Online forums vs. blogs & wikis

In my view, online forums are more effective in learning than blogs & wikis. Moodle has implemented online forums excellently, which I observed in an example website of Moodle.
But, similar to the facility that I can modify this post (in classroom20) after few minutes, can a group of students can be given privileges to post and edit (similar to wikis) in online forums ?

Tags: blogs, forums, wikis, moodle

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Permalink Reply by pete whitfield on August 13, 2007 at 12:39am

I think each has its place (forums, wikis, blogs). I certainly like the forums n Moodle; they are simple to use and aren't owned by one individual (like a blog). The threads are easy to organise and when you attach a .mov or a .mp3 Moodle automatically embeds it in the page. I think a forum promotes quick conversations (of the moment), rather than the considered writing you may put into a blog or wiki.
In Moodle students too can edit their posts upto 30 minutes after submission I believe and the teacher has the option to delete it completely. I didn't find wikis and blogs in Moodle too successful, though this may have been resolved in later releases.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew Needleman on August 13, 2007 at 8:29am

I tend to agree that forums are better places for classroom conversations because they support mutliple conversations non-linear-ly whereas a blog is in a line.

However, blogs apparently sell more tickets to conferences.

Can anyone post an example moodle forum? I didn't think about it as an option for a class forum I'm wanting to set up?

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Permalink Reply by Colette Cassinelli on August 13, 2007 at 12:31pm

Forums in Moodle are super easy to set up and follow the threads. For privacy sake (students use photos) I didn't post an actual forum but made you a sample.

Personally, I like the forum feature in Moodle better than the blog feature. I will use an outside blog this year instead.

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Permalink Reply by Dean Mattson on August 13, 2007 at 9:03pm

However, blogs apparently sell more tickets to conferences.

I think there's a place for both. As you said, a forum is a great place for conversation, hashing things out and trying out ideas. But then a blog would be a great way to follow that up and get the students to take out the important ideas from that discussion and support some type of conclusion or insight they had.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Kennedy on August 13, 2007 at 4:41pm

I, too, have found the forum to be the best way to facilitate online discussions among students for many of the reasons cited. Moodle is the one my teachers like the best since it is very easy to use and the site can be made secure with user names and passwords.

I have also used phpBB quite a bit liked it. It is only forum software and does not include the other features that Moodle offers for complete online course creation. Its most glaring limitation is that it does not allow you to register users in batches (import), as Moodle does. It gets pretty tedious entering every kids user name and password even if copying and pasting.

Much of what I have done has been with middle school students writing book reviews, and responding to other students. Some of it is quite thoughtful and reflective.

I see a blog as more of a personal writing space that allows others to comment, but doesn't lend itself well to extended conversations.

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Permalink Reply by M. SESHAGIRI on August 19, 2007 at 8:36am

Please note that the popular orkut.com has the feature of online discussion forums in the form of scrapbook. The feature of scrapbook (online discussion forum) helped online friends to discuss things. Wonderful feature indeed.