Forums in real life

[sann0638]

I'm trying to get a forum going for teachers to talk to each other in Swindon. How hard is it! People are not grasping the concept! They keep emailing me info to put on the forum! Jeeeeeez!

Vent over.

[JaM]

Yeah, that's teachers for you...

[mzukerman]

What about running a live tutorial for them? The issue that I've seen with forums like this in the working public is people checking them with regularity. When you have someone with an interest in a hobby, they are more motivated to check the forums on a semi-regular basis. Maybe you can give them some incentive to search, like easter eggs or points that can be used towards something?

[sann0638]

Will do a tutorial, absolutely. But not sure about rewards - these are other teachers, not pupils

[connexion]

Or set up a Facebook group. Everyone and their grandmothers know how to use Facebook... :-/

[mzukerman]

Will do a tutorial, absolutely. But not sure about rewards - these are other teachers, not pupils

I disagree. Gamification often leads to engagement. *Especially* teachers who use it in their classrooms with the kids.

For example, you can run contests on best thread of the week and the originator wins a free dozen donuts for the teachers who participated.

[lunchmoney]

Or set up a Facebook group. Everyone and their grandmothers know how to use Facebook... :-/

I dont.


The forum might be on an internal intranet, stalkerbook isnt and might even be blocked from the work place.

[sann0638]

Yep, there is a fb group, which is also not kicking off, possibly as people want to keep it for home. The forum is for quite a small group, with the forum useful so that long email chains are avoided.

[Steam Ball]

They send you emails... try a mailing list?

[sann0638]

The problem is I want new group members to be able to see previous discussions between members of the group. I don't think I'm missing something in thinking a forum is a good way to go - is there a better one?

[Steam Ball]

Mailing lists have this thing called archives. But it was a bit in jest, as they will mess all the threads (too common with some retar... *cough* modern email programs), whine about attachments, reply to wrong people, do endless quoting, etc.

[SinisterDexter]

Time poor and technology fatigued.

This is what I see in the teacher profession in Australia. I'm not sure if they same can be said in the UK, but it's just another piece of professional social media that you need to make time to consult.

[sann0638]

Absolutely, I don't see it as a daily thing, more like fortnightly. But you're right, I guess.

[SinisterDexter]

Yeah but fortnightly is a long time between drinks. It's long enough to forget your password and it isn't really conducive to the kind of deep discussion that makes a good and active forum. I tried to start one when I was doing my practicum and it just didn't work.

[sann0638]

Boooooooo!