bromby-scholar

Discussion Boards

Page history last edited by Michael Bromby 1 mo ago

This page discusses many of the free discussion forums available online and indicates the choice of forum used for this project.

Virtual Learning Environments

Blackboard

I currently use Blackboard as the institutional VLE as Glasgow Caledonian University.

Advantages

My students are already familiar with the environment
Available only to those who are registered on the module
Threaded comments that can be collapsed for easy viewing

Disadvantages

External students may not be familiar with this VLE (and possibly confused if they use another)
Guest access for external students may be an institutional problem (also, wider course materials are also available)
No RSS feeds or email alerts for new posts

Social Networking Sites

Ning

Ning is a freely available social networking site that is popular with conferences - see for example the list of over 1,400 conferences using Ning.

Advantages

Invite only
Can be set to be only viewed by members
RSS Feeds and email alerts are available
Threaded comments
Two levels of admin or user (but no other levels)

Disadvantages

Any member can then invite members of the public
Individual discussions can't be made private to only group members
Any member can start new discussions
There's no levels for posts - ie you can't make posts on boards and have boards in categories.

Crowdvine

Crowdvine is a similar personalisable social network site to Ning (above).

Advantages

Invite only
Can be set to be only viewed by members
RSS Feeds and email alerts are available
Two levels of admin or user (but no other levels)

Disadvantages

Any member can then invite members of the public
Individual discussions can't be made private to only group members
Any member can start new discussions
Comments cannot be threaded

This networking site also has the ability to create groups and have discussions, but LinkedIn is not particularly advanced is this area as it is not the prime function and may cause confusion by the promoted networking activities.

Message Boards

Proboards

Proboards allows you to create and manage your own free forum easily.

Advantages

Individual boards can be password protected (thus made private)
Has a hierarchy of posts / boards / categories
Has various levels of membership with differing privileges

Disadvantages

Non-threaded comments
Members of the public can sign-in by themselves (although passwording the boards can get around this issue)
No RSS feed or email alert

Google Groups

Although the discussion element to Google Groups is strictly a mailing list, it does present the contents online and allow users to respond from the Group site.

Advantages

RSS feed and email alert
Invite only
Can be set to be only viewed by members (i.e. members cannot invite new members)

Disadvantages

Doesn't thread comments or discussion posts
Cannot create sub-groups (but many Google Groups could be made)
Cannot create sub-boards (i.e. for different weekly tasks)

My Free Bulletin Board

My Free Bulletin Board is very much the tradition message board functionality.

Advantages

Members can be split into groups and access to sub boards based on groups

Disadvantages

No threaded comments
No RSS feed or email alert

XSOrbit

XSorbit will be used for the first year of the international HCLE project as it appears to suit my needs best.

Advantages

Membership approval
Boards and sub boards possible
Easier Admin interface than My Free Bulletin Board
Multiple Group membership possible, for student groups and institution groups etc

Disadvantages

No threading
Monthly pay plan for add-on features such as email groups and polls (but not excessive)
No RSS feeds, but email alert is possible, and new posts are clearly visible from the front page

[As of 29th January 2009, XSorbit appears to have stopped working. I am now (re)considering other options.]

Yuku

Advantages

Membership approval
Email notifications
Boards can be limited to certain members
RSS Feeds
Boards can be made private

Disadvantages

No threading
No groupings (therefore unsuitable for the project)

FluxBB

FluxBB must be download and run on your own server.

Disadvantages

Must download and run on your own server which requires IT support

Space4Groups

Advantages

Multiple Groups
Threaded discussion
Alerts for topics (email? or PM system?)
Can mass mail members
May be able to restrict membership.

Disadvantages

Set up fee of $250 (after a two month free trial)

phpBB

phpBB must be download and run on your own server. It has various versions. The most recent (which is what I've discussed below) is phpBB3 and requires php supported server, PHP 4.3.3 and an SQL database. There is a full list of feature here.

Advantages

Usergroups
Subscribe to forums / topics (I think, by email.)
Track topic participation
Email topics (?)
Mass email (by admin)

Disadvantages

Must download and run on your own server

Note: phpBB3 seems to have most of the functionality I'm looking for, thus, one option is to look for message board providers that run phpBB3.

Armbell

Armbell runs phpBB, but is identical to MyFreeBulletinBoard which we already discussed above.

phpBBHost

phpBBHost offers hosted phpBB3 options.

Advantages

Memebership Approval
Restrict access to members
Groups/Members of multiple groups
Restricting board access via groups
Email notification

Disadvantages

Can be awkward to set up
No RSS feed

Tangler

Tangler is more of a 'live discussion' tool that doesn't thread comments, but does have RSS and the option for weekly topics which are private.

Boards2go

Boards2go is extremely basic but it does thread the discussions!

Content Management

Moodle

Moodle is geared more towards content (course) management, ie lecture notes, assessments, dicussion, etc. And more significantly, it requires you to organise your own hosting.