Chapter 9: Collaborative Online Learning

Few samples of collaborative online learning is Online forum, Wikis, Podcasting, and Second Life.

Have you heard about "webpage" and "wiki"?

WEBPAGE
- A hypertext document connected to the World Wide Web and commonly written in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) that is accessible through the Internet or other network using an Internet browser.

WIKI
- A website that allows collaborative editing of its own content and structure by its users. It provides a simplified interface and it is not necessary to know HTML. wikis use by editing wiki pages. Ordinarily, the structure and formatting of wiki pages are specified with a simplified markup language, sometimes known as "wikitext. by clicking Edit link, the script sends the raw text file to your browser in an editable form, allowing you to modify the content of the page. wikis is easiest and most effective Web-based collaboration tool in any instructional portfolio. provides direct and immediate access to a site content which is crucial in group editing or other collaborative project actiities. because wikis grow and evolve as a direct result of people adding material to the site, they can address a variety of pedagogical needs.
ONLINE FORUM

  • Online forum equivalent to traditional bulletin board and technological evolution of the dial up bulletin board system.
  • Most online forum require registration to post.
  • Before you begin developing your instructional strategy in online forum, you need to decide which online forum you are going to use for example padlet, dropbox, blog and etc.
  • Ask people to comment on your post if you create your own post.
  • Disadvantages of online forum are troll and spamming. Troll is a user that repeatedly and intentionally breaches netiquette. posting derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages about sensitive topic. spamming is a breach of netiquette where users repeat the same word or phrase  over and over. people participating in an Internet forum may cultivate social bonds and interest groups for a topic made from the discussions. 

TROLL
- Inflammatory messages about sensitive topics in an established online community to bait users into responding, often starting flame wars
SPAMMING
-Where users repeat the same word or phrases over and over and spamming is usually a willful act which sometimes has malicious intent
USER GROUP
-Privileges and rights are given based on user groups. the privileges are set by the administrator
- An unregistered user of the site is commonly known as a guest or visitor 
MODERATOR
-Users of the forum who are granted access to the posts and threads of all members for the purpose of moderating discussion and also keeping the forum clean
-Have access to all posts and threads.
ADMINISTRATOR
-Promote members to moderators, manage the rules, creates section and sub-sections, as well as perform any database operations.
- Administrator often also act as moderators

POST
-A post is a user submitted messages enclosed into a block containing the user's details and the date and time it was submitted 
- Members are usually allowed to edit or deleting their own posts

THREADS
-sometimes called a topic
-A collection of posts, usually displayed by default from oldest or latest, although this is typically configurable
-a thread can contain any number of posts, including multiple posts from the same members, even if they are one after the other.

PRIVATE MESSAGE
- A private message, or PM for short, is a message sent in private from members to one or more other members.
-A private messages are generally used for personal conversations.

EMOTICON
Emoticon or smiley is a symbol or combination of symbols used to convey emotional content in written or messagee form.

PODCASTING

- Podcasting is a series of digital media files whether in audio or video that are released episodically and downloaded through web syndication.
- Subscription and automatically downloaded to  personal computer or portable MP3 player.

Prodcasting for learning and teaching

-To create an archive of class lectures that students can listen to at their convenience such as news/update, guest lecturers, students presentation and tour/fieldwork.

Advantages

- Time-shifting technology
- Students can create podcasts to report their observations or conduct interviews.
- Instructors might create guided audio tours for field trips or commentary.

Disadvantages

- Lack of interactivity
- Internet problem
- Download audio failed

SECOND LIFE

- Second life is using the avatars, virtual selves that reflect the creators' personalities to interact with one another within the online environment.
- Second Life Viewer is a free client program that enables it is user, called Residents to interact with each other through avatars.

Second Life for teaching and learning

- Second life is used as a platform for education by many institutions, such as colleges, universities, libraries, and government entities.
- Create by the participants
-  Allow the power of human relationships to be integrated more freely in the learning process.

Advantages

- Instructors and researchers in Second Life favor it because it is more personal than traditional      distance learning.
- The platform to deliver is a high quality service a world wide audience at low cost.
- Building the relationships with students in this fashion leads to greater communication.

Disadvantages

- High hardware requirements such as speed internet connection.
- It is not easy to store digital documents
- Do not offer tools to monitor and track students.