Use of asynchronous discussion

We used tappedin.org during Tom Reinartz's media literacy class (the course Rick usually teaches, but he was on sabbatical).

Things I liked:
An online place that kept track of files, the schedule, and allowed me to post assignments.
How most of the time, the chat function. (More on that later)
Constant, live tech-support

Things I didn't like:
The tiny fonts.
It's not very user friendly.

The big problem:
My asynchronous discussion group. I was randomly placed with 3 women, two of whom were tech savvy and one of whom was not. I have this tendency to lead, and this woman was angry at me for being a "young whipper snapper" and having opinions when I wasn't a "real" teacher yet.

So.

When we had our live chat or our asynchronous chat, she misconstrued my tone, and the tones of the other 2 women in our group. She was angry at us for not "waiting" until she had her turn to say what she needed to say. She felt like we jumped in too often and didn't give her space.

Finally, we all had a very easy breezy open discussion and solved our mounting miscommunication issues which had been escalated by the use of technology.

Therefore.

This is a skill that students need to practice. They need to find their voices and learn how to shape them in an increasingly technological world. They need to learn how to not piss people off. Plus all the other good things, like shy kids find they can say what they need to, and people stop and think more when they know other people will be able to see what their opinions are, and that they practice writing and critical thinking.

I teach Honors 11 next semester, and I can see using asynchronous discussions with that group of kids to great success. It's a lot of dense American literature and this might help them see deeper into the material than they would in a class discussion because they're "forced" to participate and listen to others' opinions.