The effort to login to a discussion forum and post something only because you are told or encouraged to do so, is not a good enough motivation to post anything.
Many of us are also shy or reluctant to make public statements but rather like to reflect and think silently on their own.
I agree, Vesa, that just being encouraged to post something is not enough. Maybe it is the same in a classroom. Many people are silent and prefer to reflect, even when they are encouraged to speak up and say what they think or ask questions. When only a few people speak in a classroom, keeping a conversation going for an hour while most others are silent, is that more acceptable than when only a few people are speaking in a discussion forum? If so, why are there more expectations on a forum? (I agree there should be more expectations, BTW)
I support Vesa's feelings. Because it is a matter of feelings. "Say what you think" does not work as an invitation to speak or write. Reasons?
-shyness
-lack of confidence in addressing unknown partners (a picture does not remove the natural reservations).
-lack of a purpose: are you helping unknowingly to write a manual, are your ideas going to be sold without your consent (or benefit)?
-lack of fun: in a dinner you may talk just for the sake of it, but that is easier than pressing a lot of buttons and re-reading for typos or silly statements (which remain recorded for ever and accessible to the public)
-lack of reward: for some, exhibitionism might be the reward, for most, the fear of reactions (or worse, the probable absence of reactions!) will prevail.
-lack of "correspondence": unlike e-mail, where the old codes of reply are valid, there is no guarantee of response in fora.
In summary, as a mechanism for discussions, fora are inadequate and far from providing the right atmosphere.
(I will search for positive aspects for the other forum. Why two separate?)
Thanks Jose, for the great list of issues. I think you point out some true problems regarding limited assurance of a response or reward, potential lack of trust, and unsureness when you don't know others well, since you may never have met them in person. I suspect that in this session we need to keep your issues in mind and search for ways that instructors can overcome them if we think discussion is important and that online learning has value.
By the way, I separated the forums to focus on negative and positive aspects to try to stimulate people to think in a single way while they were making a single post--a sort of devil's (and angel's?) advocate approach to get issues on the table. I hope it works, but it does ask for participants to take one side at a time, which might be difficult. So far, people may be having difficulty listing positive qualities. That alone is interesting, but the week is still young.
By the way, I separated the forums to focus on negative and positive aspects to try to stimulate people to think in a single way while they were making a single post--a sort of devil's (and angel's?) advocate approach to get issues on the table. I hope it works, but it does ask for participants to take one side at a time, which might be difficult. So far, people may be having difficulty listing positive qualities. That alone is interesting, but the week is still young.
True Vesa, login to a discussion forum takes time and needs motivation. I find that creating new forum topics every time the existing forum discussions go quiet helps a lot. But, it only works if the participants are automatically subscribed and receive an e-mail warning. Maybe this is a point to consider when setting up new discussions. Participants will login to unsubscribe if they are not interested on it, but they won’t login to check if a new thread was created.
Actually this happened to me in this forum. When I logged in after a while, there were quite a few new discussions initiated. As I felt I was already late, I thought hmmm, I may take some time tomorrow to read them all and contribute… Then I postponed and postponed again. On the other hand, when I receive an e-mail alert, I tend to act as soon as possible.
Actually this happened to me in this forum. When I logged in after a while, there were quite a few new discussions initiated. As I felt I was already late, I thought hmmm, I may take some time tomorrow to read them all and contribute… Then I postponed and postponed again. On the other hand, when I receive an e-mail alert, I tend to act as soon as possible.
Lu, good point.
This makes me think that on the future discussion forums I will always set them up by forcing everyone to originally subscribe.
This makes me think that on the future discussion forums I will always set them up by forcing everyone to originally subscribe.
I wanted to explain our thinking about these forums, and why we haven't forced people to be subscribed. Because CALMEt Online is a larger event, we were not sure that all participants would want to be subscribed to ALL discussions in ALL sessions through November, so we did not force subscription except to the News Forum and for the final forum in this session on Discussion Forums.
If you prefer, I could make a change for everyone who might not know how to subscribed. Just let me know.
If you prefer, I could make a change for everyone who might not know how to subscribed. Just let me know.