4. NETRO - THE ELECTRONIC LEARNING SPACE

4.4.1 The Stop

- a space for reflection and collaboration

PYSÄKKI, the Stop, is the meeting place for the passengers, which realises what we have earlier stated about the use of technology as a public vehicle for collaboration. The Stop, as its name metaphorically suggests, refers to the idea that the passengers are asked to slow down and think. The passengers are seen as travelling through the Path, and every now and then, they are asked to visit the Stop, a web based discussion forum that is divided into two parts (see Figure 14).


Figure 14. The Stop

The first of the two parts of the Stop is the Log. Each passenger has his/her individual writing space which can be used for note-taking. Passengers are encouraged to take notes and write down their thoughts and ideas on-line partly because this way they gain some practical skills, but mostly, because the articulation of one's thoughts helps in becoming aware of one's conceptions. Logs are open so that each passenger can read what the others have thought about the topics covered, because we want to maximise the collaboration and sharing of ideas along the lines of collaborative knowledge building and scaffolding.

The other part of the Stop, the discussion forum, is the most interactive section of the module. Netro passengers are asked to visit the discussion forum after various tasks and share their thoughts and question each other's opinions and views. The discussion forum has several smaller fora labelled according to the assignments. There is also a cafe at the Stop, an open forum for general questions concerning the course as well as group specific fora that are closed for the other passengers and to which you will need a password. In the group specific fora passengers can plan and work with the tasks, which require small group interaction before publishing their ideas and thoughts to the rest of the Netro group. When testing Netro we used a discussion forum called Web Wiz Forums version 6.34. However, any kind of a discussion forum can be used as a Netro Stop.