Threded Discussions

OK, so I'm lazy and using what I posted up on Nicenet about threaded discussions, big whoop, you wanna fight about it? (for those of you who caught the Paddy Tanninger reference, good on ya!)

Having used Nicenet before, I can say that thread discussions are a great way for people to get what they are thinking out of their heads and onto a place where everyone can read and comment on what they wrote. This is also a great way to continue on class discussions after the bell has rung and the students go home. This is exactly what I was talking about earlier when I said that technology is able to give a voice to that quiet kid in the corner or for other students who think that they have to follow what their “role” (preppy, jock, geek, etc.) is in school and not raise their hands in class. The only problem about thread discussions is that it puts a lot of trust in the student to do work outside the classroom. Lazier students may not participate or, God forbid, students aren’t able to get onto the internet at their home. Other than that, I feel that thread discussions are a great supplement to the classroom and I think that I will try to use them in my classes.