Unlike the first BlackBoard discussion we had as a class, Twitter limits us to only 140 characters where we have to keep our discussions and reply's very concise and brief. Twitter organizes our discussions by using hashtags where in BlackBoard, everything goes on the forum. When it comes to replying to someone, Twitter has enables us to use the @ sign to respond directly to someone or use the re-tweet function to "quote" them just like in many forums. Although Twitters reply and respond system is much more disorganized than Facebook, it is however a lot better than Discussion Board since it shows arrows and links to the original post. Twitter is obviously the more modern choice of having a discussion about a particular subject but Discussion Boards are somewhat more private since only a certain people can gain access. There is also no picture boxes next to replies in BD which makes it somewhat more inconvenient where you can tell who's replying instantly by the picture icon on Twitter.
In class discussions on the other hand is probably the best form of discussion in my opinion. Everything happens instantaneously and you don't have to wait for someone to reply on the computer and it's face to face. Speaking of face to face, body language also plays an important role in in class discussion where in an online discussion be it Twitter or DB you can't really tell what that person is doing. It's also more "organic" and natural to have an in person discussion as ideas and thoughts flow continuously where in online you have the chance to think for a while and even edit/delete your comment. Overall, everyone has their own preferences but me personally, I like the traditional and old fashioned way of having a discussion, in person.
No comments:
Post a Comment