1. Using the Online Forum as a tool for collaboration

2. Online Forum
Online discussion forums allow for increased interactions:
Feel more confident
More time to think about comment
Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute
Several options for utilizing the Forum section.

3. Online Forum Collaboration
Synchronous Collaboration
Schedule a time when all participants log on to the forum section and discuss a specific topic or issue.
Schedule a guest “expert” to engage in an online discussion

4. Online Forum Collaboration
Asynchronous Collaboration
Post questions, comments, and reflections at the participant’s convenience
Respond to other participant’s posted comments.

5. Important Tips You must be logged in to POST a comment.
Initial comments are displayed along with the number of responses that comment has.
Click on the comment and a “map” of comments will be displayed.
Click on any response from here to see it
You may respond to any initial comment and/or response

6. Important Tips
Click on a person’s name at the top of his/her posting (dark green name under the title) to send them a direct message
Refresh the screen often to see the most recent postings.
Search option will locate all postings related to a specific topic
Searches the titles as well as the content of the postings