Forums n things

Who would have believed that different forums would be so fundamentally different?  After all, each module has one to support student learning.

BB modules (business school led MBA owned modules) were specific to a tutor group so there were small numbers of students.  Interaction was directed by the tutor who started each thread and my experience was that there was limited interaction from students except where a TMA required you to post and you were marked on that participation.  At one point a student apologised for posting an questions/ comment on a topic which wasn't in direct response to a question set by the course/ tutor.  I also found it frustrating that there was an assumption that everyone on the module was doing an MBA

TU modules (STEM faculty) were messy, gregarious and included all students and tutors from the module.  The content was led by the students and which, for me, gave a depth and richness of content and allowed the content to expend, open new avenues and really helped my learning.  Everyone was engaged and brought thinking from many different modules and courses - I never felt that the forum was focussed on those heading towards the MSc (Systems Thinking in Practice) I felt un-inhibited and able to contribute openly and without feeling I need to use academic language or quote from texts.

And now an M module which has characteristics of both.  The moderator has opened the forum and created many threads.  However, so have students.  Someone has also set up a WhatsApp group - hours of my life may now disappear as I engage in a totally different way with my fellow students.