“Too much agreement kills a chat.” --Eldridge Cleaver
What is a discussion forum? It is a location or medium where participants can share knowledge and information. Public, open forums allow for a large number of individuals to come together and talk about their experiences and opinions. A person looking for specific facts or advice may not be able to find it, but a discussion forum provides access to users with a wide range of understanding and expertise.
Need an answer about distance learning?
• “Questions About Online Education” If you want to ask about a particular school, learn more about particular degree programs, or not sure what your next step should be, this is your forum.
• “Financial Aid for Online Education” If you need to know about grants and student loans or are seeking advice about paying for school, look no further.
“In the discussion forum, you learn by expressing your thoughts, showing what you're thinking, and then adjust and grow in response to others.”
--Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D., “Inspiring E-Learners to ‘Listen’ to Each Other”
Forums play a huge role in online education. Forums provide asynchronous online courses with an interactive tool. “Interaction in its simplest definition is a tool to keep people awake and get them moving; in its move complex definition, interaction is a strategy to engage learners in thoughtful responses to the instruction.” *
Get moving! We encourage our new members to tell us their story. The eLearners.com Community is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. “Getting to Know You” is dedicated to opening up dialogue amongst our newest members and eLearning veterans. With time, users move up in rank, starting with “Freshman” status, until they become “Summa *** Laude.”
We’re always looking to improve our discussion forums. Leave your comments in “Suggestions for eLearners.com” so that we can make it better.
* "The Impact of Learning Styles on Interactivity in Asynchronous e-Learning" by Katica Roy, published in Performance Improvement, vol. 45, no. 10, November/December 2006.