Participating in Your Interactive Community

There are three main ways in which you will interact with other learners in this course: email, chat, and threaded discussions. Both the chat feature and the threaded discussions take place within the Interactive Community. Within the Interactive Community you will also have the ability to share files and resources with other learners in the course. For more information about these tools please see the descriptions below. If you have any questions, please contact the e-Facilitator for clarification.

Please note that within the course content, all activities that utilize the Interactive Community will be indicated by a live link. You will have the option of going directly to the Interactive Community login page by clicking on the live link.

Email: Use this communication tool to connect with members of your Learning Community either in a 1-1 setting, or smaller group settings. If you would like to have the other learners in this course have access to your email, please post your email address in the Interactive Community. Sharing your email address with other learners is optional, however please note that the e-Facilitator may contact you by email during the course.

Chat: This is an electronic forum where 2 or more individuals communicate in real-time. Messages are typed in an informal and familiar manner and the conversation is live. You can access the chat feature through the Interactive Community.

Online Threaded Discussion: Located in the Interactive Community, this is a learning tool simulating traditional classroom discussion. It is where you will exchange typed messages on various topics in this course. You and other learners will communicate by posting messages and replies under the heading of a particular topic. You can also attach files and Internet links. Each topic will be housed in its own Discussion Folder, and the collection of postings in one Discussion Folder is called a "thread".

File Sharing: This is an additional feature within the Interactive Community. File Sharing will allow you to post documents and share resources for the purpose of knowledge management and collaboration with other learners in the course. To protect yourself and other learners from viruses, we encourage you to scan all files that you are sharing with an anti-virus program prior to posting them on the Interactive Community.