Creating and sustaining online discussions with your class
There are times when you would like for your class to engage in an online discussion. There are a couple of tools that could be useful for creating a discussion forum online.
One thing that you should think about is whether you want the discussion to be synchronous or asynchronous.
Synchronous discussions are when all participants are online at the same time, chatting together. For example, you watch a movie and you have students comment on specific aspects of it while viewing the film.
Asynchronous discussions are when participants are not generally online at the same time. For example, you pose a question for homework and the responses to it and further discussion develop over the evening (or weekend, or whatever the time frame you desire)
For synchronous discussions
The simplest and least annoying one that I (Erika) have found is Neat Chat.
www.neatchat.com: No sign-up required. Just go to the site, provide a name (there is no verification process) and start a chat room. The site will provide you with a link to send to your fellow participants so they can access the chat room. Conversations can be printed.
For asynchronous discussions
There is a discussion feature in Haiku. Once you have are on a specific class' page, click on the "Connect" tab at the top of the page.
There are times when you would like for your class to engage in an online discussion. There are a couple of tools that could be useful for creating a discussion forum online.
One thing that you should think about is whether you want the discussion to be synchronous or asynchronous.
For synchronous discussions
The simplest and least annoying one that I (Erika) have found is Neat Chat.
For asynchronous discussions
There is a discussion feature in Haiku. Once you have are on a specific class' page, click on the "Connect" tab at the top of the page.