Like Karen Ragoonaden in another workshop, Phil gave us a glimpse into the Knowledge Forum online platform that is being used in the Faculty of Education at UBC. Phil is using the software with his graduate students to foster discourse. It allows students to post comments and receive responses from co-learners.
One of the questions that came up was the issue of debating sensitive issues in a public forum. That led to the question of whether an online forum built for a class is really public debate. What are the questions about confidentiality that we should be asking when we ask members of a community to "speak their minds" online?