Bridging the Divide: Using Blogs, Wikis, and Forums to Foster Discussion and Create Community

At the Indiana Computer Educator's Conference this year, entitled Engaging Digital Learners 2012, I will be presenting a workshop on blogs, wikis, and forums. I'm passionate about these technologies that enable communication and collaboration at a distance as well as face-to-face. As a preview of the materials and for quick access during the workshop, I thought I would add a list of resources here. The examples provided are meant to generate discussion, not necessarily be exemplars of perfect design.

Forums

• Example 1: Module 10 Discussion Assignment 
• Free Forum Sites
• ProBoards
• QuickTopic
• Aimoo
• Additional Research and Resources
• "Tips for Overcoming Online Discussion Board Challenges"
• "Tips for More Active Asynchronous Discussions All Semester Long"
• "Technology and Education Online Discussion Forums: It's in the Response"
• "Developing Online Discussion Forums as Student Centred Peer e-Learning Environments"

Blogs

• Example 2: Post-Radio
• Bonus Examples: English 10 Hughes' Blog and Student's Blog
  
• Free Blog Sites
• Edublogs
• Blogger
• WordPress
• Additional Research and Resources
• Blogs in Plain English
• "7 Things You Should Know About Blogs"
  
• "The State of Educational Blogging in 2012"
• Blogging Across the Curriculum
• "Moderating and Ethics for the Classroom Instructional Blog"

Wikis 

• Example 3: Wiki Rubric
• Example 4: How to Help Save Darfur
• Free Wiki Sites
• Wikispaces
• Wikidot
• Google Sites
• Additional Research and Resources
• Wikis in Plain English
• "7 Things You Should Know About Wikis"
• "Wikis in Higher Education"
• "Wikis in Education: Teaching Students to Share Knowledge"
• "Wikis, Blogs and Podcasts: A New Generation of Web-Based Tools for Virtual Collaborative Clinical Practice and Education"

Additional Resources

• Bonk, C. J., & Zhang, K. (2009). Empowering online learning: 100+ activities for reading, reflecting, displaying, & doing. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Hicks, T.  (2009). The digital writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
• Ingraham, H. A. Keep them talking about The Fifth Child: Reclaiming Instructional Time with Discussion Boards. In M. T Christel & S. Sullivan (Ed.), Lesson Plans for Developing Digital Literacies (pp. 88-97). Urbana, IL:  NCTE.
• International Society for Technology in Education. (2012). NETS for students. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students
• Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2011). Designing effective instruction (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
• Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2011). Framework for 21st century learning. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/overview

Do you have more resources to share? Feel free to contribute to the comments below!