Threaded Discussion Tool Available
There are a number of ways for MSU students, faculty, and staff to communicate and share ideas — blogs, e-mail, wikis, and video conferencing to name a few. The latest computer-mediated communication tool for MSU is forums.msu.edu
Forums.msu.edu is a threaded discussion site that is maintained by Academic Technology Services (ATS) in support of collaboration activities for MSU-affiliated interest groups, CAFEs, committees, or the community at large. It is based on a software product call vBulletin. Online discussion groups, like forums, allow geographically distant participants to share ideas, collaborate, and exchange tips and suggestions regardless of their physical location.
This tool can be used by any MSU faculty, staff, or student with an MSU NetID. If you desire to moderate your own forum, an application form is available to anyone with a university account number. There is a $10 setup fee and a $1 monthly fee for each forum. Applicants will be notified by e-mail within seven to ten business days from submission with the status of their forum request. First-time owners will be provided with instructions on moderating the forum.
About Threaded Discussions
Threaded discussions are simply "written" conversations. One person will "start talking" (post) about something and others will reply. When participants feel a topic is adequately covered, they end the conversation, or in this case, stop posting. As these "written" conversations progress, subtopics may emerge. These subtopics, or secondary postings, are the "threads" that spin off from the main discussion: one person responds directly to a comment made about the main topic, and another responds to the response, and so a thread is formed. There is little sense of sequence in a threaded discussion; people may add their comments at any point in the conversation.
Dartmouth College, "Taking Discussions Online," retrieved June 3, 2008, from http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/articles/discussion.html.
by Katherine Ball, Academic Technology Services*
*Academic Computing and Network Services recently merged with Instructional Media Center. The new name for this combined department is Academic Technology Services.
