I found the discussion board quite useful for this task, mainly because I live in Bournemouth and my partner is living in Southampton. Therefore, although the task required us to discuss and work together, this could be done at separate times and places. It is easy to post comments and attach files onto the discussion board so there were no problems accessing each others work. The only issue that occurred was that I had to save the work I did at home in a format compatible with the university’s software to allow it to be opened without a problem as I have a more recent version of Microsoft.
Discussion boards could be a useful resource in primary schools when doing tasks such as book reviews, as we have done in English. Children could work in groups to write a review, post it and then comment on other groups’ reviews. They could also be very useful to get children to post their individual or group ICT work onto a discussion board so that it can be marked by the teacher online – the children could also feedback their comments after the teacher has marked it so they can carry out some self-assessment and reflect on the work they have done. This can then be re-visited when completing their next piece of work.
Although discussion boards are very useful for the above tasks, Wikis and Blogs could also provide these advantages. The negative side of the discussion board is that once a document has been posted it cannot be edited as easily as on a Blog or Wiki. Plus, on the discussion board, the work has to be posted so another programme has to be used to produce the work on, whereas Wikis and Blogs can be worked on as they are and contributed to by anyone in the group. Another advantage is that it is possible to limit people's access on Blogs and Wikis, which may not be as easy on a discussion board - anyone could read the messages we have put up on the discussion board on Blackboard. Sometimes it is great to share ideas but occassionaly it may be necessary for only the teacher to access certain work so that all children produce soething original.
Discussion boards could be a useful resource in primary schools when doing tasks such as book reviews, as we have done in English. Children could work in groups to write a review, post it and then comment on other groups’ reviews. They could also be very useful to get children to post their individual or group ICT work onto a discussion board so that it can be marked by the teacher online – the children could also feedback their comments after the teacher has marked it so they can carry out some self-assessment and reflect on the work they have done. This can then be re-visited when completing their next piece of work.
Although discussion boards are very useful for the above tasks, Wikis and Blogs could also provide these advantages. The negative side of the discussion board is that once a document has been posted it cannot be edited as easily as on a Blog or Wiki. Plus, on the discussion board, the work has to be posted so another programme has to be used to produce the work on, whereas Wikis and Blogs can be worked on as they are and contributed to by anyone in the group. Another advantage is that it is possible to limit people's access on Blogs and Wikis, which may not be as easy on a discussion board - anyone could read the messages we have put up on the discussion board on Blackboard. Sometimes it is great to share ideas but occassionaly it may be necessary for only the teacher to access certain work so that all children produce soething original.
1 comment:
DBs are great if people are far from one another or do not have time to get together, as was the case with you living in Bournemouth.
You are right - wikis could be used in the same way, although it might be tricky to coordinate all the discussions the way a DB does.
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