www . t h u t o n g . o r g . z a
Have you communicated with your colleagues today?
Using Blogs and Online
Forums on Thutong
On 31 March 2008 the Minister of Education
launched the newly designed portal. The revision
follows the next wave that has taken the Internet by
storm – social networking. The Internet has evolved
from a passive repository of information to a place
where people can communicate, collaborate and
contribute - quickly and easilly. With that ability, we
are witnessing a growing confidence in the use of
ICT and also an excitement in being able to share
thoughts and ideas. We have therefore introduced
exciting new communication and collaboration
features on Thutong. These are newsletters, notice
boards, discussion lists, weblogs or blogs, online
forums, RSS feeds, podcasts and Wikis.
In the Curriculum section each subject or Learning
Area on the portal has a Learning Space. Each space
has a host of tools to enhance communications in
education. Two of these are blogs and online forums.
We anticipate that discussions using these tools
will grow, depending on the input of each Learning
Space community. Users will need to register on the
portal in order to participate. This is a simple process
and you need only do it once. When you identify your
primary interest on registration, every time you go
the portal it will open up in the Learning Space you
have selected.
Below is an example of a newly created Learning
Space for GET Foundation Phase. The tools on the left
indicate that there are forums and blogs.
How is a Forum different
from a Blog?
Forums (fora) allow the community to identify areas
of mutual interest. Individual groups can splinter off
and continue the discussion alongside the original
debate. We call these splinter groups “threads”.
Ë Blogs
A blog is an online journal website where entries
are commonly displayed in reverse chronological
order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning
to maintain or add content to a blog. Many blogs
provide commentary or news on a particular
subject; others function as personal online
diaries. A blog combines text, images, and links
to other blogs, web pages, and other media
related to its topic. The ability for readers to
leave comments in an interactive format is an
important part of blogs.
Ë Online Forum
The manager of this particular space has created a
forum called Foundation Phase Curriculum Experts
and there are three topics, or threads, under discussion.
An online forum is a web application for holding
discussions and posting user generated content
or simply forums. The terms “forum” and “board”
may refer to the entire community or to a
specific sub-forum dealing with a distinct topic.
Messages within these sub-forums are then
displayed either in chronological order or as
threaded discussions.
Definitions sourced from Wikipedia [online] accessed 30
March 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Always consider Netiquette. Netiquette is a
term referring to good behaviour while connected to the Internet. Netiquette is mainly
referring to behaviour while using facilities
such as individual websites, e-mails, newsgroups, message boards, chat rooms or web
communities.
Netiquette requires that people post constructive and relevant messages on places
like blogs and forums. Examples such as
posting messages on a different topic to the
subject requested and commercial advertising is seen as bad Netiquette. Writing words
using capital letters is seen as shouting.
Reading your messages for bad spelling and
grammar before posting is seen as good
Netiquette.
Examples of Netiquette:
Ë Not using someone else’s name and pretending to be them.
Ë Not posting or distributing material that is
deemed illegal.
Ë Not using abusive or threatening language.
Ë Not posting racist remarks regarding people’s sex, race or gender.
Ë Not spamming (posting advertisements
on) message boards or chat rooms with useless or repeated messages.
Ë Not trying to obtain or use someone else’s
password.
Ë Not trying to obtain personal information
about someone.
http://www.internet-guide.co.uk/netiquette-guide.html
Join the Thutong Community!
Below is an example of a list of blogs available in the
FET Computer Applications Technology Learning
Space.
Joining a conversation on the Thutong education portal
is not only easy; it has the potential for all sorts of
opportunities for professional growth. Teachers throughout
South Africa are encouraged to join the Thutong Community.
By doing so, you are helping us achieve one of the aims
of the portal i.e. the development of a dynamic and
constructive environment whereby teachers can share in the
rich intellectual capital of this country.