There were at least two discussion forums on my LMS. I did these a few weeks ago. The task was then to decide on one other communication tool. The article “Teaching in an online learning context” by Terry Anderson, gave me valuable insights on the role of the teacher in an online environment. With this information I was better capable of choosing another communication tool. My choice was to include both synchronous and asynchronous communication in my LMS. This mixture was aimed at maximizing the benefits of both forms of communications. Also, I realized that the limitations of one form of communication were the benefits of the other.
I was very careful in choosing the other communication tools. Bates & Pooles (2003) SECTION framework was the constant reminder. In particular E for Ease of use. I tried to use tools which I was comfortable with. Sure there were others I could have chosen, however, the difficulty encountered during the exploration along with time and grade constrains I decided against them.