Development Notes: We know that social negotiation is a powerful force in learning. The Communicate page allows learners to share new knowledge and understandings through a thesis, to support an existing thesis or argue an opposing viewpoint, to pose those burning questions, and/or to suggest resources and strategies that might assist another learner. Instructor/facilitators and all learners will have full access to this page, and experts may be invited to join in the discussions as well. Communicate will operate in asynchronous mode, backed by database programming. The Thesis button will allow the learner to propose a new thesis for discussion -- thesis input will essentially begin a new overarching discussion thread. Within that thesis, a learner will have the opportunity to indicate which type of addition or response s/he wishes to make through the button selections, and a form will again appear to allow such a response. Responses will then be designated as challenges, supports, inquiries, or suggestions within that thesis thread, and other learners may respond in turn to the initial thesis or to each other. The page below shows what the "view" page might look like after a few learner interactions and responses.

Communicate! [ Review the features of this page.]

Post a new !

Thesis #1:	An idea, puzzlement, quote, or other topic for discussion and discourse will appear here. This may be posted by a learner, facilitator, or expert.			Contributor:	Date Posted:
Date	Response Type	Response		Author	Response #
Date	Challenge	The text of the challenge and citations will appear here.		Challenger's name	1
Date	Support	The supporting text and citations will appear here.		Supporter's name	2
Date		Inquire	This learner has asked a question about the supporting statement above.	Inquirer's name	2.1
Date	Challenge	The text of the challenge and citations will appear here.		Challenger's name	3
Thesis #2:	An idea, puzzlement, quote, or other topic for discussion and discourse will appear here. This may be posted by a learner, facilitator, or expert.			Contributor:	Date Posted:
Date	Response Type	Response		Author	Response #
Date	Inquire	The question(s) will appear here.		Inquirer's name	1
Date	Support	The supporting text and citations will appeear here.		Supporter's name	2
Date	Suggest	The suggestion for additional resources or strategies for thinking about the problem will appear here.		Suggestor's name	3