Why the OU uses online forums

Online forums can make a big difference by making you feel part of the OU community, connecting to other students and keeping you motivated. It's a help to know that other people are struggling with the same issues as you, and that you can share problems and ideas at any time of day or night
It is a good way for students to work together, rather than individually. Group working is becoming an important element of many courses, partly because it is increasingly the way the workplace is organised. Employers look for evidence of group working skills. In learning, group working tends to promote deeper understanding of a subject and better critical thinking.
Online forums are a different way of learning from face-to-face methods, and people need to learn how to do it successfully. For example, there are much longer time delays in a discussion, and you might miss non-verbal cues such as tone of voice or facial expression. Some differences are positive: you have more time to think about what you want to say. Some are a nuisance: it's possible to misinterpret people's written words.

Forums take the distance out of distance learning