ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL ONLINE FORUMS ON PROMOTING PEER INTERACTION

 Introduction:

                         Online forums and discussion boards are an essential set up in online courses to promote peer interaction among learners. Discussion forums are an instrument which enables learners to create information, collaborate and interact. Also, it allows more time for the learners to understand, respond, and reflect their own thoughts. Inadequate participation of the learners in online discussion forums is a major challenge. So, mandatory participation plays a major role in online discussion forums.

Interaction:

                        According to Vygotsky, social and cognitive development takes place in a social plane where learner and instructor interaction exists. There should be a proper communication between the learner and the instructor. Everyone's thoughts and ideas should be expressed and discussed. This process of communication takes place orally in traditional environment. This communication process in online environment is also carried out asynchronously. Apart from this, online forums provide a space for discussion which allows the learners to exchange their ideas, which would create a better understanding among learners.

Characteristics:

                               The characteristics of a good online forum are stated by Martyn(2005) as seven elements:
1) Require students to participate 
2) Grade student's effort
3) Involve learning teams
4) Structure discussion
5) Require a hand in assignment 
6) Learners use their own experiences in posing questions and scenarios 
7) Relate the discussion to course objective.

Benefits:

                There are many benefits in online forums. There is a vast knowledge among the learners of same group. This can be shared by all the members in the group. Thus, everyone in the group would be benefited. Chinedu(2008) expresses that by participating in online forums, access to knowledge is free. Online forums  are more flexible compared to face to face communications as it provides time to think and reflect thoughts of learners. Also, it increases the participation of introverted students since many of them would not participate in physical learning. Since learners are given time reflect their thoughts, online forums makes high-quality discussion. Also online forums helps in creating new friends.

Conclusion:

                     Thus, online forums is an ideal place for students to learn new things, to socialize and to improve their communication skills. In order to create a successful online forum, learner's participation is essential. Teachers too play a major role in online forums. It is the duty of the teacher to teach the things in a more interactive way so that students find interest to learn. Also teachers should motivate their students and give them confidence. The teacher should also make sure that everyone in class are interactive. The teachers should give space and time to the students for discussions so that it improves their understanding. The students also should be active in online forums and should take efforts to learn. Thus online forums play a major role on peer interaction.


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