1. ONLINE COMMUNICATION

2. WHAT ARE THEY? BLOGS MICROBLOGS TWITTER SOCIAL NETWORKING PUBLIC FACEBOOK WEBMAIL VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FORUMS AND MESSAGE BOARDS WIKIS WIKIPEDIA SOCIAL BOOK MARKING SITE DELICIOUS

3. THEY ARE DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS – THE REASON FOR THE ONLINE COMMUNITY FEATURES – THE THINGS USERS CAN DO IN THAT SOCIAL COMMUNITY TARGET AUDIENCES – THE TYPES OF PEOPLE AT WHICH THE ONLINE COMMUNITY IS AIMED

4. IDENTITY USERS HAVE A SOCIAL PRESENCE IN THE ONLINE COMMUNITIES ( WHICH MEANS HOW THAT PERSON IS REPRESENTED ONLINE). YOUR SOCIAL PRESENCE IS DEVELOPED AS YOU CONTRIBUTE ONLINE TO THE SOCIAL COMMUNITY. CHANGING YOUR ONLINE PROFILE CREATE YOUR SOCIAL PRESENCE

5. ONLINE WORKSPACES AND VLE’S ONLINE WORKSPACES PROVIDE AN ONLINE COMMUNITY FOR A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO WORK TOGETHER VLE PROVIDE AN ONLINE COMMUNITY FOR A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO LEARN TOGETHER.

6. ONLINE WORK SPACE ONLINE CONFERENCING AND VOIP VIRTUAL WHITEBOARDS EMAIL, CHAT SHARED FOLDERS AND FILES COLLEAGUES CAN ALL WORK ON THE SAME DOCUMENT ONLINE APPLICATIONS SUCH AS WORD AND SPREADSHEET.

7. FUNCTIONS OF VLE’S PROVIDE INFORMATION TO HELP STUDENTS LEARN AND ACCESS HOMEWORK ALLOW THE TEACHERS TO CREATE HIGH QUALITY MATERIALS

8. FEATURES OF VLE’S TIMETABLE OF STAFF AND NEWS MARKING TOOLS FOR THE TEACHERS EMAIL, CHAT AND COMMUNICATION STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND PARENTS CAN TRACK PROGRESS AND DATA SUCH AS TEST MARKS PERSONALISATION FOR INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS INTERACTIVE POLLS AND QUESTIONNAIRES FACILITY FOR STUDENTS TO CONTRIBUTE TO BLOGS AND PERSONALISE THEIR OWN SPACE