The two communication tools I chose to add to the LMS site are the chat function built into Moodle and a discussion forum.  I chose to add an online chat because it allows students to participate in real time discussions with the instructor and fellow students.  One of the negative aspects of online learning is the isolation that students can feel working alone.  Participating in a chat can help a student feel that he is part of a larger community, making the learning experience closer to a traditional classroom.  The immediacy of the chat is also good training for students, forcing them to think quickly, formulate ideas and respond to discussion points.  On a practical level a chat meeting can also quickly resolve problems students might be having in understanding an assignment or some aspect of a learning module.

There are some significant limitations to online chats.  A student with poor typing skills may be left behind as the discussion proceeds. Also, if there are a large number of participants it’s possible to have four or five different overlapping discussions occurring at the same time.  This makes it extremely difficult to follow and contribute to the chat.  With a large number it’s also easy to ‘hide out’ in an online chat.  A student can be present but not actually participating. Finally, asking students to meet at a particular time every week goes against the reason that a lot of people choose online classes, the ability to set their own schedule.

For the asynchronous tool I have included discussion forums in the site.  Since the forum is always available, usually without a time restriction, students have more time to think about their responses to a question or comment and express their ideas more fully.  Discussion forums allow for more thoughtful, in-depth debates than online chats usually permit. This is especially useful for students that need a little more time to form their responses.  If students take the discussions seriously, not just posting something because they have to, the forum can build a community of practice.  Students can learn from each other and build from the shared knowledge.

One of the limitations of discussion forums was mentioned in the previous paragraph; students have to take the discussion seriously. If they are only posting responses because they have to as part of a participation mark, the community of practice will never develop.  Another limitation is that the responses can quickly become repetitious with many students saying essentially the same thing. As an instructor I would monitor the discussion forms and, without manipulating them, try to steer the discussion if they become repetitious, asking questions about the responses and hopefully opening up the dialogue.

To test these tools I first posted a question into a forum then tried to respond, both to the main question and to the responses. This worked exactly as it should with no problems. To test the chat by myself was a little more difficult. I opened the chat function and typed in a message which worked as it should. I’m satisfied that both of these tools work well and will greatly enhance the LMS site.