ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL ONLINE FORUMS ON PROMOTING PEER INTERACTION

 Introduction:

                        Online forums in the field of education play a major role in peer interaction. Online discussion boards are an instrument which enables learners to create information, collaborate, and interact. Online forums provide time for the learners to understand, respond, and to reflect their own thoughts and ideas. Inadequate participation of students is a major challenge in online discussion boards. Thus, mandatory participation plays a major role in online discussion forums.

Interaction:

                    According to Vygotsky, social and cognitive development takes place through a social plane where interaction of learner and instructor takes place. There should be a proper communication between the learner and instructor. Everyone's thought must be expressed and discussed. This form of communication takes place orally in the traditional environment. This communication in online environment is also carried out asynchronously. Online forums provide space for the exchange of ideas. This creates 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 students effort.
3) Involve learning teams.
4) Structure discussion.
5) Require a hand in assignment.
6) Students using their own experiences in posing questions and scenarios. 
7) Relative the discussion to course objective.

Benefits:

          There are several benefits in a online forum. First of all, There is a vast knowledge among the learners of same group. This can be shared by all the members of the group. Thus everyone in the group will be benefited. Chinedu (2008) expressed that by participating in online forum, access to knowledge is free. Online forums are more flexible that face to face communications as it provides time to think and reflect the thoughts. Also, online forums increase the participation of introverted students since many of them would not actively participate in physical learning. Online forums makes high quality discussions since learners are given time to think and reflect their thoughts. Also, it helps to create new friends and contacts. Since many of them actively participate in online forums, it helps learners to improve their communication skills. 

Conclusion: 

              Thus, online forum is an ideal place for the students to learn new things, to socialize, and to improve their communication skills. Active participation of students is necessary in online forums. Thus, it is the duty of the teacher to ensure that everyone is active in the class. Teachers should take class in a interactive way so that everyone in the class would actively participate. This creates interest among learners to learn. Also, teachers should motivate students and give them confidence to learn. Students should also take efforts to learn and should actively participate. Students should work in teams so that everyone will be benefited. Thus, educational online forums play a major role on promoting peer interaction.
 
                                  
A blog by,
PAWAN KISHORE.P
X-'A'

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