Anchored forum

Draft

Definition

A anchored forum (or computer-mediated anchored discussion) places discussions "near" the topic being discussed, e.g. with an annotated system that allows teachers and learners to add comments with a text.

See also: Anchored instruction

The rationale for anchored forums

{{quotationbox|Low interaction levels between learners in forums might result from discussion tools and more particularly from their lack of connection with learning activities and learning contents: "the problem with content-related communication often is, that it does not occur because it is a separate activity that is not include in the course" (Gommer & Visser, 2001, p. 438).We postulate that the separation between learning activities and communication is not favorable for the emergence of discussions. [...] Situated action theory suggests that instructional communication should occur during an action or activity at the time when the user needs it. So if a user cannot communicate easily during an action or activity, the opportunity to communicate and share and exchange ideas will be lost.

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Examples

• CaMILE (Guzdial and Turns, 2000)

References

Gommer, L., & Visser, G. (2001). Implementation of a digital learning environment: The real results. In Proceedings of the world conference on the WWW and internet WebNet 2001 (pp. 433-438). Orlando, Florida, USA: AACE.

• Guzdial, Mark and Jennifer Turns (2000). Effective Discussion Through a Computer-Mediated Anchored Forum, Journal of the Learning Sciences, Vol. 9, No. 4, Pages 437-469. Abstract PDF (Access restricted) or PDF

• George Sebastien, Contextualizing discussions in distance learning systems, 4th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2004), Joensuu, Finland, August 30-September 1, 2004, p. 226-230

• van der Pol J. , W. Admiraal and P. R. J. Simons (2006), The affordance of anchored discussion for the collaborative processing of academic texts, International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 1 (3), 339-357. DOI 10.1007/s11412-006-9657-6

• Kienle, Andrea (2006) Integration of knowledge management and collaborative learning by technical supported communication processes. Education and Information Technologies 11:2, 161

• George Sebastien, Labas Hervé (2007,in press), E-Learning Standards as a Basis for Contextual Forums Design, International Journal of Computers in Human Behavior, Elsevier, doi:10.1016/j.chb.2007.01.006