Telecollaboration
Some of the ways that we can communicate with others on the Internet could almost be called "old technology" now, but they are still very effective. We tend to think about the Internet as millions of webpages in cyberspace (including text, graphics, audio and video), but we frequently forget that the Internet is also a network of *people* that our students can "reach out and touch" - an expert, or a friend with an interest in the topic we are teaching, another class that is learning about the same thing, native speakers interested in a cultural exchange - who else can you think of?
Here are some of the communication technologies that we can take advantage of:
- listservs
- threaded discussions (bulletin boards)
- chat rooms
- instant messaging
- virtual "places"
- blogs and wikis
- video conferencing