Going Beyond Marginalia to Ice-Cream: The Second Generation of Online Discussion Forums:
Abstract: This paper describes our design efforts to create a pedagogically-grounded web-based discussion forum software. Building on Textweaver, Marginalia adds functionality to Moodle, including annotation and keyword features. Formatively evaluated within several university-level courses, students used the feature in a more social manner than expected. The nature of the task and other contextual variables influenced how the feature was used. The next phase of development goes beyond Marginalia to ‘IceCream.’ Instead of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, different flavours for elementary, high school and adult learners are being designed. IceCream incorporates motivational theories, integrating the social nature of Web 2.0 tools, incorporating more features tailored to specific tasks, and providing guidance through collaborative scripts embedded in the tool to enable learners and instructors to more effectively choose whether, when and how to use different features. Features are being mindfully i
Presider: Natalie Senjov-Makohon, UkiAus Cultural Heritage, Victoria, Australia.