One of the course formats i.e. Moodle offers, is the social forum course. There is nothing but a Discussion area in the beginning at the course area, and you start your work there. Has anyone had any experiences on this? It sounds a bit crazy idea at first - I am used to use Topic format and build the course nicely on that, one day/week for one topic, and then adding resources on that.
But I would like to try next time if a Social Format would be a new way to begin with.
I have created a "social course" in Moodle. This is initially meant for a group of avaition forecasters who wanted an area, not e-mail, to share ideas or challenges related to operations. This is quite new, so we don't have any experience yet. As of today, nobody as thrown the first stone, so to speak.
I will try to follow this, though. And am also interested in opinions!
I will try to follow this, though. And am also interested in opinions!
Erik, did you include a nice welcoming message that set the tone of the social forum? Based on the literature I've read, and my limited experience, that seems like it might be critical, rather than waiting for another to throw the first stone. :-)
It seems to me that the topics format would be for those who want or like more structure in the virtual interaction, while having a discussion area where the users would bring up the topics would be most useful to gather information on what the users themselves believe are the most important topics to discuss. The latter can be particularly useful, I would think, in a situation where the developer of the course may not have good enough info. about the users' needs regarding, for example, how operational meteorologists use a particular forecast tool (or even whether they use it at all!).
The challenge is to get people to use the forums to communicate with us, regardless of the format. I wonder if the "corporate culture" of the organizations for which we develop training are conducive to one form of discussion forum or another?
The challenge is to get people to use the forums to communicate with us, regardless of the format. I wonder if the "corporate culture" of the organizations for which we develop training are conducive to one form of discussion forum or another?