Sections B and C - edited to make it possible for the statements to be responded to by bloggers and moodlers. (JM 050409) Is this any better? I am still concerned about the complexity of some of the statements. The first set is about blogs forums. The second set is about forums blogs.

Note

1. I think the word jostling needs to be defined (especially for Non English Speaking Background (NESB) participants) - (1) to push roughly against somebody in a crowd, (2) to compete with other people in a forceful manner in order to gain something (this is the meaning in the dictionary).  My concern is some people may need to check the exact meaning of the word before answering that question.

2. Do you think we need to clarify the exact meaning of "stepping into other toes"? Could we replace the wordings with "unwarranted criticisms or comments"? or "inappropriate comments or criticisms"?, but is this what it means? 

3. The word "sparring" doesn't appear in dictionary.  Is it sparing?  This means economical, not generous or wasteful. Could we replace it with other word that is easier to understand (especially for NESB participants)?  See my suggested version.

I have to re-read and check tonight after work.  But Roy/Jenny please amend.  In summary, I would check based on: no metaphors, no jargon, no leading or double ideas statements.  Only one point, one interpretation, with simple concise wordings - in all statements.  Use plural - such as discussions, interpretations throughout or be consistent etc.

JOHN/ROY - please let me know what you think about these statements so that I can change them on Survey Monkey.

JOHN - I am happy to email all bloggers. Would you and Roy be able to email all Moodlers? Have we agreed how many moodlers we are emailing? Do we have email addresses for them all? Good idea: you do the blogs.  Roy and me do the Moodlers.  How to divide amongst us?  How about 50%/50%?- need to check.  May be the first half 50% by me, 2nd half 50% by Roy.  Will check the Moodler list tonight and respond.

Many thanks Jenny for your hard work, and Roy for your help.

 In the CCK08 course

Posting to the forums required less effort than posting to a blog 

The forum discussions were more easily accessible than the blogs

It was easier to make connections with other course participants in the forums

There was a greater sense of community in the forums than in the blogs

The forum discussions were more academically challenging than the blog discussions

There was were more lively debates in the forums than in the blogs

Posting to the forums generated greater feelings of excitement than posting to a blog

Discussions in the forums was were easier than in the blogs because all the ideas being discussed were located in one place

Discussions in the forums was were more related to the course topic than it was in the blogs

The forums were more teacher-centric than the blogs

The forums facilitated greater co-operative peer learning than the blogs

There was a more immediate sense of close community in the forums than in the blogs

There were more people to interact with in the forums than in the blogs

In the forums, people felt physically closer to each other than they did in the blogs

There was more ‘jostling’ with other people in the forums than in the blogs (Note 1)  There were more senses of competition with others in a forceful manner in the forums than in the blogs

There was more ‘stepping on each other’s toes’ in the forums than in the blogs (Note 2) There were more inappropriate comments or criticisms on each other in the forums than in the blogs

The ‘tone’ of discussion in the forums was more academic than in the blogs

There was a greater sense of being in a group in the forums than in the blogs 

Connections between forum participants were not as strong as those between bloggers 

The pace of discussion was faster in the forums than in the blogs

Discussions in the forums was were more provisional and exploratory than in the blogs

Discussions in the forums was were more focussed on knowledge formation than in the blogs

There was more intensive cooperative learning in the forums than in the blogs

In the forums there was more emphasis on conceptual connections between ideas than in the blogs 

The forums allowed for more 'big picture discussions' with digressions and disparate topics than the blogs 

There was more robust and forceful 'sparring' in the forums than in the blogs (Note 3) There were more forceful negative personal comments in the forums than in the blogs (not sure if this is the same as the statement in note 2 above, but this is more precise, and I try to include all sparing, aggresive and destruction ones here, or do we need to define negative comments (aggressive and inappropriate one) here?  Would it be interpreted appropriately?

The forums were more like a ‘free-for-all’ market discussion place without a regulator than the blogs (Note:  Need to avoid analogy in survey - I think the word "market" is inappropriate (or may even be condescending), and may lead to misinterpretation.  We are trying to state the merit of forum here.  Correct?

There was were more fast-paced asynchronous interactions in the forums than in the blogs 

Relationships in the forums were developed on the basis of ideas more than in the blogs 

There was less restriction on the ‘tone’ of discussions in the forums than in the blogs 

                The forums ensured a greater number of readers of your posts than the blogs 

The forums ensured a greater number of responses to your posts than the blogs

It was easier to track back through discussions in the forums than in the blogs 

In the forums you could avoid the distraction of numerous hyperlinks more than in the blogs

In the CCK08 course

The blogging community was more friendly than the Moodle forum community 

There was less posturing and pontificating in the blogs than in the forums 

There was greater mutual respect between bloggers than between forum participants

It was possible to find out more about the author of blog posts in a blog than the author of forum posts

There was a greater sense of community in the blogs than in the forums

Posting to the blogs created less feelings of anxiety than posting to the forums

It was easier to make personal connections in the blogs than in the forums 

The blogs were less teacher-controlled than the forums

The blogs enabled greater personal sense-making than the forums

The blogs enabled greater self-expression than the forums 

It was easier to establish a personal presence in the blogs than in the forums

It was easier to establish a personal voice in the blogs than in the forums 

It was more possible to develop personal connections beyond the immediate task in the blogs than in the forums

It was easier to control who to enter into discussion with in the blogs than in the forums

In the blogs the ‘tone’ of discussions met implicitly accepted protocols more than in the forums

The blogs fostered quiet, slow reflection more than the forums

In the blogs there was greater ‘ownership’ of the publishing space than in the forums

It was easier to control the pace of discussion in the blogs than in the forums

It was easier to build and protect self-esteem in a blog than in the forums

It was easier to individually develop ideas in a blog than in a forum

The blogs enabled more intensive personal learning than the forums

It was  more possible to make explicit connections between fewer and more distant concepts in the blogs than in the forums It was more readily able to make explicit connections between various concepts in the blogs than in the forums

It was easier to develop more thoughtful relationships and networks in the blogs than in the forums.

It was easier to develop longer-term relationships and networks in the blogs than in the forums.

Interaction was easier in the blogs than in the forums because it was possible to rapidly track parallel blogs and other bloggers.

Interaction was easier in the blogs than in the forums because bloggers developed ties which were initially weak and then gradually strengthened

It was easier to develop deep relationships with other bloggers than with forum participants.