Discussion Tools

Discussion tools are tools such as chat, discussion boards, and live conferencing. Adding virtual discussion to a class improves the feeling of a community. This specially holds true in the online environment where the learning mostly is student centered: students work on their own time and have little contact with other students and/or the instructor.

Chat
Online, realtime chat is usually available through the LMS (Learning Management System.) Everyone participating must be online at the same time. The discussion takes place in a special chat window and a few lines are available at a time for each participant to read. If the group is big, the thread may be hard to follow. It is suggested not to have too many people in a chat at once for this reason. Chats may be logged and saved to the hard drive. Instructors may choose to use chat as a review before tests, save the log and post to the course website for students to read that were unable to participate. Chat may also be made private, i.e. between 2 people only. IM is an example of chat.

Read more about using chat in the classroom:
Using Chat to Move Thinking Forward
(T.H.E. Journal article - November 2008)

 

Discussion Boards
The benefit of using discussion boards is that students do not have to be online at the same time. Postings may be done whenever and be read by all course participants at their leisure. Almost all LMS's have discussion boards. Instructors may use the discussion boards for students to discuss a specific weekly pre-determined topic, or use it for posting of questions for the instructor or other students to answer.

A classroom class may also use discussion boards as a supplement. Many schools allow instructors to access LMS's to set up discussion boards and assignment drop boxes. This is a great way for instructors to log that everyone is participating and provides a 'receipt' to both students and faculty that work was submitted on time.

If a discussion board is all you want, groups can be created online in places such as Google Groups. Google Groups lets Google members set up discussion groups and invite people to the groups. Discussion can then go on either online or over email. Web pages can be made inside the group to introduce the group and its members. The interface may be customized. Files may be shared - both upload and download is possible.

Google Groups contains the archives of UseNet Groups dating back to 1981.

Google Groups is very public as the contents is stored on Google and made searchable online. Users need to be at least 13 year of age.

Realtime Conferencing
There are several applications available for online conferencing. Some require special set-up such as Centra, where special software needs to be installed on computers.

Wimba, is a conferencing tool that may be implemented into many LMS' such as Blackboard. It allows for a seamless integration. Students log into the LMS and access the conferencing tool for a real-time conference.

Realtime conferencing can also be done with video. Students are required to have computers with sound cards and a headset with a microphone. If video is used the computers also need to have web cameras attached. Instructors may use the conferencing tool for a lecture where only the instructor is seen and questions are taken over a chat window or over a microphone.

Other available online conferencing tools outside of LMSs that allow for collaboration and realtime discussion are:

The above sites offer free accounts as well as paid accounts with additional features. I have not tested these accounts so read the fine print.