What is Online Discussion? Essay -- Technology, Communication

Many acquires of online sermon arrive been enter in the literature. For example, participation in an asynchronous online news is time and regularize independent (Morse, 2003 Williams etal., 2001). Participants who involved online news can contribute whenever they have a useful input and wherever they are as long as they have access to a net rub down based computer. Williams (2002, p. 266) explained the freedom from secular and geographical constraints international students have flexibility in the time, place and one thousand of communication with others. In contrast, the traditional face-to-face discussion does not have this flexibility. Online discussion allows students taking time to think about the messages they receive from their peers as well as what they postings. After a long time act they can send without the pressure as an immediate responder (Biesenbach & Lucas, 2003). Therefore, online discussion is also defined as a powerful tool for the development of critical thinking, collaboration, and reflection (Williams et al., 2001, p. 151). Online discussions are deeply engaged and benefits the diverse students compared with traditional classroom discussions (Crevener, 1999, cited in Pinch & Graves, 2000). Students tend to participate more as they are aware that their participation is being monitored and recorded (Tullar et al., 1998). Online discussion in spite of appearance small groups or learning sets also affords a growing awareness of community and a feeling among students that they can get to know each other through this medium (Curtin, 2002, cited in Lewin & Jerram, 2003 Hammond, 2000). Another major benefit of online discussion relates to the fact that in the traditional classroom situation, a fewer students often domi... ...e way it is used by instructors and students and how it is contribute to the course work (Elgort et al., 2003 McKinlay, 1999, cited in Biesenbach-Lucas, 2003 Weasenforth et al., 2002). The length of the discussi on, the number of postings required, the size of any one contribution, the parting of the instructor, the students technical preparedness and so on, need to be carefully considered. Otherwise, the discussion may consist of contributions that are not strongly interactive and the students may simply play the game of assessment whereby they make postings that earn label but do not really contribute to the development of the parley (Oliver & Shaw, 2003, p. 56). Therefore, some authors offer tips for designing and running a good discussion in a networked environment based on their experiences (Hawisher & Pemberton, 1997 Kimball, 1995 Sullivan, 2002).