Virtual Discussion Groups
The Internet provides a variety of communication tools that can
extend traditional classrooms across town or around the world.
From simple one-to-one electronic mail to on-line newsgroups to
"real time" chat rooms, the Internet can put students in touch
with their fellow students and subject-area experts at relatively
little cost.
On-line discussion or communication takes two forms: synchronous
and asynchronous. Synchronous communication is live, instantaneous,
and immediately interactive. Such access is available through
on-line video and voice communication, such as the CU-SeeMe and
"Internet Phone" technologies. On-line chat rooms come close to
synchronous communication with each user typing in messages that
are quickly posted to a common chat "board." Other forms of
Internet communication -- electronic mail and mailing lists --
are asynchronous, that is time passes between sending and
receiving messages. In asynchronous discussions, the sender
posts a message and then, at a later convenient time, the
receiver retrieves the message and responds. (NOTE: Not all
educationally effective discussion requires the more costly,
more technically challenging synchronous communication. Actually,
asynchronous communication is quite adequate for most educational
purposes.)
A second consideration for the educational use of on-line
communication is the appropriateness of mediated versus non-mediated
discussion. Moderated discussions refer to those communications
that are filtered or approved by a designated moderator before
being posted to a publicly available site. Non-moderated
communications are automatically posted to a discussion group
without filtering or approval. The issue of moderation is of
obvious importance for any discussion group involving young
children who might fall prey to unscrupulous persons. Equally
important is the desire to keep students from posting pornographic
or other objectionable materials to a discussion group. Clear
rules for posting to a group as well as password security are the
simplest measures for protecting young learners.
Visit the links below for several examples of virtual discussion
groups. Please note that these are demonstration pages that are
not being used by any real discussion group. Feel free to post
a message.
Examples:
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