player were clear and no additional assistance was required from outside.
Of course an online discussion in a forum (computer-mediated communication) is faced with the obvious reduced social cues. It is impossible to communicate with a real smile, agreeing or supporting an idea by nodding or giving a facial expression of disappointment. While posting you can use emoticons, however, most ez-ies only use smiley faces and other expressions are rarely posted. Is it an emotionally controlled, static and virtual environment. In a face to face discussion you can follow the cues of the other participants (body language, eye contact, facial expressions, stress and intonation of words) as well as viewing the interaction of all group members during a discussion.
"Where is everyone?" A forum is not a synchronous form of communication, nor is it a F2F meeting. What is it?
I believe that an online forum discussion is to be seen as a written form of communication that offers an asynchronous, computer-based communication, which does not need to resemble an oral discussion, nor should it be compared to it. If classified as a written type of communication, we can see the advantages more clearly as if we tend to compare it more to oral communication. Written forms of computer-based communication, such as emails, chat or participating to new social networking sites, provide other advantages and should not be simple categorized as second-rate to f2f meetings or discussions. Seen as an addition, not a replacement, give them a valid position in today’s world of communication, in particular for learning environments. For our assignment, the forum was better than exchanging emails back and forth or using e.g. a chat-room. Here is a list of some more advantages:
Advantages of Forum Discussions:
· Members do not have to be present at all times (asynchronous)· Time to reflect and prepare a response to the posts (in-depth responses)
· A complex subject or task can be discussed at length over
a longer time period (longevity)
· A written record is available as well as a summary report (recordable)
· Focus is more on content rather than on verbal cues
(charisma, enthusiasms, etc.) or body language
When viewing the advantages of a forum , we can see that it is useful to communicate among those not gathered in one room at a particular time. To ensure that online discussion continues to flow and that follow-up posts respond to previous ones, an online moderator may be helpful to steer conversations. I feel that the moderator has a very important role when the topics are more complex and the participants tend to lose track of the original assignment.
Finally, the advantage of working with forums is that the threads are documented in written form and can be summarized (recordable) into a short report. Members can prepare their posts and offer in-depth replies to previous posts. In our case, ez-eva summarized the loose discussion threads in a table and provided a short report, which was exemplary. In conclusion, adding new forms of computer-based communication offer different means of communication and can be used effectively for different learning scenarios.
