I sometimes wonder if my old habits die so hard that I am reluctant to explore new communications tools. There is a sense that each new blog that comes out or each chat tool is just more of the same but then each does have specific characteristics that might make them more or less usable and these attributes might be important when making decisions about integration.
Nik Peachey on his excellent blog for language teachers http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/ linked to this list of blogging tools by Jane Hart for example http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/Directory/Tools/blogging.html Here the basic criteria revolve around cost and download flexibility, but there must be more to it when thinking about learning attributes? Some on this list look intriguing though and I wonder if any of you have experience of any of them (there are other types of tool too if you browse the links).
More interestingly, what tools do you use for regular communications and/or use with learners and why do you go for these given the choice we have? Is it possible to draw up a list of attributes that inform those choices? What distinguishes one synchronous text based chat tool from another? Or WebCT forum from Moodle forum tool:-) Do specific attributes make significant differences to interactions?
